Best, Fast, Easy-

Buffalo Chicken Meatball (for gamedays and any other day but I usually make them for the Superbowl but you can eat them in a sandwich in July and yes this is the official title of this recipe, also a run on sentence but creative control and stuff.)

History

Thoughts

for gamedays and any other day but I usually make them for the Superbowl but you can eat them in a sandwich in July and yes this is the official title of this recipe, also a run on sentence but creative control and stuff.)

Ingredients

  • 1 Lb. Ground chicken

  • 1 large egg

  • ⅔ cup panko bread crumbs

  • 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

  • 2-3 cloves garlic, minced

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 1 tsp pepper

  • 3 finely chopped green onions

  • 1 carrot, minced

  • 1 celery stalk, minced

  • ¼ cup Blue cheese crumbled


Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400. 

  2. Pull out a half sheet pan and line it  with parchment paper. 

  3. Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium low heat.  

  4. Add minced garlic and cook until soft.  STIR CONSTANTLY.  You do not want the garlic to burn and you just want to cook it through.  I don’t like raw garlic and it is bad in meatballs. This will take 3-5 minutes.  If the oil is too hot it will happen faster.  If it gets a little browned, that’s ok.  Get the pan off the heat and continue to stir to cool it.  If burns, meaning you see any black, start over.  Burned garlic is evil.  It can not be saved and will contaminate anything it touches.  

  5. Take the garlic off heat and let it cool. It will continue to cook after it is off the heat.  So, a little early is better than a little late.  HOw will you know when it is ready?  Taste it if the raw, spicy bitterness is gone it is or faint, it is ready.  Remember this is going into the meatballs and will cook more, under done is fine and burned garlic is evil.  Don’t wash the pan yet.  

  6. In a bowl or food processor combine bread crumbs, salt, pepper, chopped green onion, minced veggies and garlic and oil.  It should taste too salty.  Remember you can always add but never subtract salt.  Until you get the recipe dialed in for your preferences, wait to add salt until step 8.    Remember, this is where the salt for your meatballs comes from and you can’t taste the raw meat mixture.

  7. Add the egg and ground meat and combine thoroughly.   Look to break up the ground meat texture. The breadcrumbs will retain moisture so you don’t  need the same pockets to capture juice that you would want with a burger. I have a package of nitrile kitchen gloves for this and other tasks in my kitchen.  You should too.  It makes meatballing so much more pleasant.   If using the food processor, mix just to combine.  Over mixing will make your balls dense and tough.  

  8. Gently fold in the blue cheese.  You want little pockets of cheese in the meat balls.  

  9. If you are concerned with the level of seasoning (salt and pepper)  Make a small patty and cook it in the garlic pan.  Once it is cooked you can taste it.  Not salty enough?  Add salt.  

  10. Grab a chunk of the meatball mixture about the size of a loosely formed fist.  I scoop it like my hand is an ice cream scoop.  Then roll it gently between hands to for a ball.  It doesn’t need to be perfect but don’t squeeze it. The tiger it is packed the denser it will be. I make meatballs about the size of a golfball.  That is bigger than my mother-in-law and smaller than most restaurants.  Choose your own adventure. 

  11.  As you make them line them up on the sheet tray. 

  12. Melt a stick of butter and whisk in a cup of hot sauce.  I like Louisiana style hot sauce, especially Crystal.   

  13. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes.  Use a probe thermometer to check that they have reached an internal temperature of 160.  This is what I use for the golf ball sized balls I make.  If I’m going to continue to cook them in sauce I pull them at 12 minutes and transfer them to the sauce.