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This chicken meatballs recipe is so tasty. They are protein-packed and mixed with the delicious flavors of feta, oregano, olives, and sundried tomatoes. This recipe is such a good one for those busy weeknights. You can even prep these in advance for the week to toss in salads, eat on their own, or with rice and other delicious side dishes.
Why You’ll Love This Chicken Meatballs Recipe
- Quick: This chicken meatballs recipe only takes 30 minutes to make which makes it a quick and easy meal for those busy weeknights
- Versatile: You can switch things up in this recipe. Swap out the oregano for thyme, rosemary, or basil. You can also use turkey breast, instead of chicken
- Comforting: I love a good meatball and I love how you can eat meatballs on their own or serve them in so many ways. They make for a great, comfort food during the fall and winter
Ingredients
Olives – A necessity in my Greek kitchen. Olives are so tasty but also so good for you. They’re high in vitamin E and other antioxidants. In this meatball recipe, you can use black or green olives.
Maria Koutsogiannia
Maria is the creator of FoodByMaria and your go-to Greek food expert for cozy, flavor-packed recipes. Inspired by her Mediterranean roots, she brings traditional Greek flavors, feel-good ingredients, and a whole lot of joy to everyday cooking.
Sundried Tomatoes – Rich in minerals, antioxidants, and minerals, sundried tomatoes add so much flavor to recipes. You can add them to salads, casseroles, and other dishes, and they add a pop of flavor while providing a high concentration of antioxidants.
How to Make This Chicken Meatballs Recipe
- To a food processor add the onion and garlic and pulse to chop into small pieces. Add the chicken pieces, 2 tbsp olive oil, feta cheese, egg, panko breadcrumbs, dried oregano, chili flakes, green olives, sundried tomatoes, salt and pepper. Pulse to chop/combine everything, until the chicken starts to break down into more of a ground meat texture, making sure not to over-mix into a paste. Pour mixture into a bowl or scoop directly out of the food processor, about 2 tbsp at a time and form into meatballs.
- Heat a large non-stick skillet to medium heat. Add 1 tbsp olive oil and then the meatballs, cooking to brown each side, turning every few minutes and until each meatball is cooked through and reaches an internal temperature of 165F, about 15-20 minutes. Remove all of the meatballs to a plate (if needed cook the meatballs in batches).
- If desired, make our butter and lemon sauce in the same pan as you cooked the meatballs in – it goes perfectly with the meatballs!
Tips and Tricks
- No Food Processor? Make this recipe by chopping the ingredients and replacing chicken breasts with ground chicken instead
- Meatballs Crumbling? Add a bit more egg to your mixture but start small. You can also put the mixture in the fridge for 15 minutes and then roll the balls
- Meat Sticking to Hands? Rub or spray some olive oil on your hands before rolling
Variations & Substitutions
- Turkey: Swap out the chicken with ground turkey or turkey breasts instead
- Herbs: You can swap the oregano with whatever herbs you prefer, of course, it’ll just give a different pop of flavor
- Olives: Use black olives instead of green olives if you prefer
Best served with
How to Store Leftovers
These meatballs can be stored in an airtight container for 3-4 days in the fridge. You can also freeze them. I’d recommend freezing them on a baking tray and then moving them to a bag or container so they don’t all stick together.
Common Questions
A lightly beaten egg will help as a binder when making meatballs.
When you roll your meatballs, do it lightly. You do not need to pack them down hard. By packing/rolling them too tight this can cause them to cook and be tough.
You can use oats, or even crumbled crackers or potato chips. You’ll definitely get a different flavor but if you’re in a pinch, these can make great substitutes.
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Ingredients
- 1 small yellow onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 450-500 g (about 1lb) chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
- ½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- ¼ tsp chili flakes
- ¼ cup green olives, chopped
- ¼ cup sundried tomatoes
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
Instructions
Start Cooking- To a food processor add the onion and garlic and pulse to chop into small pieces. Add the chicken pieces, 2 tbsp olive oil, feta cheese, egg, panko breadcrumbs, dried oregano, chili flakes, green olives, sundried tomatoes, salt and pepper. Pulse to chop / combine everything, until the chicken starts to break down into more of a ground meat texture, making sure not to over-mix into a paste.Pour mixture into a bowl or scoop directly out of the food processor, about 2 tbsp at a time and form into meatballs.
- Heat a large non stick skillet to medium heat. Add 1 tbsp olive oil and then the meatballs, cooking to brown each side, turning every few minutes and until each meatball is cooked through and reaches an internal temperature of 165F, about 15-20 minutes. Remove all of the meatballs to a plate (if needed cook the meatballs in batches).
- If desired, make our Butter & Lemon Sauce in the same pan as you cooked the meatballs in – it goes perfectly with the meatballs!
Notes
- If you don’t have a food processor, you can make these meatballs with ground chicken and make sure to mince and/or dice all of the ingredients before mixing together to form the meatballs.
26 people are discussing this recipe. Join in
These are the most delicious meatballs ever. I love them in all kinds of preparations, but today that was served over some pesto and it was so good. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Thank you so much, Emily!!!
EXCELLENT! THANKS!
thank you so much!!!!
This is a ‘wow’ recipe, definitely will be in rotation~ thank you
Thank you so much!! that makes me so happy!!!
We loved this recipe! It was quick and easy to throw together after work for our family. We subbed turkey for chicken meat because it’s what we had in hand!
Thank you so much!!!!!!!!
These were so good! Recipe is super easy to follow and cook time was perfect. I used ground chicken and finely chopped everything. Can’t wait to try more!
Thank you so much, Emily!!!
This dish was amazing! My family absolutely LOVED it – even those who are not normally wild about chicken! Although the meatballs could totally stand on their own as they’re packed with flavor, we served it with the lemon butter sauce which was also delicious. The only modification I made was making them larger patties instead of meatballs as I found it easier to cook. This will definitely become a regular in our household! Thanks Maria!
THANK YOU SO MUCH SHERRI!!!
These meatballs smelled so good even raw. We fried one up and heaven. So good and flavorful. Can’t wait to have them with the sauce for dinner tonight. I will add I despise olives but trusted the recipe. I used castelvetrano olives because they are milder. So good.
Seriously, we expected these meatballs to be good but they blew us away. So glad I made a double batch and put some in the freezer. Will be an awesome easy dinner when we are too tired to do much.
thank you so much, dawn! This makes me so happy!
These were amazing. Didn’t change one thing. I fried them up, tasted one, and then didn’t even make the cream sauce, they were so good on its own. Second batch, I baked and also still very tasty!
This makes me so happy, thank you Suzie!
I’ve done these meatballs few days ago and they were SO good!!!! Will make them again very soon. 😍
Thank you so much for the love!
I LOVED this recipe! It was a hit with my husband, and my parents. None of us are huge fans of olives so that was the only thing we changed. I ended up using capers instead of olives and it tasted amazing. Made with the lemon sauce and some rice to go with it. I’m holding on to this recipe forever, it’s gonna be a go-to!
YAY!! This makes me so happy, thank you for your support hunnie!