Chicken Meatballs and Brown Rice

Dill-and-garlic chicken meatballs baked with lemony brown rice and served with a creamy egg-lemon sauce.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Greek-Inspired

Keyword Meatballs, Rice

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 15

Servings -6 people

Calories 527kcal

Preheat the oven to 375F.
Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large oven safe skillet or braiser over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the diced onion to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes until just softened. Then, add the minced garlic, lemon zest, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Cook for 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Add the rice and stir well to coat with the oils in the pan.
Stir in the lemon juice, boiling chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, turn off the heat. Cover the skillet with a lid or aluminum foil and transfer to the preheated oven and bake for 38 minutes.

While the rice is in the oven, make the meatballs. In a bowl mix together all of the meatball ingredients until combined. Once combined, scoop about 2 heaping tablespoons at a time and form into meatballs – you’ll get 14-16 meatballs. Place each meatball onto a plate and then set aside.

After 38 minutes, remove the rice from the oven.
Nestle the meatballs into the rice, cover again with foil and place back in the oven for 22 minutes, until the rice is cooked through (it will be tender with a bit of a bite, just like the texture of barley) and the meatballs are cooked through to an internal temperature of 165F.
Let sit for a few minutes while you make the creamy lemon sauce.

Using a blender, blend together the water or chicken broth along with lemon juice, 1 tbsp cornstarch and 2 eggs. Transfer to a small pot over medium heat, stirring often and let it thicken as the sauce cooks – about 3-4 minutes. Season with 1 tsp salt. Remove from the heat.

Before serving, fluff the rice with a fork and then serve the meatballs and rice drizzled with the creamy lemon sauce and garnished with fresh dill.