Thai Chicken Meatballs with Spicy Soy Glaze

I was browsing the cookbook section of my local Barnes and Nobles the other day, like you do, and noticed an intriguingly titled cookbook. The Dude Diet: clean(ish) food for people who like to eat dirty. A big plate of nachos graced the cover. It seemed like the kind of book I could cook for a certain someone from (unlike my recent fling with Middle Eastern cookbooks, which hasn't been received enthusiastically). Curious, I started flipping through and discovered a new favorite cookbook in the process.

Yet another blog success story, the Dude Diet was born when Serena Wolf's boyfriend discovered the scale wasn't actually broken... There are plenty of cookbooks out there with slimmed-down versions of everyone's favorite recipes, but many of them sacrifice flavor, visual appeal, crunch, or something else to get there. Everything I've made from The Dude Diet has been absolutely delicious, with an added bonus that it's also health(ish).

These Thai chicken meatballs from the Dude Diet are so simple and fast to make, I've already made a couple batches. They freeze well for future meals and they're also simple to reheat, remaining tender where other meatball recipes I've tried in the past toughen after reheating. The most time-consuming part of making these is ensuring your green onions, garlic, ginger, and herbs have been chopped as finely as possible so they don't mar the texture of the meatball.

Serena's recipe for Thai chicken meatballs calls for chia seeds and cilantro, of which you might have neither in your pantry. If you dislike cilantro, it's okay to use a little Thai sweet basil in its place, along with some red curry paste or sweet chili sauce to make for the missing flavor. If the chia seeds cause you to hesitate, I highly recommend trying them in this recipe. I dislike chia seeds in most contexts, but you can't tell they're here at all since they just act as the binder. If it's not possible to use them, replace them with a little egg and panko bread crumbs to bind the meatballs instead.

Even without the glaze, the cilantro, ginger, garlic, and green onions load these little Thai chicken meatballs with a ton of flavor. With the glaze, they have a hint of hint from the sriracha, a hint of sweetness from the honey, and lot of umami flavor from the soy sauce. I could not really taste the lime juice distinctly, but it's in there to add a little acidity and brightness to an otherwise salty-sweet sauce. Does it look like my glaze isn't very thick? I think it might have needed another minute or few to really thicken up, but I was impatient and figured as sauce or glaze it would be good. Not feeling the glaze? Add the cooked meatballs to make a meal out of lightened-up Pad Thai zoodles or cauliflower fried rice or vegetable curry. Or toss the meatballs in their glaze, then serve over a bed of greens. Even if you're craving a bowl full of real noodles, these Thai chicken meatballs are versatile enough to work. On a day like today, I added them to my spicy ramen along with some baby spinach and mushrooms and curled up on the couch with my latest acquisition: the Vanilla Bean Baking Book. Here's looking at you, burnt honey cake.

Thai Chicken Meatballs

This meatballs are really easy to make and packed with flavor. Eat them by themselves or enjoy over rice noodles, veggie noodles, shredded cabbage salad or wrap them in lettuce for a handheld snack. Don't have chia seeds? Hate cilantro? See the notes. I'm normally pretty lazy about finely chopping my seasonings, but it's imperative here, or else the texture of your meatballs will be ruined by big pieces of whatever.

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Course: Main

Cuisine: Thai

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Refrigeration time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings: 18 meatballs, serves 3-4

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 1 pound ground chicken or 93% lean ground turkey
• 3 garlic cloves finely minced
• 1 ½ teaspoons grated fresh ginger
• 3 scallions white and light green part only, finely chopped
• 3-4 tablespoons fresh cilantro* leaves finely chopped
• 1 ½ teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons chia seeds**

Glaze

• 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• Juice of ½ lime about 1-2 tablespoons
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ½ - 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce depending on if you like spicy food

Instructions

• In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients for the meatballs. Use your hands to mix until all the ingredients are well-distributed. No one wants to bite into a clump of cilantro or garlic.
• Cover the meatball mixture and refrigerate it for 30 minutes, giving the chia seeds time to gel.
• Preheat the oven to 400 F and line a half-sheet pan (or larger) with parchment paper. (A 9-by-13'' pan is too small.)
• Place your hands under cold water briefly to dampen them (this will help with forming the meatballs). Very gently, roll tablespoon-sized portions of the meatball mixture into balls. Don't squeeze the mixture, otherwise you'll wind up with tough meatballs.
• Place the shaped meatballs on the baking sheet, leaving space between each one. If you used exactly 1 pound of ground meat, you should have 18 evenly-sized meatballs.
• Bake for 20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until the meatballs are lightly browned. They should be fully cooked through, with an internal temperature of about 160-165 F on an instant read thermometer when taken out of the oven.
• While the meatballs bake, prepare the glaze. Whisk together the ingredients in a large skillet (one large enough to hold the meatballs). Bring the glaze to a boil and let boil for another minute, at which point it should thicken a little because of the honey. Add the cooked meatballs to the skillet and toss them in the glaze to coat. Serve them warm.

Notes

*Can't stand cilantro? You could simply omit the cilantro and continue with the recipe, although your meatballs won't be quite as flavorful. Instead, add 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh Thai basil and 1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce or red curry paste..
**If you don't like chia seeds because you don't like chia seed pudding, the chia seed fad, or for some similar reason, you'll be pleasantly surprised here. The chia seeds simply act as a binder like egg would, while adding some extra fiber to your meatballs. Don't have access to chia seeds? You can use ¼ cup panko bread crumbs plus one egg instead to bind your meatballs.