Name: Chicken Meatballs
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: 6 white button mushrooms; ½ medium yellow onion; 2 cups grated pumpkin ((carrot, sweet potato, or butternut squash)); 2 cloves garlic ((chopped)); ¼ cup chopped parsley; 1 pound ground chicken ((or ground turkey)); ½ cup breadcrumbs; ⅓ cup milk; 2 large eggs; ½ teaspoon salt; ¾ teaspoon black pepper; ½ teaspoon dried or fresh rosemary; ½ teaspoon oregano ((or Italian seasoning blend)); 1 teaspoon garlic powder

These healthy Chicken Meatballs are delicious and fiber-rich. Plus, they’re versatile enough to meal prep and use in all sorts of ways throughout the week!

Your New Favorite Chicken Meatball Recipe

In the past, I’ve made a version of ground turkey or ground chicken meatballs with carrots, a little onion, garlic, and herbs. They’re great, but we’ve all been trying to up our fiber intake and the variety of vegetables we eat each day.

So on a recent weeknight, I decided to see just how far I could push a pound of ground chicken. I whipped up these meatballs for dinner with the goal of incorporating more fiber and more flavor.

My dad had recently processed a large Italian pumpkin (a variety of violina rugosa butternut), so I grated some to go into the meatballs, finely chopped white button mushrooms (though humble, they’re one of the healthiest—not to mention accessible—mushrooms you can eat), and all the usual meatball suspects—garlic, onion, herbs, breadcrumbs, and a splash of milk.

I just baked them in the oven (easy!) and loved the extra body that the pumpkin added! The mushrooms added lots of flavor and also beta-glucans and prebiotic fiber, which are both excellent for overall health. If you don’t have pumpkin, you can use carrot, sweet potato or butternut squash. All would work great.

A Versatile Building Block for Multiple Kinds of Meals

I love having a container of these meatballs baked up and ready in my fridge, because I can simmer them in marinara sauce and make a classic spaghetti and meatball meal, pop one or two as a satisfying snack with a piece of buttered toast, or serve a few on top of a salad.

meatballs in marinara sauce over spaghetti

You could also make a mean meatball sub melted with mozzarella or provolone cheese. If you brush them with ketchup before you bake them, you can serve them with mashed potatoes and veg as a tasty substitute for meatloaf!

It’s a great recipe for those of us who want to prepare meals in advance, but get a little bored eating the same thing multiple times a week.

Let’s get to the recipe!

Chicken Meatballs Recipe Instructions

Prepare a baking sheet lined with foil and parchment. Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C.

Finely chop the button mushrooms and the onion. Grate the pumpkin, carrot or sweet potato using the coarse side of a box grater or the grating attachment of a food processor. Finely chop the garlic and parsley.

Transfer everything to a large mixing bowl. Add the ground chicken, the breadcrumbs, milk, and 2 large eggs. Season with salt, black pepper, rosemary, oregano, and garlic powder. Using clean hands or a wooden spoon, mix everything thoroughly until you have a cohesive meatball mixture.

chicken meatball ingredients in glass bowl

Because the meatballs are 50% vegetables, these meatballs aren’t as easy to roll out by hand and are best scooped out with an ice cream scoop. You can also use two spoons to shape the meatballs. You may need to pack the filling a little bit to form more of a “ball.” Scoop heaping mounds onto the parchment paper, spacing the meatballs about a ½-inch (1cm) apart. You should be able to fit about 5 meatballs in a row, with 6 rows, give or take a meatball.

Transfer to the preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.

chicken meatballs on baking sheet before baking

These are great for meal prep, freezer storage, and packed lunches!

Serving Suggestions

To give meatballs more of a meatloaf flavor, brush with ketchup before baking. Serve with a side of veggies and mashed potatoes!
If serving the meatballs in a marinara, transfer baked meatballs to a simmering pot of your favorite jarred marinara sauce (24 ounces will do it), and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring periodically to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom and burn. Serve over pasta, or with a side of rice or salad.
Make a pesto meatball pasta: toss freshly cooked pasta with prepared pesto, some pasta water, and cooked meatballs.
Serve baked meatballs on top of a nice green salad, or with a side of roasted potatoes and sauteed vegetables.

healthy chicken meatballs in marinara over spaghetti

Make-Ahead Instructions

You can easily cook these meatballs and freeze them for a later date in a resealable bag or other airtight container. This is great if you’re only using a few at a time, or you’re meal-prepping a future dinner. They’re best eaten within 2 months or so.

I would toss them straight from frozen right into a pot of simmering marinara sauce or pop them in the air fryer to reheat them for, say, 7-8 minutes at 350°F/175°C.