Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

I thought the Fontina-Stuffed Veal Meatballs were the best meatballs ever, but now I don’t know. These Buffalo Chicken Meatballs are pretty amazing. It is like having a boneless hot wing with double, or maybe triple the flavor! Not to mention that when paired with bleu cheese dip, it’s a perfect match. These were cooked in my trusty meatball basket on the barbecue – however, the recipe below is to bake these in the oven. If you are able to cook these on the BBQ; cook for 20 minutes, flipping every 5 minutes, over medium-high heat.

Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ cup red onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ cup parsley, chopped
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 pound ground white meat chicken
• 3 tablespoons butter
• ½ cup hot sauce (such as Frank’s RedHot Sauce)
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• chopped scallions for garnish

Directions

1. Heat olive oil on medium-high heat in skillet. Add onion, garlic, parsley, black pepper and salt. Sauté until onions are tender.
2. Place onion mixture in bowl to cool. (I used this time to cut the celery and carrot sticks)

3. Mix ground chicken with onion mixture. Use your hands; it will get mixed the best this way.
4. Place in refrigerator for 15 minutes
5. Preheat oven to 350
6. Make 1.5 inch meatballs and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until meatballs are golden brown

7. While meatballs are baking; heat butter, hot sauce and black pepper in saucepan over medium heat until bubbling then remove from heat. Stir frequently
8. Toss baked meatballs with hot sauce in bowl, garnish with scallions. Serve with bleu cheese dressing/dip, carrot and celery sticks
9. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Rachael Ray