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These creamy marry me chicken meatballs are easy, healthy, and truly restaurant-worthy. Your whole family will love these tender homemade meatballs tossed in a lightened up garlicky creamy sun-dried tomato sauce. They’re SO incredibly flavorful.
Step Aside Spaghetti And Meatballs
This creamy meatball version of my Marry Me Chicken Pasta is the perfect addition to your weeknight dinner rotation. There’s just nothing better than a creamy sauce for dinner (speaking of, you have to try my Feta Chicken Bake)!
It’s also a great recipe to have on hand to impress dinner guests- it’s that good! Here’s why you’ll love it.
- Lightened up. Even though it tastes indulgent, the meatballs are made with lean ground chicken and the creamy sauce is made from mostly milk (and way less heavy cream and butter).
- Restaurant-worthy. This dish is packed with tons of creamy garlicky sun-dried tomato flavor. It truly is SO good and the sauce is perfect for dunking crusty bread into.
- High protein. Each serving has 28 grams of protein to keep you full and fueled.
- Quick and easy. This recipe comes together quickly and there are no complicated steps, making it perfect for getting a delicious healthy meal on the dinner table during busy weeknights.
If you love lightened up creamy dishes like I do, you’ll also love my Alfredo Meatballs and Cottage Cheese Pasta Sauce.
Ingredients
For full recipe instructions and complete list of ingredients, scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of this page.
- Ground Chicken: Lean ground chicken is the perfect high protein base for the meatballs and takes on all of the amazing flavors.
- Panko breadcrumbs + parmesan: Helps to hold the meatballs together!
- Egg: Egg also helps the meatballs bind together.
- Sun-dried tomatoes + oil from jar: Adds so much flavor to these meatballs, and the oil infuses even more flavor plus moisture. Regular olive oil works too.
Sauce Ingredients
- Milk + a splash of heavy cream: The base is mostly milk with just a little heavy cream, making this recipe way lighter.
- Butter: You’ll only need 1 tablespoon of butter for that classic cream sauce flavor to make the roux, along with some all purpose flour.
- Sun-dried tomatoes + tomato paste: For just the right amount of tomato flavor.
- Baby spinach: Veggies add a boost of color and nutrition.
- Parmesan cheese: You’ll find parmesan in both the meatballs and sauce.
- Lemon juice: For just the right amount of acidity and brightness.
- Fresh garlic + spices: Simple ingredients like garlic, onion powder, red pepper flakes, salt and black pepper add tons of flavor to the sauce and meatballs.
Variations
- Change up your meat: Use ground turkey, beef or pork instead.
- Add herbs: Stir in 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme or rosemary, or add a few tablespoons of fresh basil.
- More veggies: Add 2 cups of cooked broccoli or cauliflower florets when you add the spinach.
- Italian-seasoned chicken meatballs: Add 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning to the meatball mixture or add chopped basil.
How To Make Marry Me Chicken Meatballs
- Start preparing meatballs. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add all meatball ingredients into a large bowl.
- Mix the meatballs. Mix meatball mixture well until thoroughly combined.
- Form the meatballs. Drop 2 tablespoon sized balls of mixture onto the baking sheet (or use a cookie scoop). Roll lightly in your hands to shape (makes about 20 meatballs).
- Bake. Bake for 15 minutes (internal temp of meatballs should be 165 degrees F).
- Make the roux. While meatballs bake, prepare the sauce. Add butter and garlic to a large saute pan over medium-low heat. When the butter has melted and garlic is fragrant, sprinkle evenly with flour.
- Add tomato paste. Continue cooking for 1-2 minutes until flour starts to brown, stirring continuously. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for an additional minute or so until color begins to deepen.
- Add milk and cream. Slowly stir in milk and heavy cream, whisking to combine.
- Add meatballs, tomatoes and spinach. Add chicken meatballs to the pan along with sun-dried tomatoes, spinach and seasonings. Cook an additional 5 minutes until spinach is wilted and sauce is thickened.
- Add cheese. Stir in parmesan cheese and lemon juice.
- Serve! Serve over pasta, rice, roasted potatoes, or even as a meatball sub sandwich.
How to Store
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Make sure to reheat meatballs to 165 degrees F. Stir in a splash of milk or chicken broth when reheating to help keep it creamy.
Serving Suggestions
These chicken marry me meatballs are great on their own, but here are my favorite ways to serve them.
- Over pasta (or chickpea pasta for protein and fiber).
- As a meatball sub with melted mozzarella.
- Over rice or orzo.
- With a simple salad.
My Pro Tip
Tips for Success
- Use a cookie scoop. Save time and use a cookie scoop to scoop “balls” onto the baking sheet. They come out perfect every time and save your hands from getting messy.
- Use at least 2% milk. I like Fairlife milk because it’s extra creamy, but any 2% works. The sauce won’t turn out the same with a lower fat milk.
- Double the meatballs. Meal prep hack- make double the meatballs and freeze them for next time. Then all you have to do is defrost them and make the sauce when you’re ready!
If you’ve made and loved this Marry Me Chicken Meatballs or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and comments below!
More Healthy Dinner Recipe Ideas
Marry Me Chicken Meatballs
Delicious homemade chicken meatballs tossed in a lightened up garlicky, sun-dried tomato sauce that's restaurant-worthy.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1 egg, whisked
- 1 tbsp oil from sun-dried tomato jar, or olive oil
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced or microplane
- 2 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes, diced small
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Sauce ingredients
- 1 tbsp butter, or olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 2 cup milk, 2%
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated or shredded
- 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
- 2 cups spinach, roughly chopped
- 1/4 tsp salt, more to taste
- 1/8 tsp black pepper, more to taste
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, more to taste
- 1-2 tsp lemon juice , more to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and cooking spray.
- Prepare the meatballs: Add all meatball ingredients into a large bowl and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Drop 2 tablespoon sized balls of mixture onto the prepared baking sheet (or use a cookie scoop). Roll lightly in your hands to shape (makes about 20 meatballs). Bake for 15 minutes (internal temp of meatballs should be 165 degrees F).
- While the meatballs bake, prepare the sauce. Add butter and garlic to a large saute pan over medium-low heat.
- When the butter has melted and garlic is fragrant, sprinkle evenly with flour. Continue cooking for 1-2 minutes until flour starts to brown, stirring continuously.
- Slowly stir in milk and heavy cream whisking to combine. Add tomato paste and stir to combine.
- Add chicken meatballs to the pan along with sundried tomatoes, spinach and seasonings. Cook an additional 5 minutes until spinach is wilted and sauce is thickened.
- Stir in parmesan cheese and lemon juice.
- Serve over pasta, rice or roasted potatoes.
Notes
Pro tip: Use a cookie scoop and scoop the meatball mixture right onto the sheet pan and avoid messy hands for shaping the meatballs!
Nutrition
Serving: 4meatballs + sauce | Calories: 362kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 28g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 134mg | Sodium: 729mg | Potassium: 1097mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 1735IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 326mg | Iron: 3mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should only be used as an estimate.
Did you try this recipe?Leave a comment + star rating below!
I made this and LOVED it. The sauce was amazing. Definitely in the rotation men
One question – you mentioned tomato paste in the directions but I didn’t see it in the ingredient list (definitely could have missed it). I did a tablespoon but wanted to know the amount you recommend. Thanks!
Yay! I’m so glad you loved it! Thanks for letting me know it was missing- I just added it back. You guessed correctly it’s 1 tablespoon so perfect!