This is a go to healthy lunch prep for me! I’ve been making it for years and have had plenty of time to perfect this recipe. It’s easy to make and I’ve been able to flex it to accommodate the wideeeeeeeeeee variety of diets I’ve followed (Paleo, Keto, Whole30 to name a few). You can easily leave out the bread crumbs to lower the carb count or subtract the blue cheese if you’re avoiding dairy. The buffalo sauce is so flavorful it really makes this dish. I love to pair this with my healthy version of ranch dressing (Greek yogurt + ranch seasoning packet) but it goes great with regular ranch dressing as well. These meatballs are great for an appetizer (especially for football season!) and for a meal I like to serve with roasted sweet potato slices and garlic-y green beans.
Serving Size: 4 servings
Ingredients for Meatballs:
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 finely shredded carrot
- 1/4 cup Franks buffalo sauce + more to toss at the end
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp oregano
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese (optional)
Ingredients for Dip:
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 1 tbsp ranch dressing packet (or more to taste)
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 F
- In a large mixing bowl combine all of the meatball ingredients and mix well.
- Divide mix and form into 16 evenly sized balls. Tip: Spray your hands with cooking spray so the meat mixture doesn’t stick.
- Heat a large cast iron skillet on medium heat and add 1 tbsp of oil. Once hot add in meatballs and cook for 2-3 minutes per side until browned.
- Transfer the cast iron skillet to the oven to finish cooking the meatballs. This should take around 10 minutes, I like to use my thermometer to ensure the meatballs are at 165 F.
- Put meatballs into a medium mixing bowl and drizzle with more Franks Buffalo Sauce and toss to evenly coat.
- Mix together Greek yogurt and ranch seasoning packet to make a quick and healthy dipping sauce and serve alongside meatballs!
