Tender Firecracker Chicken Meatballs in an amazing spicy and sweet sauce, it will become a regular feature on your meal plan.
Browsing Pinterest for meatball recipes for the extra lean ground chicken I had in the fridge. I came across a mouthwatering looking recipe for Firecracker Chicken Meatballs by the Little Spice Jar, that had me drooling at my screen and was totally inspired to create my own Firecracker Chicken Meatballs using my Instant Pot.
One of the toughest things when using extra lean ground chicken is keeping the meat nice and tender, as it has a tendency to be dry if you don’t combine it with the correct ingredients.
Breadcrumbs and adding some kind of grated vegetable really helps to keep the meatballs nice and tender. You might be tempted to skip on the breadcrumbs to save some syns, but seriously they make all the difference and are not a huge amount of syns when divided into portions.
For the vegetables, I added some finely grated carrot and chopped spring onion which I thought would compliment the flavours of these Firecracker Chicken Meatballs.
That amazing fiery sauce uses a combination of soy sauce, tomatoes, brown sugar and sriracha as well as the usual garlic and ginger because you can’t have an Asian inspired dish without those in my opinion.
Never heard of an Instant Pot? – you are seriously missing out. It is the best kitchen gadget I have purchased. I love this thing so much, that I almost use it EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.
It’s a 7in1 cooker, and it slow cooks, pressure cooks, saute’s, has settings for soup, chilli, rice, porridge and even makes yoghurt (I haven’t tried that yet). Things that would normally take hours can be cooked in minutes and the meat is usually so tender.
Wondering what else you can make in an Instant Pot (pressure cooker)? Check out my Instant Pot Recipes
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Various sides will pair well with these Firecracker Chicken Meatballs. I went for just some plain rice, but here are a few other yummy suggestions:
- Egg Fried Rice
- Egg Fried Cauliflower Rice
- Roasted Cauliflower Rice
- Syn Free Chips
- Crispy Golden Potatoes
or you could even go for some noodles. Need some other inspiration? Check out all these Sides Dishes.
How can I add a 1/3 speed foods to these Firecracker Chicken Meatballs?
There of course is the spring onion and grated carrot in the meatballs to this recipe which will count towards your 1/3 speed foods. I also served alongside some stir-fried veggies – broccoli and shredded carrot, broccoli stalks. A perfect quick and easy side dish for these Firecracker Chicken Meatballs.
What Kitchen Items do I need to make these Firecracker Chicken Meatballs
- Kitchen Scales
- Chopping Board
- Measuring Jug
- Santoku Knife
- Grater
- Mixing Bowl
- Measuring Spoons
- Wooden Spoon
- Instant Pot or Frying Pan
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Tender Firecracker Chicken Meatballs in an amazing spicy and sweet sauce, it will become a regular feature on your meal plan. Stove Top: Instant Pot: Adapted from Little Spice Jar This recipe is dairy free, Slimming World and Weight Watchers friendly *suitable for freezing If you wish to share this recipe, then please do so by using the share buttons provided. Do not screenshot or post recipe or content in full. All images and content on Slimming Eats are copyright protected. Check Legal section, for Full Disclaimer, Disclosure and Privacy Policy. Nutritional information is an estimate and is to be used for informational purposes only. Ingredients can vary greatly from brand to brand and therefore it would be impossible to give accurate information.Firecracker Chicken Meatballs (Instant Pot and Stove Top)
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
For the sauce
Instructions
Notes
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4
Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 266Total Fat: 10.5gSaturated Fat: 4.9gCholesterol: 151mgSodium: 783mgCarbohydrates: 17.1gFiber: 1.7gSugar: 7.7gProtein: 25.9g
We’ve just had these for our evening meal and they were absolutely delicious. The meatballs were so tender cooked in the Instant Pot. This will definitely be a weekend favourite for the husband and I.
Somehow i can’t get ground chicken in UK. Will look again. Would ground beef work or ground pork??
Thank you.
Ground turkey (mince) will work, you can also make your own mince by just pulsing up some lean chicken thigh or breast in a food processor.
I don’t know what syns are and I had to ask Siri how many pounds 500 grams is but I gotta tell you this was the best thing I think I’ve ever made. Ever. In my life. I fully intended to use the instant pot for this until I saw how many meatballs there were and I get annoyed sautéing in small batches, it takes forever. So I used my large electric skillet to brown the meatballs then made the sauce in the electric skillet. I followed the recipe exactly, (assuming that spring onions are what we call green onions in the US) except I didn’t have fresh ginger for the sauce and forgot to add ground ginger. Served with Jasmine rice and roasted broccoli. My teenager said she wanted to eat these meatballs every day for the rest of her life, ha ha. Can’t wait to make them again, thank you so much for such an amazing recipe!
thanks so much for the lovely remark. So glad to hear this was a hit with the kids too.
Would love to try this recipe but live in Spain so have not got sriracha sauce can you suggest a replacement?
Any red chili sauce should be fine
I don’t eat meat but do you think the sauce would go with salmon or prawns?
yes it would be lovely with fish.