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, but seriously they make all the difference and are not a huge amount of points 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:
or you could even go for some noodles. Need some other inspiration? Check out all these Sides Dishes.
How can I add a ⅓ veg 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 ⅓ vegetables. 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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Recipe Card
Firecracker Chicken Meatballs (Instant Pot and Stove Top)
Tender Firecracker Chicken Meatballs in an amazing spicy and sweet sauce, it will become a regular feature on your meal plan.
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 500g (17.6oz) of extra lean ground chicken (or turkey)
- ¼ cup of breadcrumbs
- 1 small carrot, grated
- 2 spring onions (green onions) finely chopped
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- ½ teaspoon of red chilli flakes
- ½ teaspoon of ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon of onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder
- pinch of salt
For the sauce
- 2 tbs of sriracha sauce (add more or less depending on your spice level)
- 2 tbs of brown sugar
- 2 tbs of soy sauce
- 2 tbs of tomato paste
- 1 clove of garlic crushed
- 2 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger root
- 1 cup of water
- salt and black pepper
- 2 spring onions, finely chopped
- pinch of sesame seeds
- cooking oil spray
Instructions
Stove Top:
- Add the ingredients for the meatballs to a mixing bowl, mix till all combined
- Form into meatballs.
- Spray a frying pan over a medium high heat with cooking oil spray
- Add meatballs and cook until lightly browned all over.
- Mix together the sriracha, brown sugar, soy sauce, tomato paste, garlic, ginger and water.
- Add to the pan and simmer on a medium heat until meatballs are cooked through and the sauce reduces down into a thicker sauce that coats the meatballs.
- Season as needed with salt and black pepper
- Sprinkle with chopped spring onions and a pinch of sesame seeds.
- Serve with your choice of sides.
Instant Pot:
- Add the ingredients for the meatballs to a mixing bowl, mix till all combined
- Form into meatballs.
- Set instant pot to saute mode, spray with cooking oil spray, once it displays hot.
- Add the meatballs (in two batches) and lightly brown all over.
- Remove and set aside
- Mix together the sriracha, brown sugar, soy sauce, tomato paste, garlic, ginger and water.
- Add to the instant pot and stir to deglaze the pan.
- Add back in the meatballs.
- Add lid, close valve (if not self sealing), set to manual high pressure for 4 minutes. All pressure to release naturally for 5 minutes then release any remaining pressure.
- Spoon out meatballs into a bowl, set to saute mode and let sauce simmer until desired thickness
- Pour sauce over meatballs
- Sprinkle with chopped spring onions and a pinch of sesame seeds.
- Serve with your choice of sides.
Notes
Please see below for full nutritional info and additional details about recipe:
- Calories - scroll down to nutritional info box
- WW Points and other Slimming or Weight Loss programs - due to plans regularly changing and updating, we recommend calculating with the official tools you get as a member to those plans to ensure accuracy of values.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 266Total Fat 10.5gSaturated Fat 4.9gCholesterol 151mgSodium 783mgCarbohydrates 17.1gFiber 1.7gSugar 7.7gProtein 25.9g
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.
Sharon Langdale says
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.
Liz van Loon says
Somehow i can't get ground chicken in UK. Will look again. Would ground beef work or ground pork??
Thank you.
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
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.
SW says
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!
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
thanks so much for the lovely remark. So glad to hear this was a hit with the kids too.
Lynn Lomax says
Would love to try this recipe but live in Spain so have not got sriracha sauce can you suggest a replacement?
Siobhan (Slimming Eats) says
Any red chili sauce should be fine
Susan says
I don't eat meat but do you think the sauce would go with salmon or prawns?
Siobhan (Slimming Eats) says
yes it would be lovely with fish.
Paul L says
These are just the best. Amazing. Froze half and came out even better. Had to let the sauce out with a bit extra water.
Had with stir fry veg and jasmine rice.
Sooo good.
Julie Gregory says
Made these last night,absolutely delicious as are all of your recipes.
Lorraine says
Wow! Wow! Wow!
Somehow this recipe has evaded my previous searches of your website Siobhan, but not anymore! What a ripper, with superb flavour, just the right amount of heat and tingly lips afterwards!
This was wonderful with rice and some stir fried veg as you suggested.
Thankfully we get to have it again as there is only 2 of us, 2 more serves to go!
We really loved it (in case you hadn’t guessed), also got husband approval!
Thank you for a great recipe.
Angelan Loughran says
Made these for the first time tonight and they were fabulous and had so much flavour. I used turkey mince and didn't use the egg as my husband can't have them and the meatballs still turned out really lovely. Used washbi siracha which made the sauce extra spicy but that was not a problem for us as we like a bit of spice. Thanks again for another brilliant recipe.