Bursting with aromatic spices and succulent flavors, these delectable Curry Chicken Meatballs offer a tantalizing twist on a classic dish. This recipe is sure to please even your toughest food critics at home.
With easy-to-follow instructions and helpful tips along the way, you’ll soon be whipping up restaurant-quality curry chicken meatballs in the comfort of your own kitchen. Check out the recipe ingredient swaps and make the most out of the items you already have in your kitchen.
The curry chicken meatballs are perfect for meal planning or meal prep as well as creating freezer meals. Check out the freezer tips below for some great ideas on creating future meals that your whole family will love while saving yourself time in the kitchen.
Curry Chicken Meatballs
Start by making these flavorful meatballs first. You can eat the finished cooked meatballs as they are or make the delicious coconut curry sauce to serve over the meatballs. I love to simmer the cooked meatballs in this curry sauce for added flavor.
On the low carb diet or paleo diet? Why not make curry chicken meatball bowls using the meatballs and sauce served over your favorite low carb rice substitute such as cauliflower rice.
Just looking for something delicious to eat? Then serve these chicken meatballs over cooked rice with a side dish of your favorite vegetables for a filling and easy to make meal.
Ingredients for Curry Chicken Meatballs:
To make the meatballs you will need the following:
- Ground Chicken – use your favorite brand of ground chicken. You can also swap this out for ground turkey to make curry turkey meatballs. The flavor of ground turkey is mild and works well with the blend of seasonings. Ground pork or ground beef can also be used as the spice mixture tastes great with these as well.
- Shredded Carrots – use finely shredded or finely diced carrots.
- Onion – use finely diced onions
- Seasonings – this recipe uses chili powder, cumin, turmeric, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, salt and black pepper. I also use fresh cilantro but you can use dried cilantro if you have this one hand.
- Optional – Additional fresh cilantro. I love using fresh herbs to sprinkle over the finished dish. If you love the flavor of cilantro you can add additional cilantro over the top of the meatballs right before serving.
To make the coconut curry sauce you will need the following ingredients:
- Olive Oil – use olive oil or your favorite light flavored oil such as vegetable oil or even coconut oil.
- Onion – if possible use a white onion for this recipe as the flavor as it is milder and a bit sweeter than yellow onions.
- Garlic Cloves – use fresh or jarred minced garlic cloves. Don’t have fresh garlic? You can swap this out for 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder or granulated garlic, 1/2 teaspoon garlic paste, 1/2 teaspoon garlic flakes.
- Crushed Tomatoes – you’ll need a 14 ounce can of crushed tomatoes.
- Chicken Broth – you’ll need a 14 ounce can of chicken broth.
- Fresh Jalapeno – you’ll need a fresh jalapeno with the seeds removed and finely chopped. If you have canned or jarred jalapenos available. Swap about 2 tablespoons of chopped canned or jarred jalapenos for a fresh jalapeno.
- Seasonings – curry powder, powdered ginger or ground ginger paste, chili powder and salt.
- Butter – you’ll need a half a stick of your favorite butter. You can substitute margarine or a plant based butter substitute if desired. Butter will give the sauce the best flavor.
- Coconut Milk – use coconut milk or canned coconut cream that does not have added ingredients such as sugar.
How to make Curry Chicken Meatballs:
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
In a large bowl mix together the ground chicken with the shredded carrots, onion and all of the seasonings listed in the meatball ingredients section.
Form into ball shapes about 1 inch in size. Use a well rounded tablespoon of the mixture or small ice cream scoop to quickly portion out equal amounts of ground chicken to make the meatballs.
Gently roll them to form a meatball shape.
Line the meatballs up on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until center is no longer pink.
To make the curry sauce:
In a large pot, over medium heat, add the olive oil, onion and garlic. Sauté, while stirring occasionally until the onions and garlic just begin to brown.
Add the tomatoes, chicken broth, coconut milk, jalapeno, curry powder, ginger, chili powder and salt to the pot. Stir well.
Bring to a low simmer and cook for about 5 minutes to soften the onions and blend the seasoning flavors.
Add the butter to the pot, allow it to melt and stir in. Add the chicken meatballs in and simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Serve the meatballs and curry sauce over rice, cauliflower rice or even mixed vegetables.
Top each bowl with a sprinkle of some additional fresh cilantro for added flavor.
Looking to switch up the flavor a bit? You can also top the meatballs with some of the following:
- Thinly sliced green onions
- A squeeze of lime juice
- A pinch of chili flakes for added heat
- Drizzle a teaspoon or two of toasted sesame oil into the finished red curry sauce
- Add a piece of lemon grass to the sauce mixture while it is simmering for added flavor
- Stir in a bit of red curry paste, green curry paste, a teaspoon or two of fish sauce, a splash of soy sauce or coconut aminos into the finished broth for a change in flavor
- Serve with crisp sautéed sweet red bell pepper slices, green beans or even baby bok choy
How to store Curry Chicken Meatballs:
Store any leftover meatballs and curry sauce in an airtight container for 5 to 7 days.
Want to store this dish even longer? Check out the freezer tips below.
Cooking Tips:
If you don’t care for spicy food leave out the jalapeno from the sauce.
I like a little spice in my curry. After a little incident that involved getting some of the jalapeno on my face (actually I rubbed on eye with the back of what I thought was a clean hand) after cutting fresh ones (the burning went on for HOURS) I discovered that you can purchase dried and freeze dried jalapenos. Total game changer in the kitchen!
Now I can pick how much heat I want, don’t have to waste any leftovers AND I will never end up with accidentally (even after wearing gloves) getting the juice from sliced, fresh jalapenos on my face again! Check these out in your local stores or order them online from Amazon:
Freezer Tips:
I love a recipe that can easily be turned into a freezer meal. There’s lots of different methods for making freezer meals:
- Freezing fully cooked meals
- Freezing bags of portioned out ingredients to cook later
- Freezing cooked/uncooked part of the meal that takes the most time to make
I’ve done them all over the last 30 years! What I discovered is my family does not care for freezer meals that have been cooked and just need to be warmed up. In their eyes, they are eating leftovers and they didn’t care for those types of meals.
Instead, I found I could freeze the parts of a meal that took the most time to help save me time when making the recipe on a different day. Meatballs are just the type of recipe that falls into this method of freezer meal.
Here’s my time saving steps to help you make your own freezer meals:
- Make the recipe for a single meal to make sure your family will love it! It’s a waste of money to make larger batches for freezing only to find out your family does not enjoy the recipe.
- For your next meal you will make a triple or even a double batch. Eat one meal that day and the extra will be frozen for future meals.
This meal can be frozen several ways:
- Freeze cooked or uncooked meatballs
- Save even more time by freezing the meat mixture as a meatloaf rather than spending time making meatballs
- Freeze bags of the curry chicken mixture, before cooking day thaw and follow the steps to shape and cook meatballs
- Freeze cooked meal (meatballs with curry sauce) then heat up and serve with freshly made rice and vegetables
Always make sure to package your freezer meals in freezer storage bags. These bags are a thicker plastic when compared to storage bags so it holds up better in the low temperatures of the freezer.
Always mark the name of the recipe and the date made on the bag. No matter what you think you will eventually forget what’s in the bag and when it was made. I use a Sharpie marker for this. It’s just easier for me.
This recipe freezes well for up to 6 months.
Looking for other curry or Asian inspired dishes? Then check out these recipes:
Chicken Makhani (Butter Chicken)
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Curry Chicken Meatballs
Equipment
- Large pot
- Large mixing bowl
Ingredients
Chicken Meatballs
- 2 pounds ground chicken
- 1/2 cup carrots shredded or finely diced
- 1/2 medium Onions finely diced
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric
- 1 teaspoon dried cilantro
- 1 teaspoon Garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
Curry Sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium Onions diced
- 2 cloves Garlic, minced
- 14 ounces crushed tomatoes canned
- 14 ounces chicken broth canned
- 1 jalapeno diced
- 2 tablespoons curry powder
- 1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 stick butter
- 14 ounces coconut milk canned
Instructions
To make meatballs:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a large bowl mix together the ground chicken with the shredded carrots, onion and all of the seasonings listed in the meatball ingredients section.2 pounds ground chicken, 1/2 cup carrots, 1/2 medium Onions, 2 teaspoons chili powder, 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin, 1 teaspoon Turmeric, 1 teaspoon dried cilantro, 1 teaspoon Garlic, 1 teaspoon Ground Ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon Salt, 1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
- Form into ball shapes about 1 inch in size. Gently roll to form meatball shape.
- Line the meatballs up on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until center is no longer pink.
To make the curry sauce:
- In a large pot, over medium heat, add the olive oil, onion and garlic. Sauté, while stirring occasionally until the onions and garlic just begin to brown.2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 medium Onions, 2 cloves Garlic, minced
- Add the tomatoes, chicken broth, coconut milk, jalapeno, curry powder, ginger, chili powder and salt to the pot. Stir well. Bring to a low simmer and cook for about 5 minutes to soften the onions and blend the seasoning flavors.14 ounces crushed tomatoes, 14 ounces chicken broth, 1 jalapeno, 2 tablespoons curry powder, 1 teaspoon Ground Ginger, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon Salt, 14 ounces coconut milk
- Add the butter to the pot, allow it to melt and stir in. Add the chicken meatballs in and simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat.1/2 stick butter
- Serve the meatballs and curry sauce over rice, cauliflower rice or even mixed vegetables.
Notes
Nutrition
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This post has been updated and the main images of the curry chicken meatballs have changed. My photography has changed a bit since the first photos taken below. I’ll be updating the photos showing the curry meatballs being made very soon.
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This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy. If you click on the banner below you will be taken directly to my Etsy shop to see the digital items currently listed.
Great taste and they do freeze well