Thai Chicken Meatballs with Apple Peanut Sauce
If you've been shying away from chicken meatballs because of their lack of flavor, well now you don't have to! These Thai Chicken Meatballs with Apple Peanut Sauce are a burst of flavors, textures and super quick to make.
Ingredients
For the Chicken Meatballs:
- 1 lb ground chicken or turkey lean or extra lean
- 2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger
- 3 garlic cloves grated or finely minced
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce more or less to your taste
- 1/4 cup combined of minced fresh cilantro and mint leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon neutral tasting oil
For the Apple Peanut Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 large Apple grated
- 2 tablespoons ginger grated
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/3 cup peanut butter smooth or chunky--I used chunky
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
Lettuce Wraps:
- 1 Boston head lettuce broken down into lettuce cups
- Apple sticks
- Carrot sticks
- Sliced Scallions
- Fresh mint leaves
- Cucumber sticks
- Salted cashews
- sliced chillies
- Fresh lime for squirting
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. For the chicken meatballs--mix all ingredients together except the oil. Heat the oil in a 10 inch cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Take golf size pieces of the chicken mixture and roll into a golf size meatball, then cook it in the hot pan. Sear the meatballs on all sides turning after 1 minute each time until they're crispy.
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Remove the pan from the stove and place it in the oven for 10-15 minutes depending on the size of your chicken meatballs until they cook through.
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In the meantime prepare the lettuce wraps ingredients.
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Once the chicken meatballs are cooked, remove them from the hot pan into a plate. To the same pan, add the sesame oil. Start sauteeing the ginger, garlic, and apple to make the sauce.
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Keep sauteeing that for about 3 minutes until the apples break down and start to blend into a paste. Then add in the remaining sauce ingredients and start mixing the sauce. Add water to adjust the thickness of the sauce to your taste.
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Then drop the chicken meatballs and give them a quick toss in the sauce.
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Assemble the lettuce wraps by placing one lettuce cup on your work surface and add a chicken meatballs with sauce over it. Top with your favorite toppings and a squirt of lime juice. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- Ground turkey works great here too, so feel free to use that.
- You can certainly move the meatballs to the side of your pan while you make the sauce, but I prefer removing them.
- While I made those chicken meatballs today wrapped in lettuce wraps with so many fresh ingredients, they're also great served with rice and noodles. It's one of those recipes you can make in 30 minutes and have it as a back up when you feel like a rice/noodle meal or salad, or something fresh like those lettuce wraps.