These Asian Inspired Chicken Meatballs are packed with East Asian flavors like and ginger and scallions, coated in a sweet and sticky soy and sesame sauce! Serve over rice with a veggie on the side, toss with lo mein or fried rice, or serve with toothpicks for an easy bite-sized party appetizer.
These Asian inspired chicken meatballs are the latest in a series of chicken meatballs that my whole family have been absolutely obsessed with. Honestly I never thought chicken meatballs could be so juicy and packed full of flavor but here we are! Buffalo chicken meatballs, chicken zucchini meatballs, and now these Asian Chicken Meatballs.
With fresh green onions, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil, the meatballs on their own are amazing. Then smother them in a sticky, sweet sauce? Even better!
Best of all? These easy chicken meatballs come together in only 30 minutes. Be sure to check out the video for this meal in the recipe card below!
Disclaimer: Asia is a large continent with many types of cuisine. These meatballs reflect some flavors typical of East Asian cuisine. For simplicity’s sake for a mostly US-based audience, I’ve called these Asian meatballs, but they make no claims of authenticity for any specific East Asian cuisine.
Ingredients and Substitutions
For the meatballs:
- Ground Chicken – ground turkey or pork could also be used.
- Panko breadcrumbs – or unseasoned Italian breadcrumbs (here’s how to make your own breadcrumbs!).
- Green onions
- Fresh ginger – 1/3 of the amount of powdered ginger can be used in a pinch.
- Fresh garlic – 1/3 of the amount of garlic powder can be used in a pinch.
- Soy sauce – low sodium or gluten-free (tamari), or coconut aminos, etc. if needed.
- Toasted sesame oil
For the sauce:
- Soy sauce
- Cornstarch – or arrowroot powder if needed
- Honey – or another sweetener
- Toasted sesame oil
- Rice vinegar
- Sriracha – or chili garlic sauce or your favorite Asian hot sauce. Omit for a mild version.
How to make Asian Chicken Meatballs
- First, mix the meatball mixture. Mix the egg, breadcrumbs, soy sauce, green onion, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, canola oil, and black pepper in a bowl. Then, add the ground chicken and mix well.
- Scoop the meatballs mixture onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (for easy clean-up – grease the baking sheet if not using parchment paper).
- Bake the meatballs.
- Make the sauce. Whisk together soy sauce and cornstarch in a small pot. Add the sesame oil, sriracha, rice vinegar, and honey. Heat up until thick on the stove – it should only take a few minutes.
- Finally, toss the cooked meatballs with the sauce. Be gentle with them so they don’t fall apart. Garnish with sesame seeds and green onions if you like, and serve.
FAQs
Sure! Use gluten-free soy sauce and gluten-free breadcrumbs.
Yes! You can freeze them cooked or uncooked. Cook from frozen and raw at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes or from frozen and cooked for 25-30 minutes.
How to serve Asian Chicken Meatballs
- As an appetizer with toothpicks and spicy mayo for dipping.
- As a main course with steamed rice and steamed veggies (such as steamed broccoli with soy mayo dip).
- Tossed in Lo Mein (like this chicken meatball lo mein recipe).
Other Asian-Inspired Chicken Recipes
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Asian Inspired Chicken Meatballs
Equipment
- 1 medium pot
- 1 Cookie scoop (recommended to form the meatballs)
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 1 egg
- ½ cup plain Panko breadcrumbs (or regular)
- 4 green onions (thinly sliced)
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger (see notes)
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (low sodium or gluten-free if preferred)
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1½ tablespoons canola oil (or other neutral tasting oil)
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 pound ground chicken (or turkey)
For the Sauce
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sriracha (or chili garlic sauce, optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper (for easy clean-up – you can grease it if you prefer).
- In a large bowl, mix together the egg, breadcrumbs (½ cup), sliced green onions (4), minced fresh ginger (1 tablespoon), minced fresh garlic (1 clove), soy sauce (1 tablespoon), black pepper (¼ teaspoon), canola oil (1½ tablespoons), and toasted sesame oil (1 teaspoon).
- Add the ground chicken to the bowl and mix together well (hands work best here, but a spoon can also be used).
- Scoop the meatball mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, forming 1½ inch balls. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the meatballs reach 165 degrees F (see notes).
- While the meatballs bake, make the sauce. Whisk together the soy sauce (1/4 cup) with the cornstarch (1 teaspoon) in a medium pot. Add the remaining sauce ingredients (2 tablespoons honey, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, and 1 teaspoon sriracha). Heat over medium heat, whisking often, until thickened (2-4 minutes).
- Gently toss the cooked meatballs with the sauce directly in the pot or in another bowl. Serve, garnished with extra green onions and sesame seeds, if desired.
Notes
- Cooking time note: This recipe yields about 20 1 ½-inch meatballs, give or take. If you make them bigger or smaller, you may need to adjust cooking time to longer or shorter. This is where a meat thermometer comes in handy (I recommend Thermoworks Thermapen One for a super fast, accurate read!).
- You can make these chicken meatballs in advance and freeze them raw or cooked. Cook from frozen and raw at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes or from frozen and cooked for 25-30 minutes.
- Make these gluten-free by using gluten-free breadcrumbs and gluten-free soy sauce or alternative.
- The added canola oil to the meatballs helps make the meatballs super juicy and moist, but feel free to take it down to 1 tablespoon or omit if you want a lower fat option.
- The mixture will be pretty loose and sticky. This is OK – as it cooks, the meatballs will bind together and be quite firm and hold together well after they bake. A cookie scoop can help you form the meatballs without worrying about using your hands, which may prove challenging. You can also refrigerate the mixture before forming the meatballs for an hour (or prep ahead up to overnight) and it will hold together as you form the meatballs a little better at the colder temperature.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Jayne
Wow just made these. I had everything on hand surprisingly enough and everyone loved them. Super easy to make with a great flavour. Happy Family, happy life. 😍
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Mary
Delicious! I don’t use canola oil, so I added 2 tsp of the sesame oil. Also used garlic chili sauce instead of the siracha. Made them early in the day & reheated with the glaze already on them, & added the sesame seeds & additional scallions right before serving. They were a hit!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Mary
Making these for a Memorial Day gathering later this afternoon. If anybody sees this soon, can you reheat them with the glaze already on them, or should I wait to add the glaze until right before they’re served? Thank you!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Either way works just fine! If you reheat with the glaze already on, just be careful not to heat over too high heat, because that could burn the honey in the sauce. Hope you like them!
Cathie Clinton
Hi, I’m making a huge batch for a community gathering and I’m wondering how many grams of “green onion” to use. I am assuming you mean what we call Spring onion, and you don’t use the white part. So for 4 servings 4 green onions is how many grams…?
Elizabeth Lindemann
Yes, I do mean spring onions. Honestly, it doesn’t matter in terms of precise measurements for this. Personally, I would just toss a couple bunches of chopped green onion in for a bulk recipe and not bother measuring. But if precision is important to you (totally get that!), from researching this a bit on google, it looks like 1 green onion (just the green parts) yields about 11 grams. So you can multiply from there. Hope that helps!
Charlotte Klein
Made these meatballs to bring to a neighborhood gathering and they were a hit. SO yummy!! I followed the directions but doubled the recipe and used one pound of ground chicken and one pound of ground turkey. Because I refrigerated the mixture for a few hours before making the meatballs, they were relatively easy to make. My doubled recipe made about 50 smallish meatballs. Two hints that helped me were 1) Wet hands slightly before rolling the meatballs so it won’t stick to your hands and 2) Roll into balls but don’t press each of the balls too firmly together or they can become hard once baked. These were terrific reheated the next day too. Thank you Elizabeth!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you and your neighbors liked them! Love the hint about wetting your hands so it doesn’t stick, thanks for sharing!
Jennifer
I made the Asian-inspired Chicken Meatballs for the football crowd yesterday and they were a huge hit! I refrigerated the meatball mixture for a couple of hours before using a #40 cookie scoop to form the balls and they were very easy to form. This recipe and scoop size yielded 28 meatballs, which I cooked for 20 minutes at 400F. I wouldn’t change a thing and I will definitely be making these again!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked them!
Lisa H
My family really enjoyed this recipe. I made according to the directions, though I did increase the breadcrumbs to 1c to compensate for the mushiness of the chicken. The bottoms of the meatballs caramelized, leaving a pleasant crispiness on the bottom. I will definitely make again and freeze for a quick and easy meal!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Lisa H
My family really enjoyed this recipe. I made according to the directions here. I will definitely make again and freeze for a quick and easy meal!
Shay
These were ok. I didn’t like the texture. They were super soft and mushy.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Unfortunately, ground chicken often will yield a mushy result. You may want to try with another brand of ground chicken (make sure it’s a fresh ground texture, not the kind in that vacuum packed block of ground meat you sometimes find). Or, you can use ground turkey, or ground pork, or a mix of ground meats, for a firmer and juicier texture. Hope that helps!
Kellie
Hi Elizabeth- just started making some recipes from your blog! This is my first one and I love it. I typically haven’t had luck with chicken meatballs OR a yummy asian inspired sauce- but this was awesome. I’m so happy to have a go-to meatball recipe- I’m going to make a bunch and freeze them. Thanks- I’m looking forward to making more of your recipes.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! Thanks for this lovely comment!
Diane Siegel
Wow, delicious. I used 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs because I didn’t see the correction and they were great! I’m “afraid” of the heat of sriracha so I used chili garlic sauce (also delicious) but next time I’ll go for sriracha.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Sally
The ingredients call for 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, but the instructions call for 1/2 cup. Which is it?
Elizabeth Lindemann
Ahhh good catch! Thank you! 1/2 cup. Fixing now :)
Wendy Fuchsman
Can I do this recipe as a croquette and pan fry instead of bake
Elizabeth Lindemann
Sure!