30-minute chicken parm meatballs

a cozy skillet

A skillet of meatballs is a no-miss meal for my family of five. I know my three boys will destroy them (which is no small thing!), and George and I love them just as much as they do.

If it’s a night when George and I are eating after the kids go down, I’ll make a quickie side salad (see the notes section for my go-to!), toast a good loaf of bread, and open a bottle of wine. When we’re all eating dinner together, I typically go the spaghetti and meatballs route.

In this recipe, chicken and Parmesan meatballs are rolled in panko then baked, giving them a delicious crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside “chicken Parm” vibe. The meatballs are wonderfully customizable. If we’ve eaten a lot of chicken recently, I’ll swap it out for ground turkey, pork, or beef. Parsley works great in place of basil — or you can skip the fresh herbs altogether to make it a no-chop meal. Use any type of breadcrumbs you have in your pantry (my fave is panko, but plain or Italian breadcrumbs are also great, or blend a slice of bread and use that) — and the same goes for the jarred marinara. Use what ya got.

If you’re not in the mood for noodles or bread, you could serve them on top of sautéed cauliflower rice or zoodles for some extra veg. Or just serve them alongside roasted cauliflower, potatoes, or broccoli. Making meatball subs would be another solid choice! For that, scoop two to three meatballs and plenty of sauce into toasted sandwich rolls. Sprinkle lots of mozzarella in there then broil them until the cheese is melty (sit on your butt and watch the oven the entire time so that you don’t burn them!).

Holiday parties are on the horizon! To make these grazeable, roll them into smaller-sized meatballs — roll 20 instead of 10 — and bake them like the recipe’s written, nestled in the sauce. Serve them straight out of the skillet, pre-stuck with toothpicks for easy grabbing.

My pantry is never without a jar of Rao’s pasta sauce. IMO it’s just as good as homemade, so why would we spend timing DIYing marinara on a busy weeknight?! We wouldn’t! We shouldn’t! I love Rao’s roasted garlic, but their plain marinara is also amazing. Their arrabbiata sauce would be fab if you like spice. Or use whatever marinara you can find!

In some store-bought ground chicken and turkey, there’s a filler like vinegar or salt water added to “plump” the meat. In some recipes, you won’t be able to tell a difference, but for meatballs, the moisture level really matters! That extra liquid can make your meatball mixture too loose. If possible, buy ground chicken with NO fillers (not even “up to 1%”). If your store doesn’t sell any without it, you could ask the butcher to grind some fresh. If they won’t/can’t, just add 2 extra tablespoons of panko to the meatball mixture to offset that extra moisture.

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Serves 4

Cook time: 30 minutes

Tools:

• Large bowl

• Microplane or grater

• Chef’s knife + cutting board

• Shallow bowl or plate

• 10-inch ovenproof skillet (a cast-iron is perfect here!)

Ingredients: