Coconut Curry Chicken Meatballs

These savory chicken meatballs swim in a delicious red curry sauce made with coconut milk and thai red curry paste. If you’ve been following me for a while now you know I’m obsessed with all things red curry, which is why I had to try out these coconut curry chicken meatballs. They’re easy to make, paleo-approved, and taste a lot like fancy cooking, so you can get a healthy meal that impresses you and your friends or family.

Coconut Curry Chicken Meatballs Ingredients

Ground Chicken: This recipe calls for ground chicken, but ground turkey will work almost exactly the same. If you’d like to try for a bit of a different flavor, you could also experiment with ground pork or even ground beef for the meatballs.

Green Onion: The reason I include green onion inside of the meatballs is because it packs in an incredible amount of flavor. Adding fresh herbs and vegetables to raw meat before cooking it is one of my favorite hacks that instantly upgrades a boring meat dish to something more exciting.

Coconut Aminos: If you’ve never tried using coconut aminos before, it is a soy-free and gluten-free substitute for soy sauce that tastes practically identical. If you only have regular soy sauce on hand, that works perfectly too! The coconut aminos is used in both the meatball mix and the red curry sauce.

Spices: The spices you’ll need for this recipe are pretty basic: salt, black pepper and ginger. The salt and pepper is only required in the meatball mix, but if you’d like to you can season the curry sauce to taste with salt and pepper as well. As far as the ginger, feel free to replace the ground ginger with ~1 inch of grated fresh ginger.

Sesame Oil: I love the nuttiness of toasted sesame oil as the main oil for the red curry sauce, but you could also use avocado oil or any other neutral oil. I recommend using an oil with a high smoke point like avocado or coconut oil if you do choose to substitute it.

Bell Peppers: Sliced red bell peppers get softened and slightly browned before adding in the sauce components. I love having the component because it adds another texture and some extra veggies, but feel free to omit it. You can also use a green or yellow bell pepper.

Red Curry Paste: I’m very picky about which red curry paste I use, and try to exclusively use Thai Kitchen red curry paste, it’s the best! There are many other brands that you could use as well but that one is definitely my favorite. Try this recipe with green curry paste as well!

Fish Sauce: Fish sauce is one of those ingredients that I was always afraid to use until I actually used it in a recipe and realized how much of a flavor upgrader it really is. I also love the Thai Kitchen brand fish sauce. Don’t be afraid to try this with fish sauce, it does not taste like fish! (But if you really want to, you can leave it out).

Coconut Milk: I always recommend using canned, full-fat or light coconut milk for curry sauces. You can find canned coconut milk at any grocery store, but if coconut milk from a carton is all you have, that can work too.

Cilantro & Lime: The last step for this recipe is to mix in your chopped, fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime. Cilantro adds amazing flavor to pretty much any dish and contrasts the salty sauce perfectly. A squeeze of lime juice on top adds acidy and the dish is ready to enjoy.

If you try out this recipe, I want to know! Leave a comment with a star rating below if you love it. You can also snap a photo & tag @jenneatsgoood on INSTAGRAM. Your reviews help support this blog and make it possible for me to continue to create healthier recipes!

COCONUT CURRY CHICKEN MEATBALLS

Recipe by Jenn Lueke

4.9 from 9 votes

Servings

Adjust servings

+

–

4

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

25

minutes

These savory chicken meatballs swim in a delicious red curry sauce made with coconut milk and thai red curry paste. If you’ve been following me for a while now you know I’m obsessed with all things red curry, which is why I had to try out these coconut curry chicken meatballs. They’re easy to make, paleo-approved, and taste a lot like fancy cooking, so you can get a healthy meal that impresses you and your friends or family.

Cook Mode

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Ingredients

• CHICKEN MEATBALLS

• 1 pound ground chicken

• 4 green onions, finely chopped

• 1 tablespoon coconut aminos

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

• RED CURRY SAUCE

• 1 tablespoon avocado or olive oil

• 2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced

• 3 tablespoons Thai red curry paste

• 3 garlic cloves, minced

• 2 teaspoons ground ginger (or 2 tablespoons freshly grated)

• 13.5 ounce can coconut milk (light or full-fat)

• 3 tablespoons coconut aminos

• 1 teaspoon fish sauce (optional)

• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

• juice of 1 lime

• cooked rice noodles, rice, or cauliflower rice, for serving (optional)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line a large sheet pan with parchment paper. Combine the ground chicken, green onion, coconut aminos, salt and black pepper in a mixing bowl and mix until well combined.
• Use a cookie scoop or large spoon to form the meatball mix into 16-20 evenly sized balls. Spray oil on clean hands and roll each one until smooth. Place on the sheet pan, about 1 inch apart. Bake until the meatballs are cooked and lightly browned, 14 to 18 minutes.
• While the meatballs are baking, make the sauce. Heat the avocado oil in a large skillet over medium heat, then add the sliced bell peppers. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Stir in the curry paste, garlic, and ginger. Cook, stirring often until aromatic, 1 to 2 minutes.
• Pour in the coconut milk, coconut aminos, fish sauce, and sesame oil. Stir and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to low, then stir in the cilantro and lime juice.
• When the meatballs are fully cooked, transfer them to the pan and coat completely with the sauce. Serve immediately for best results (optionally over cooked rice noodles, rice, or cauliflower rice).

Notes

• Store leftovers in the refrigerator in a sealed container for up to four days.

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If you try out this recipe, I want to know! 
Leave a comment with a star rating below if you love it.