Name: Garlic and Herb Chicken Meatballs with Roasted Carrots and Green Sauce
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 1 cup jasmine rice, rinsed; 1 cup frozen peas, thawed; 1 cup baby spinach (about 2 ounces or 1/3 bag); 1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth; juice of 1 lemon; zest of 1/2 lemon; 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 garlic clove; 1 teaspoon kosher salt, additional to taste; 1 pound carrots, peeled and sliced into thin 2-inch spears; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1 teaspoon dried oregano; 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1/2 teaspoon chili powder; 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt; 1 pound ground chicken; 1 tablespoon coconut aminos (or reduced-sodium tamari or reduced-sodium soy sauce); 2 garlic cloves, grated; zest of 1/2 lemon; 1 teaspoon dried oregano; 1 teaspoon dried rosemary; 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Jump to Recipe

This one is a simple meal that tastes like it took much longer to prep! Everything bakes on one sheet pan making clean up quick and easy. Perfect for meal prepped lunches or for an easy weeknight dinner. This recipe is part of my April 2025 Budget Grocery Series where I turn a $55 grocery haul into your dinners for the week. Watch the full recipe video here.

Garlic and Herb Chicken Meatballs with Roasted Carrots and Green Sauce Ingredients

Carrots: Carrots bring natural sweetness and earthy depth to the plate, especially when roasted to golden perfection. High in beta-carotene and fiber, they’re as nutritious as they are flavorful. They’re an easy addition to a sheet pan meal, like this recipe. Their sweetness pairs beautifully with the bright, herby green sauce we’re using here too.

Peas: Peas blend beautifully into sauces, giving them body and a vibrant green hue without overpowering other ingredients. In this recipe, they’re pureed into the green sauce to add natural creaminess and balance. Their mellow flavor complements the garlicky meatballs and roasted vegetables. Plus, they’re a freezer staple—easy to keep on hand anytime.

Spinach: Spinach is mild, nutrient-packed, and perfect for blending. In this recipe, it’s blended into the green sauce, adding extra greens without a strong taste. It helps round out the dish with an extra nutritional boost of iron. Spinach is jsut that staple produce item for me!

Ground Chicken: My go-to for meatballs are made from a lean ground chicken. It’s a great source of protein and acts as a blank slate to really take on the flavors of what it’s mixed with. Here we’re incorporating coconut aminos for a little umami flavor, garlic, lemon, and some dried herbs to create a super savory meatball. You can swap for ground turkey or even ground pork.

Lemon: Lemon adds brightness and acidity, which helps balance richer ingredients and deepen the flavors. We’re using it in a few different components of this recipe, blending it into the green sauce, giving it a fresh, zesty kick, and in the chicken meatballs, bringing everything together!

Garlic and Herb Chicken Meatballs with Roasted Carrots and Green Sauce

Recipe by Jenn Lueke

4.5 from 55 votes

Servings

–

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on

Ingredients

1 cup jasmine rice, rinsed
For the Green Sauce
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 cup baby spinach (about 2 ounces or 1/3 bag)
1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
juice of 1 lemon
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon kosher salt, additional to taste
For the Roasted Carrots
1 pound carrots, peeled and sliced into thin 2-inch spears
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
For the Chicken Meatballs
1 pound ground chicken
1 tablespoon coconut aminos (or reduced-sodium tamari or reduced-sodium soy sauce)
2 garlic cloves, grated
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400F and line a large sheet pan with parchment.
Cook the rice: bring 2 cups of salted water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the rinsed rice, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until the water is absorbed and rice is fluffy, 11 to 13 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, make the green sauce. Add the peas, spinach, 1/2 cup of the broth, lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, garlic, and salt to a blender or food processor. Blend on high speed until completely smooth, 30 to 45 seconds, and add additional broth (up to 1 cup total) as needed. Season with additional salt to taste and set aside.
Add all of the roasted carrot ingredients—carrots, olive oil, oregano, ground black pepper, chili powder, and salt—to a large bowl. Toss to evenly to coat and transfer to the sheet pan.
In the same bowl, add all of the chicken meatball ingredients—ground chicken, coconut aminos, garlic, lemon zest, oregano, rosemary, ground black pepper, and salt. Mix well with a spatula or clean hands to evenly combine.
Divide the mix into 16-20 evenly sized meatballs (I like to roll them with some oil on my hands to prevent sticking) and place on the sheet pan with the carrots, ensuring minimal overlap. Bake until the meatballs reach 165F internally and the carrots are fork tender, 15 to 18 minutes.
Divide the rice between 4 plates and top with even servings of meatballs and carrots, followed by a drizzle of green sauce.

Notes

Storage: Refrigerate the green sauce in a sealed container for up to 7 days. Refrigerate the meatballs and carrots in a sealed container for up to 4 days. Refrigerate the rice in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Can freeze the meatballs and rice for up to 3 months.
Reheating: From refrigerator, microwave until warm, about 2 minutes or heat in the oven on 400F until warm. From frozen, thaw in the fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight, then heat as instructed.
Garlic: Add another grated garlic clove to the green sauce if desired.
Carrots: Swap for your favorite veggies, this recipe is very forgiving, so use what you have on hand! Sweet potato, butternut squash, broccoli, or cauliflower would all work. Make sure the pieces are no larger than 1-inch to ensure they’ll be tender after 15-18 minutes.
Vegetarian: To make it plant-based, cube two 14-ounce blocks of tofu, toss in the same spices, and bake until crispy, about 15 minutes (you can still bake on the same sheet pan with the carrots).

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17 Comments

Tasty! Tasted fresh and had good flavor. It was a very peppery only note i would change. Took way more than 15 minutes prep. Closer to 45.

Super delicious, easy and quick to make. Love the freshness from the lemon and green sauce

so delicious and fresh, and so easy to make. this is definitely a new go-to recipe for me. thanks jenn 💌

My family and I loved the recipe . This was the first time recipe we tried from your series . My granddaughter gobbled three meatballs down before I even finished serving lol . So it is definitely kid approved . The lemon gives such a freshness to the dish . The carrots were so flavorful. Definitely keeping in rotation .

This recipe was SO GOOD we ended up making it twice in the same week! The second time around I doubled the recipe to have enough leftovers to take to work for lunch. 10/10, chef’s kiss!

So yummy! We doubled for meal prep and used ground turkey since that’s what we had on hand. It’d be yummy without the sauce, but the sauce truly makes it wonderful, plus it sneaks in extra veggies! It does come together quickly, peeling the carrots takes the longest

Made this tonight and 2/3 of it was ate leaving 1/3 for a snack tomorrow, if it keeps til then. I’m missing the breadcrumbs and egg just a tad but we are trying a GF lifestyle for arthritics.

This was our 2nd recipe in the series this week. My husband enjoyed it way more than he thought he would. I made a double batch of the meatballs and so glad so we can have them again this weekend. The carrots were the perfect veggie for this. Thanks Jenn!

Delicious. My 1, 3, and 6 year old loved it – so child approved. However, the sauce was suuuper thin and I had to cook it down for about 20 mins to thicken it. I would use half the amount of broth. I also added a slice of bread and 1/4 milk in my meatballs for better texture.

This was super fast to put together, maybe 15 minutes. I used my rice cooker so I didn’t have to babysit the rice. I thickened the sauce up with corn starch and cooked it for a few minutes, otherwise I didn’t really make any modifications. It was delicious!

The green sauce was sooo thin that if I try again i would cut the broth in half and maybe stir the sauce in to the pot of rice when it’s steaming. Jenn’s plate looks pretty with the drizzle but after I drizzled I still had about a cup of sauce that I ended up tossing.

Carrots and meatballs were great (I’ve learned I need to add way more salt/seasoning to your meatballs to make them tasty to me). The sauce was so watery! Maybe half the broth next time.

Wow! I came across your YouTube videos and seen this recipe. Tried it tonight and was skeptical about the green sauce. Holy Hannah, did you blow me away! I was obsessed from the first taste! I can’t wait for leftovers and am so excited to try more recipes. Thank you so so so much for helping people get healthy for a reasonable price in this economy! I will be telling everyone I know to give your recipes a try. Thanks again!

So good! I was pleasantly surprised by how fresh tasting this was. The sauce did get a bit watery, so I would cut the broth maybe to 3/4 cup? Loved the fresh lemon and garlic. I also realized halfway through making this that I didn’t have rosemary, so I used dried thyme instead for the meatballs, and it totally worked!

This recipe looks really good! Any chance the sauce can be frozen for later? I’m stocking up freezer meals for my upcoming postpartum season and I’d like the sauce prepared prior to serving.

This was so delicious! My 8 year old and my husband also loved it. I used 1/2 cup veg broth instead of 1 cup and the sauce was a perfect consistency. I will definitely be making this again.

Amazing! Loved the lemon throughout the dish! Will make again.