These spicy peanut chicken meatballs are a perfect weeknight dinner when you’re craving something a little bit spicy, a little bit creamy, and very delicious! Finding a way to make meatballs without grains is not always easy. Breadcrumbs are integral in binding meatballs together so they don’t fall apart as they cook. In this recipe, breadcrumbs are switched out for ground up almonds, which perfectly bind the meat together and add an extra nutty flavor (and protein!) to the dish.

Spicy Peanut Chicken Meatballs Ingredients

Almonds: Ground up almonds are the replaced used in this recipe for traditional breadcrumbs or panko that are in most meatballs recipes. As I mentioned in the instructions, if you don’t have a blender or food processor, feel free to use almond flour as a replacement.

Ground Chicken: I made this recipe with ground chicken but any ground meat would realistically work for the meatballs. I would suggest ground turkey as the best replacement, but even ground pork or ground beef would work. If you have something different sitting in your freezer, give it a try!

Egg: Using one egg with help bind together the meatball mix along with the ground almonds. I don’t recommend skipping the egg because it is necessary for the meatballs to stay together and cook properly.

Green Onion: One of my favorite things to do is add vegetables and herbs to the mix of meatballs because it packs in so much extra flavor and texture. Adding chopped green onion to the meatballs gives it some more punch and compliments the ginger taste.

Spices: The spices you’ll need for this recipe include ginger, red pepper flakes, cumin, salt and black pepper. These are pretty common household spices that you can find at any grocery store. If you’d like to omit the red pepper flakes for less spice, you can definitely do that.

Coconut Milk: I like to use canned, full-fat coconut milk for this recipe (and most other recipes of mine) because it is super creamy and perfect for sauces. You can find canned coconut milk at most grocery stores, but coconut milk out of a carton will also work.

Coconut Aminos: If you’ve never tried coconut aminos before, it is a soy-free option that tastes almost identical to regular soy sauce. Many soy sauces contain gluten, so if you’d like to use soy sauce instead and have a gluten allergy, be sure to check the ingredients.

Peanut Butter: A smooth peanut butter will work best for the peanut sauce; ideally one with just one or two ingredients (peanuts, salt). You could also substitute the peanut butter for creamy almond butter if you have a peanut allergy.

Rice Vinegar: Rice vinegar will add some acidity to the peanut sauce and really elevate the flavor. If you don’t have rice vinegar but have regular white vinegar or apple cider vinegar on hand, you can use that as a substitute.

Sriracha: The spiciness in the spicy peanut meatballs comes mainly from the sriracha in the peanut sauce. You can vary the amount you used based on how spicy you’d like the sauce to be. I suggest starting with one tablespoon for less spice and going up to three tablespoons for extra spice.

Honey: Adding honey to the sauce brings a little bit of extra sweetness to combat the spicy flavor. Feel free to omit the honey if you don’t want any added sugar in the recipe, it will still work perfectly!

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!

SPICY PEANUT CHICKEN MEATBALLS

Recipe by Jenn Lueke

4.5 from 2 votes

Servings

–

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on

Ingredients

1/4 cup almonds
1 lb ground chicken or turkey
1 egg
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1 tsp + 1 tbsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 15oz can full-fat coconut milk
1/4 cup coconut aminos (or soy sauce)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp sriracha (use 1 tbsp for less spice)
1 tbsp honey

Directions

Using a blender or food processor, blend the almonds until there is a fine, breadcrumb-like powder. If you don’t have a blender or processor, substitute with 1/4 cup almond flour.
Add the ground almonds to a large bowl along with the ground chicken, egg, green onion, 1 tsp of ginger, cumin, salt and pepper. Use clean hands to combine the ingredients into a uniform meatball mixture.
Using a cookie scoop or your hands, form the mixture into 8-10 evenly sized meatballs. Heat oil on a large pan over medium-high heat and add each meatball to the pan.
After about five minutes, flip the meatballs to brown each side. This will require a few flips for about five minutes each.
While the meatballs cook, make the peanut sauce by adding the coconut milk, coconut aminos, peanut butter, rice vinegar, sriracha, honey and remaining ginger to another large pan over medium high heat.
Whisk the sauce together and bring to a simmer, then add in the cooked meatballs one at a time. Cover the meatballs generously with the sauce and serve with rice, cauliflower rice or whatever you’d like. Store in the refrigerator for up to four days.