Tomato Basil Chicken Meatballs with Creamy Tomato Rice
I have tons of meatball recipes on my website because I find them to be the perfect protein! You can pack in so much flavor and add them to so many different recipes because they’re so customizable. These tomato basil chicken meatballs with creamy tomato rice, however, might be my new favorite form of meatballs. If you’re sick of the typical chicken and rice, this is a way to enjoy it in a new way, packed with flavor! This recipe is originally from my May 2024 grocery series where I turned a $50 grocery haul into five meals. Here’s a link to the long-form video of the recipe with detailed instructions.
TOMATO BASIL CHICKEN MEATBALLS WITH CREAMY TOMATO RICE
4
servings15
minutes30
minutesI have tons of meatball recipes on my website because I find them to be the perfect protein! You can pack in so much flavor and add them to so many different recipes because they’re so customizable. These tomato basil chicken meatballs with creamy tomato rice, however, might be my new favorite form of meatballs. If you’re sick of the typical chicken and rice, this is a way to enjoy it in a new way, packed with flavor! This recipe is originally from my May 2024 grocery series where I turned a grocery haul into five meals.
Keep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
- For the Tomato Basil Chicken Meatballs
1 pound ground chicken
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (about half of an 8-ounce jar), finely chopped
2/3 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped, additional for topping
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
- For the Creamy Tomato Rice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup dry jasmine or basmati rice, rinsed
1 cup low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup full-fat canned coconut milk
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, mix together the ground chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, salt, pepper, garlic, and oregano in a large bowl until evenly combined.
- Use a cookie scoop or clean hands to scoop the mixture into 15 to 18 evenly sized balls. Lightly oil your hands and roll each scoop into a smooth meatball. Place evenly spaced apart on the sheet pan. Set aside.
- Heat the oil over medium heat in a deep saute pan. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, salt, oregano, and red pepper flakes and cook until aromatic, about 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the rice and mix to combine well. Add the chicken broth, coconut milk, and 1 cup of cold water. Add additional water as needed to fully submerge the rice (up to 1 additional cup). Stir to combine, cover the pan, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the rice is fluffy and liquid is absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir halfway through cooking to prevent sticking. If you have a gas stove, reduce the heat to low to avoid burning.
- While the rice cooks, bake the meatballs until at an internal temperature of 165F, about 15 minutes.
- When the rice is fully cooked, remove the pan from the heat and add the cooked meatballs on top. Top with additional chopped basil for garnish.
- To serve, divide evenly among 4 plates or bowls.
Notes
- Storage: Refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 4 days.
- Reheating: Microwave until warm, about 3 minutes. Heat in a small skillet or sauce pan over medium heat until warm, about 10 minutes. Add a splash of water as needed to prevent sticking.
Did you make this recipe?
Snap a photo & tag @jenneatsgoood on INSTAGRAM
If you try out this recipe, I want to know!
Leave a comment with a star rating below if you love it.
Hello! Could I try this with cauliflower rice?
This was so good! I shopped Aldi and they don’t have sun dried tomatoes, but they did have a sun dried tomato pesto and a half jar was perfect in the recipe as a sub. Thanks!!
Aldi now sells subdried tomatoes. Yeah!!!
Love this, thank you!! Would you be able to include the directions for cooking in an air fryer as well for the meatballs?
Made this and loved it! Made the rice portion again the next day. Left out the red pepper the second time because of kids and was still just as good.
We absolutely loved this recipe!! The Sundried tomato and the basil hmm such a good combo!! And then in coconut milk. Just loved it
I made this with ground turkey instead of chicken. The meatballs were so tender and delicious. My husband and I completely devoured all of the meatballs in one meal. Next time I’ll make more. He is usually super picky and hates the smell and taste of coconut milk or oils. He said you can’t even taste the coconut milk! Will make again!
I’m so glad you wrote this! I was coming here to see if I could use ground turkey instead of chicken. For the brand I buy ground turkey is more accessible to me.
This was THE BEST recipe of Jenn’s in my opinion and she makes a lot of reallyyyyyy good ones. The rice was unreal and the chicken meatballs were great too. 100/10 would recommend
I subbed pork but otherwise followed the recipe, and this turned out sooo good. The sun dried tomatoes and basil really make the meatballs so sweet and savory. Will be continuing to make the entire series.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was so delicious. Will make again. Thanks for sharing.
so yummy! should’ve doubled the meatballs and rice for leftovers 🙂 perfection!!
Just finished our dinner. It was SO delicious. I had to make a few changes just according to what I had on hand, but YUM. Instead of the dried rice, I used 2 bags of the frozen wild rice blend from TJ’s because I had them already. I omitted the broth and added a chopped bell pepper o had on hand while sautéing the onion. We’re so eating this again.
Firstly, thank you so much for this recipe, it turned out sooo delicious and I would definitely recommend others to make it 🙂
Secondly though, I entered the ingredients into my food tracking app, and noticed the sodium level was crazy for one serving. I was hoping you could suggest some changes for making it lower sodium? Doesn’t have to be low low, just low-er lol. Thanks! ☺️
Hi Annette! I’m so glad you tried this one out, it’s such a good one. For the sodium, it could be impacted by the type chicken broth used/entered into your tracking app – you could try using a low-sodium one and see how that impacts it ❤️
I’m new to cooking and tried this recipe and I can tell the meatballs will taste good! But they came out so dry for me, any idea what I did wrong? I soak them in the delicious sauce before taking a bite so I made it work 🙂 but just curious if anyone in the comments knows why that would happen?
Hi Cat! I’m so glad you gave this one a try, the flavors are delicious. Every oven bakes differently, so I’d suggest lowering either the oven temp OR the bake time for the meatballs when you make it again — you could lower the oven temp to 375F and bake for 12-16 minutes, or bake at 400F for 10 minutes, check the internal temp, and go from there! Hope this helps 🙂
Thank you so much for the feedback! That makes sense now that you mention it, looking forward to trying again 😊
This is a new favorite at my house. Swapped the sun dried tomatoes for 1 tbsp tomato paste. So fast and easy with SO MUCH flavor! I’m obsessed! Thank you!!
So happy to hear this 🫶!!
Hi Jenn! I have coconut milk from a carton that I’d like to use, does that change how much to put in since I’m not using canned?
Easy and absolutely delicious! I turned it into 5 servings and froze 3, which reheated quickly and really well. A staple meal for us 🙂
This is proof that simple and easy can also be sooo flavorful! Dream meal prep.
This was so yummy and unique!!! Made this week’s whole budget series and everything was great, but this was a favorite.
This was really excellent. The meatballs have great flavor and you could probably throw extra veggies in the rice if you wanted. Adjust your liquid as needed there.
Hi Jenn! I’m excited to try out this recipe. Do you think you can add the nutritional information for this recipe and others? It would be really useful for us.
Thanks
Sanne
This is one of my ALL TIME favorite recipes, thanks so much! Personally I swap the ground chicken for pork for a juicier meatball, but you really can’t go wrong! Thanks Jenn.
I’ve made this before and it turned out fantastic! My question now is that I have a bag of frozen Italian meatballs to use up, so can I just add the sun-dried tomatoes and basil to the onion and garlic and cook the rice in all of that?
Thank you! 😊