These hot chicken meatballs are so good! The meatballs are juicy, tender, and perfectly spiced inside and coated in spicy honey butter on the outside. It’s impossible to eat just one.
Watch the Video
Related: Try our easy turkey meatballs in a tomato basil sauce.
Making Hot Honey Chicken Meatballs
If you have made our juicy meatballs recipe, you will recognize many of the same ingredients in these chicken meatballs. Thanks to a mixture of bread crumbs, milk, egg, and parmesan, the meatballs are perfectly tender and juicy on the inside.
Unlike the original recipe, we throw in a handful of spices. Garlic powder, onion powder, sweet paprika, smoked paprika, and oregano combine and make these some of the most flavorful meatballs we’ve ever had.
Then there’s that spicy honey sauce. It’s simple, but it is good! To make it, warm butter, honey, a pinch of salt, and your favorite hot sauce together. As they warm, the butter melts into the honey and hot sauce, making a lovely sweet and spicy sauce.
The hot sauce you use is up to you! We love original Tabasco and Crystal hot sauces, but I’d imagine almost anything will work. We recommend one tablespoon of hot sauce, but you can adjust this based on how spicy you enjoy things.
The sauce is quite simple to make to taste, so before you pour it over the cooked meatballs, give it a taste and then adjust to your liking.
You may also like: If you love spicy foods, take a look at our easy three-ingredient buffalo wing sauce!
Keep These Two Things in Mind
You can watch us make these chicken meatballs in the video, but here are two tips for making them best:
When making the meatball mixture, add the ground chicken last. Mix the bread crumbs, milk, egg, cheese, and spices before adding the chicken. Then use a fork to stir the bread crumb mixture into the chicken. By doing this, we prevent over mixing the chicken, which can make our meatballs mushy.
For the most color, cook the meatballs on the stovetop. I love getting that caramelized exterior on my meatballs. So cooking them in a skillet on the stovetop is how we do it. You can bake them if you’d prefer, but don’t expect them to be as golden brown when cooked.
Make Ahead and Storing Tips
Meatballs are excellent for making in advance and keep well once made. Here’s everything you need to know about making them in advance, freezing, and storing them once made.
If you have raw meatball mixture:
- Raw meatball mixture can be refrigerated overnight and cooked the next day.
- Raw meatball mixture can be frozen up to three months. Form the meatballs, and then place them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Place the baking sheet into the freezer and freeze until the meatballs are firm. Transfer frozen meatballs to an air-tight, freezer friendly container and freeze up to three months. Place your desired amount of frozen meatballs on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and bake until lightly browned and cooked through, about 20 minutes.
If you have cooked meatballs:
- Cooked meatballs will last, stored in an airtight container, in the fridge up to three days.
- Cooked meatballs can be frozen up to three months. Store them in an airtight, freezer-friendly container.
Hot Honey Chicken Meatballs
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These hot chicken meatballs are so good! The meatballs are juicy, tender, and perfectly spiced inside and coated in spicy honey butter on the outside. It’s impossible to eat just one. The hot sauce you use is up to you! We love original Tabasco and Crystal hot sauces, but I’d imagine almost anything will work. We recommend one tablespoon of hot sauce, but you can adjust this based on how spicy you enjoy things.
If you need to substitute for the honey, try maple syrup, golden syrup, or brown sugar.
Makes 18 meatballs
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
Spiced Chicken Meatballs
1/2 cup (35 grams) bread crumbs, we prefer panko or homemade
1/3 cup milk, dairy or non-dairy
1 large egg
1/4 cup (1/2 ounce) Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, finely grated
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 pound ground chicken, see notes if you have 1 ¼ pound package
2 tablespoons high-heat cooking oil like grape seed or avocado oil
Hot Honey Sauce
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon hot sauce, or more to taste, we like Crystal or Tabasco
Pinch of salt
Directions
- Prepare Meatball Mixture
1Stir breadcrumbs and milk in a large bowl, and then let it sit for 5 minutes. Add the egg, cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, sweet paprika, smoked paprika, oregano, pepper, and salt. Stir until well blended.
2Add the ground chicken and use a fork or your fingers to gently mix everything until combined. For the most tender meatballs, try your best not to over mix.
3Wet your hands and form the mixture into 1 ½-inch balls (about 1 ½ tablespoons each). A medium cookie scoop helps portion out the meatballs. The mixture is on the softer side, so don’t worry if you have difficulty making perfect balls. Since we want tender and juicy meatballs, we add more bread crumbs and milk, making the mixture less firm. Even though this causes less than perfect round meatballs, the texture of the interior is better.
- Cook Meatballs
1Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in the bottom of a wide Dutch oven or nonstick pan over medium heat.
2Place the meatballs down into the hot oil and cook until they are cooked through, the outsides are browned, and they register 165°F in the middle on an instant-read thermometer; about 15 minutes. Depending on the shape or size of the pot, this might need to be done in two batches.
- To Finish
1In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the hot sauce, butter, salt, and honey. Swirl the pan until the butter melts into the hot sauce and honey. Pour the sauce over the cooked meatballs, and then serve.
- Storing
1Cooked meatballs will last in the fridge when stored in an airtight container for three days. Cooked meatballs can be frozen for up to three months. Store them in an airtight, freezer-friendly container.
Adam and Joanne’s Tips
- Depending on the store, ground chicken is sold in 1 pound or 1 ¼ pound packages. You can use either in this recipe without any changes. If you have 1 ¼ pounds of chicken, you will have a few extra meatballs.
- Baked meatballs: Heat the oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper, foil, or a silicone baking mat. Place formed meatballs onto the baking sheet, leaving a little space in between each meatball. Lightly spray the top of the meatballs with cooking spray or brush with oil. Bake until they are cooked through, the outsides are browned, and they register 165°F in the middle on an instant-read thermometer, about 20 minutes.
- Make ahead tips: Raw meatballs can be refrigerated overnight and baked the next day. You should get 18 to 20 meatballs. You can also freeze the raw meatballs and store up to three months. To freeze them, form the meatballs and then place them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Place the baking sheet into the freezer and freeze until the meatballs are firm. Transfer frozen meatballs to an airtight, freezer-friendly container and freeze for three months.
- Gluten-free meatballs: Substitute the bread crumbs for crushed gluten-free cereal or crackers
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
Nutrition Per Serving
Serving Size
3 meatballs (3 of 18 total)
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Calories
246 calories
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Total Fat
15.4g
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Saturated Fat
4.6g
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Cholesterol
104.7mg
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Sodium
612mg
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Carbohydrate
10.8g
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Dietary Fiber
0.7g
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Total Sugars
3.5g
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Protein
16.9g
