How to Make Buffalo Meatballs

culled from:http://www.prevention.com

 

Ingredients:1 lb Ground Chicken (Preferably white and dark meat)1 Cup Panko                        BreadcrumbsSalt/Pepper1/2 Cup Grated Carrots1/2 Cup Grated CeleryFresh Parsley2 Tsp Dried Dill2 Tsp Onion Powder2 Tsp Dried Chives1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder1 EggPre-Made Buffalo                SauceRanch Dressing Blue Cheese Crumbles                                                                                     

Daniela: We have here a pound of ground chicken. Certainly use any kind of ground chicken you like, but I know Bill has a certain way he likes his chicken ground.   Bill: Yeah, the key to this meatball is to use breast and thigh. So when you go to the butcher as him for a little thigh meat. It keeps the meat moist and you really get that chickeny-type taste that you're looking for.   Daniela: Okay, so to the meat we're going to add half a tablespoon of salt. We're going to season the meat first. We're going to put just a little bit of ground pepper, about a quarter of a tablespoon of fresh, ground pepper. We're going to take a teaspoon, actually two teaspoons, of dried dill. A tablespoon of oregano. A tablespoon of dried basil. We're going to take two teaspoons of onion powder. You really want to use a small pinch, maybe about a quarter of a teaspoon of garlic powder. We're going to add our fresh ingredients.   Bill: So moving on to this side, we have some chopped carrots.   Daniela: Grated.  Bill: Grated carrots, I'm sorry.   Daniela: When we make out meatballs and we put the vegetables in not cooked, we tend to grate it. It just cooks really well in the oven and it makes for a nice texture of the meatball.   Bill: Then we're going to add our chopped celery...  Daniela: Grated  Bill: Grated celery. Again, we've got that beautiful color plus it will keep your meatballs moist.  Daniela: And you can just add it to the food processor, pulse it for a little while. We're going to take our herbs, so we're going to take about a quarter cup of fresh parsley and about a quarter cup of fresh, chopped chives. You also can substitute dried chives if you like but the fresh is always a nice flavor to have. We're going to put in a cup of our panko breadcrumbs.  Bill: A cup, a cup per pound, its always cheap. And our egg. And again, one egg per pound gets the best results. Then here we'll mix it together.   Daniela: You want to mix it?  Bill: Yeah.   Daniela: You want to mix it together? No?  Bill: No. We do too many things together as it is.   Daniela: That's true. While Bill mixes that, expertly mixes that, I am going to take out our sheet pan. We've lined it with parchment paper. This is a great way to save yourself from a lot of scrubbing. So Bill's going to mix that together and you want to mix just until everything's incorporated. You don't want to over mix it because you don't want the meat to get tough. He's going to form the meatballs. At Bill's Balls, we always make our meatballs three and a half ounces because we like them big at Bill's Balls.   Bill: Big and juicy.  Daniela: Big and juicy! So Bill's going to put our meatballs on the baking sheet. You're going to preheat your oven to 325 degrees and you're going to cook your meatballs, depending on your oven, anywhere between 25 to 35 minutes. But the best way to tell if they're done is to get yourself a thermometer and you want to cook until the internal temperature of the meat, especially for chicken and any other poultry that you're cooking, reads 165 degrees. You're going to drizzle it with a little bit of olive oil, this helps brown the meatballs. And then I'm going to put them in the oven.   That's what they look like when they come out of the oven. Its okay if the top gets a little brown, that's what you want. It makes it nice and crispy on the outside. So now we're going to dress it. Today we're going to make these into meatball sliders.   Bill: Take the buffalo sauce, put it in a little container, here. What I'm going to do is I'm going to roll the meatballs in it so you get that color. You don't want to overdo the sauce because it'll take away from the chicken. The key to the buffalo sauce also,  is to let it cool before you dress your meatball because what will happen is if its too hot it will break up and that's not so nice.  Daniela: So never let your buffalo sauce get too hot.   Bill: I'll plate this. Always use the flat end so it stands up nice, it has a nice presentation. Your game day tradition in a meatball.