Super Bowl is almost here.
My hometown team, the Baltimore Ravens, are playing!
I haven’t been this excited (or even cared) since 2001, when the Ravens last played in the Super Bowl. Actually, this might even be the first time I’ll focus on the football being played rather than just tasting the assortment of food being served. But, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to offer a bunch of tasty foods to supplement the game. Last week I entered a Super Bowl Snack off challenge and made some Slow Cooked Pulled BBQ Chicken. Yesterday I sampled some Spicy Buffalo Chicken Meatballs.
A successful Super Bowl snack to me should be something that’s easy to eat with your hands, is readily portable, and something that won’t make a mess. I wanted to focus on making a meat-based dish; a dish to add substance to the array of traditional game day appetizers devoid of nutrition (chips and salsa, cheese dips, etc). These Spicy Buffalo Chicken Meatballs are not only easy to make, they’re not greasy and quite tasty too.
If you’ve made turkey burgers or chicken burgers, you’re in luck, you’ve essentially made a version of meatballs. I used ground chicken breast for the base and some generous portions of Panko bread crumbs combined with egg, butter to help bind the meatballs, and lots of hot sauce to help give it that KICK.
Meatballs pre-oven
Meatballs baking in oven
Obviously, the spicier the meatballs, the more hot sauce you’d use. Next time around, I will definitely decrease the amount of hot sauce–within their first bites, my kids complained there was “way too much kick.”
While these meatballs are supposed to be served and then dipped in Blue Cheese dressing, I skipped that step to try to conserve calories for all the other fat-laden appetizers being served. Instead, I served them with a side of ketchup which tasted quite bland in comparison. In hindsight, I’m thinking the sweetness of the Blue Cheese dressing would be a good marriage with the spiciness of the meatballs. People are focusing on the sidelines not their waistlines this game!
With under 10 minutes of prep time and only 20-25 minutes of bake time, this can certainly be labeled hassle-free.
And, whether you go hot or not, you should add this dish to your rotation of appetizers perfect for tv viewing!
Enjoy and GO RAVENS.
Spicy Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
adapted from Martha Stewart
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup of your favorite hot sauce (for less spicy, reduce to 1/2 cup)
- 2lbs ground chicken breast
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups bread crumbs
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
Blue Cheese Dressing
Celery Stalks for dipping
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a rimmed baking sheet.
- Put stick of butter and hot sauce in saucepan over low heat. Whisk until hot sauce is blended into melted butter.
- Remove mixture from stove and let cool to room temperature. Then transfer to big bowl.
- Add ground chicken, eggs, breadcrumbs, salt, ketchup and Parmesan to the butter mixture and fold all ingredients with your hands.
- When chicken and butter are thoroughly mixed together, form into 1-inch round balls.
- Place balls on baking sheet making sure they touch on all sides.
- Place sheet in oven and baked until thoroughly cooked- approximately 20 minutes.
- Let cool 5 minutes before serving. Douse meatballs with additional hot sauce if desired.
- Enjoy!
That looks gorgeous. Yummmmm!!!! 😀