Italian Chicken Balls
Prep Time
15 Minutes
Prep Notes
- If it's available to you and you can afford it, always choose organic and humanely raised poultry. I used chicken from Chops & Steaks Halal Butcher in New Jersey.
- For the sauce, I used Walnut Acres Organic Garlic Salt-Free Pasta Sauce. You can make your own pasta sauce if you wish. If buying store-bought, choose a brand that comes in glass and preferably salt free, or with low amount of sea salt.
- For the olive oil, make sure you are really using 100% olive oil. A lot of brands cut cheap oils like vegetable and soy into their product. These are no good for the thyroid gland, as well as other processes in your body.
- For the bread, I used Udi's Multigrain Gluten Free Bread. You can use any other bread if you want. If gluten doesn't bother you, no need to use gluten free. Read my previous blog post here about choosing the best bread for yourself.Skip this ingredient if you're looking to make your chicken balls paleo, grain free, and low-carb.
Cooking Time
25 Minutes (keep in mind, the chicken is previously baked)
Yields
13 Balls
Ingredients
- 10 oz Chicken Breast (previously baked)
- 2 Eggs
- 1 cup baby spinach
- 1/2 cup Pasta Sauce
- 2 Slices Gluten Free Bread
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- Food processor
Directions
- Say bismillah (if that's your belief).
- Toast bread.
- Personally, I don't have a toaster. I do have an electric toaster oven. So I put the two slices on a small piece of If You Care brand parchment paper on bake (400) until they browned. If your regular oven is gas like mine, aim to do smaller jobs like this in the toaster oven (if you have one), as electric appliances don't fume dangerous gases the way gas ovens do.
- Skip this step if you want your chicken balls to be paleo, grain-free, and low-carb.
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Process all ingredients except for tomato sauce in a food processor. Make sure bread is cooled down before adding to food processor.
- If you don't have a food processor, you can mash everything by hand, but I can't guarantee the texture will come out exactly the same
- By now, you should have a processed mixture that easily shapes into balls. The mixture should make 13 nice round chicken balls. As you make each ball, place it on a baking dish. For me, I used a glass Pyrex cookware lined with parchment paper.
- Once you have all of the balls on your cooking dish, place in oven. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Mix 1/2 cup pasta sauce with 1/4 cup water. Once mixed, pour over chicken balls. Cook for 5 more minutes.
- Say bismillah (if that's your belief) and enjoy, inshaAllah (Godwilling).
Notes
Nutritional Facts:
Regular Version: 1 Ball = 64.2 calories; 6.8g Protein; 2.2g Fat; 3.5g Carbs
Paleo/GrainFree/Low-Carb Version: 1 Ball = 47.3 Calories; 6.3g Protein; 1.7g Fat; 0.9g Carbs