Yield: 55 meatballs
Buffalo Chicken Meatballs with Homemade Ranch
Buffalo Chicken Meatballs are a gluten free and paleo party snack that everyone will love! (Low carb, dairy free and sugar free, too)
Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Total Time
35 minutes
Ingredients
Ingredients for the meatballs
- 1 cup almond flour
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 lbs ground chicken
- 1/3 cup green onions, chopped
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil, for searing
- 2/3 cup buffalo hot sauce of choice, see note
Ingredients for the ranch dipping sauce
- 1/2 cup sour cream, or use mayo for dairy free option
- 2 Tablespoon full fat unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 Tablespoon fresh chives, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper, or to taste
Ingredients for assembly and serving (both optional)
- 2 handfuls fresh arugula leaves and/or carrot and celery sticks
- 4 ounces blue cheese crumbles, omit if dairy free
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and warm a large nonstick skillet to medium heat.
- Make the meatballs: In the bottom of a mixing bowl, sift together the almond flour, salt and garlic.
- Add the ground chicken and green onions. Use your hands to mix the ingredients together, but be careful not to over mix (the chicken will become gummy).
- Portion the meat into Tablespoons. Roll each into a ball and set aside on a plate.
- Once all the chicken has been made into meatballs, drizzle the olive oil into the warm skillet, swirling around to coat all sides of the skillet.
- Sear the meatballs for 4-5 minutes, flipping about halfway through. They will not brown completely; flip or remove from the pan when a crust just starts to form. You may have to do this in two batches.
- Once the meatballs are seared, transfer them to a baking dish that just fits them all (i.e. don't space them out) and pour the buffalo sauce over them. Bake for 10-15 minutes until cooked through.
- While the meatballs are baking, make the ranch dipping sauce by whisking together all of the ingredients.
- To serve, skewer each meatball with a toothpick, and place them on a bed of arugula, sprinkled with blue cheese crumbles (if using).
- Finish off the presentation with a bowl of the ranch sauce and the celery and carrot sticks.
Notes
- If you have trouble finding ground chicken, you can use ground turkey instead. Either way, avoid using the extra lean kind, which will produce dry meatballs.
- Both Caroline and I recommend using Frank's buffalo hot sauce. Unlike many condiments, it is sugar free!
- The original recipe calls for mayonnaise as the base of the ranch dressing, but I used sour cream instead and prefer it.
- Yield: About 55 Meatballs. Note that the recipe calls for making them larger - about 3-4 Tablespoons of meat per ball - and yields 16.
- This recipe originally appeared in The All American Paleo Table, and has been reprinted with the permission of the author.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
55Amount Per Serving: Calories: 52Saturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 224mgProtein: 3g