All the zingy, buttery magic of chicken piccata, rolled into juicy, golden meatballs. That iconic silky lemon-caper sauce? Still here (and still unreal), clinging to every bite. Air fry, bake, or pan fry them, you decide! This is classic comfort with a fresh, weeknight-friendly twist.
When I say I’m in my meatball era, it’s 100% true. I cannot get enough! They’re just more interesting than plain meat, you can PACK in lots of flavor to the meatballs themselves, and they make a fabulous high-protein snack.
Chicken piccata is an American-Italian classic, and this juicy meatball version is a lovely little twist on the familiar favorite. Absolutely BURSTING with bright, zesty lemon, garlic and capers, the silky sauce is dangerously drinkable and works beautifully with the flavor-packed meatballs.
While these are brilliant as a speedy weeknight meal, they’re also great for meal prep (they keep well for 4 days in the fridge and are equally great cold) and I love to serve them for friends when entertaining. The meatballs and the sauce can be prepped in advance and then reheated on the stovetop to serve.
I’m also sharing three ways you can cook the meatballs. I love to either bake them in the oven or cook them in the air fryer, but I’ve provided instructions for pan-frying them if you prefer. Baking or air frying them is very easy and hands-off, and means you can get on with the sauce while they cook. Air-frying is fastest, and is what I go for most of the time.
Ready for more meatball inspiration? Try these lovely chicken Caesar inspired meatballs, juicy dumpling meatballs, Greek-style chicken meatballs, juicy harissa and zucchini meatballs or ‘Marry Me’ chicken meatballs next.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Ground chicken. You could use ground turkey, pork, beef or a plant-based alternative if you like. If you can’t find ground chicken, use 1lb of boneless, skinless chicken thighs and blitz them into your own ground chicken in a food processor.
- Lemon. Fresh lemon is key for this recipe. You’ll use both the zest and the juice, and bottled just doesn’t have the same fresh, zingy flavor this sauce relies on.
- Ricotta. I am a huge fan of using ricotta in meatballs instead of the typical egg for binding. I find it works brilliantly with these flavors and creates a gorgeously light and fluffy result. If you don’t want to use ricotta, you can use an egg.
- White wine. Use any white wine here, or even rosé. I’ve even tried this with sparkling wine (prosecco) as that’s all I had on hand one day and it worked really well. For a non-alcoholic version, use more chicken stock.
How to Make Chicken Piccata Meatballs
Mix the ingredients for your chicken meatballs in a bowl, then roll them into small balls. There are a couple of ways you can cook the meatballs. Bake them in the oven, pop them into the air fryer or pan-fry them.
I usually bake or air fry them because it’s SUPER hands-off and you can get on with the sauce while they cook, but pan-frying works well too. I’ve given instructions for all three options in the recipe at the bottom of the page.
While your meatballs cook, melt the butter with the garlic and bell pepper flakes. Add the flour and stir through the butter for a minute or two, before whisking in the wine. Add the chicken stock, capers, brine and lemon juice. Simmer to thicken a little before adding the cooked meatballs.
Continue to simmer for another few minutes with the meatballs in the sauce, before adding the flat-leaf parsley. Serve while hot and gorgeous.
Watch How to Make Them
Chicken Piccata Meatballs FAQs
The possibilities are endless here! I love serving them up over pasta – orzo, ditalini or spaghetti work well – or rice (serving them with this loaded baked rice is great). You can also serve them alongside fresh bread for mopping up the sauce (try this chili cheese no-knead focaccia, no-knead rosemary and parmesan bread or soft garlic flatbreads).
Pairing them with crispy potatoes, like these garlic butter potatoes, no-peel roasted potatoes or miso sweet potatoes is great too. Or alternatively, keep things lower carb and go for a big green salad.
Two things are key here. Try not to overmix the meatballs – so stop mixing when the ingredients are just combined. Overworking the mixture can result in dense meatballs. And this is why the recipe uses ricotta and panko breadcrumbs. The ricotta provides richness and extra moisture, which combines with the panko breadcrumbs to keep things juicy and gives them structure while they cook (so they stay in their meatball shape).
Like this recipe? Try these meatball recipes next
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave a recipe rating and a comment below. And remember to tag @DishedByKate on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok if you’ve made one of my recipes. Seeing your recreations really makes my day 😊.
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Speedy Chicken Piccata Meatballs
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
All the zingy, buttery magic of chicken piccata, rolled into juicy, golden meatballs. That iconic silky lemon-caper sauce? Still here (and still unreal), clinging to every bite. Air fry, bake, or pan fry them, you decide! This is classic comfort with a fresh, weeknight-friendly twist.
Ingredients
For the meatballs –
- 1lb/500g ground chicken
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese (or use 1 egg)
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- A handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped finely
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Black pepper
- 1 lemon, zested
For the sauce –
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 teaspoons bell pepper flakes (or chili flakes)
- 1 tablespoon plain flour
- 1/2 cup of white wine
- 1/2 cup of chicken stock
- 1/4 cup capers
- 1 tablespoon caper brine
- Juice of 1 lemon (approximately 2 tablespoons)
- A handful of flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
- Mix the meatballs. If you’re using your oven to bake the meatballs, heat it to 220C/420F. Add the ground chicken to a mixing bowl along with 1/2 cup of panko breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika, the chopped parsley, 1 teaspoon of salt, a very good grind of black pepper and the zest of 1 lemon. Use a wooden spoon (or your hands if you like) to mix everything into a cohesive mixture.
- Form the meatballs. Line an oven tray with parchment paper. Use a spoon to scoop up a heaped tablespoon of the mixture. Roll it into a ball (roughly the size of a golf ball) in your hands. Place onto the prepared tray and repeat with the rest of the mixture. PRO TIP: Wetting your hands when you roll the meatballs will help prevent them from sticking to your hands. I like to have a small bowl of water next to me when I’m doing this for ease.
- Cook the meatballs (oven instructions). Bake the meatballs on the prepared tray for 20 minutes, or until they’re lovely and charred on the outside and cooked all the way through (cut into one to check they aren’t pink or use a probe thermometer – it should read at least 165F/74C).
- Cook the meatballs (air fryer instructions). Pop the meatballs into your air fryer and air fry for 11 minutes at 400F/200C. Try to have them on one layer, but it’s not a massive deal if they overlap, just give them a shake halfway through the cooking time.
- Cook the meatballs (pan-frying instructions). Drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil into a large, high-sided skillet and set it over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and cook for about five minutes, before turning the meatballs to brown them all over. They don’t need to be fully cooked through as you’ll add them into the sauce later. Remove from the pan.
- Start the sauce. Set a large, high-sided skillet or pan over medium-high heat (if you’ve pan-fried the meatballs, use the same pan and keep any chicken fat in it for flavor). Add 2 tablespoons of butter and the 4 crushed garlic cloves. Stir as the butter melts and the garlic starts to soften. After a minute, add 1 teaspoon of bell pepper flakes and stir through the butter.
- Add the flour, wine, stock and capers. Scatter 1 tablespoon of flour into the pan and stir it through the butter, garlic and bell pepper flakes for a couple of minutes. At this point, pour in 1/2 cup of white wine and use a whisk to mix it into the flour and butter. This will help create a lovely, emulsified, thick sauce. Pour in 1/2 cup of chicken stock, continuing to whisk, then add 1/4 cup of capers, 1 tablespoon of caper brine and the juice of 1 lemon (approximately 2 tablespoons).
- Simmer the sauce. Continue to stir the sauce and bring it to a simmer. Leave to simmer and thicken for about five minutes.
- Add meatballs to the sauce. After five minutes, add the meatballs to the sauce and lower the heat a little. You want the sauce to continue simmering, but not too rapidly. Keep the sauce on a low simmer for another five minutes.
- Garnish and serve. To finish, scatter with the flat-leaf parsley and stir through the meatballs and sauce. A little extra lemon zest is a lovely touch too. Serve while hot, with soft garlic flatbreads, over orzo, spaghetti, rice, garlic butter potatoes or straight from the pan with a spoon!
Notes
SERVING SUGGESTIONS: The possibilities are endless here! I love serving them up over pasta – orzo, ditalini or spaghetti work well – or rice (serving them with this loaded baked rice is great). You can also serve them alongside fresh bread for mopping up the sauce (try this chili cheese no-knead focaccia, no-knead rosemary and parmesan bread or soft garlic flatbreads). Pairing them with crispy potatoes, like these garlic butter potatoes, no-peel roasted potatoes or miso sweet potatoes is great too. Or alternatively, keep things lower carb and go for a big green salad.
SUBSTITUTIONS: Ricotta makes the meatballs super light and fluffy, but you can swap it for the more traditional egg if you prefer. Use ground turkey, pork, beef or a plant-based alternative instead of chicken. Or, blitz up 1lb/500g of boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts in a food processor to make your own ground chicken. If you don’t want to use wine, swap it for more chicken stock.
INGREDIENT NOTES: It’s important to use fresh lemon here. Because it’s so key to the flavor, bottled lemon juice just doesn’t cut it. You’ll also need lemon zest for the recipe. You should only need one whole lemon here – use the zest in the meatballs, and the juice in the sauce. It’s MUCH easier to zest the lemon before you squeeze the juice, so make sure you do it that way around.
GLUTEN FREE? Just swap the panko breadcrumbs for gluten-free breadcrumbs or almond flour. And use gluten-free flour or cornstarch instead of plain flour in the sauce.
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 15
- Category: meat
- Method: air fryer
- Cuisine: american
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 250g
- Calories: 420
- Sugar: 2.1g
- Sodium: 850.2mg
- Fat: 22.9g
- Saturated Fat: 10.3g
- Unsaturated Fat: 10.9g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 18.6g
- Fiber: 2.2g
- Protein: 31.2g
- Cholesterol: 143.1mg
Brilliant! These sound wonderful.