Fresh, zesty, juicy Greek-style chicken meatballs are a super easy, versatile 25-minute meal. Piled onto quick tzatziki sauce, and topped with creamy feta, cherry tomatoes and herbs, they make a wonderful weeknight winner the whole family will love.
I LOVE how easy these meatballs are. All you have to do is mix, form, pop into the oven and forget about them while you chop some toppings and mix a quick sauce. They truly take 25 minutes and you’ll be enjoying super juicy, zesty and fragrant meatballs with all the best Greek-style toppings.
We’re loading up the meatball mix with some of my favorite Mediterranean flavors – think lots of garlic, lemon, oregano and thyme – for a seriously flavor-packed bite. While they’re wonderful as a weeknight meal, they’re great for meal prep too because they keep really well so you can enjoy them throughout the week.
Here I’m serving them with a quick and easy tzatziki – which is truly as simple as mixing grated cucumber with yogurt, garlic, salt and lemon zest – but they’re incredibly versatile. Stuff them into pita bread, pile them on top of flatbreads, toss them through pasta or pasta salad, serve on top of hummus, with a cucumber or green goddess salad or enjoy them with the tzatziki on the side as a fun party bite. I love having a pile of crispy pita chips on the side too!
Why you’ll love these meatballs
- Super quick and hands-off, just mix and pop into the oven.
- Great for meal prep – they keep well and can be served throughout the week in different ways.
- Packed with fresh, zesty flavour – lots of lemon, garlic and herbs make them a seriously delicious way to enjoy meatballs.
Ingredients
Nothing is hard to find here – but there are some easy swaps you can make.
- Ground chicken. AKA, minced chicken. You could also use ground turkey or pork. Always go for free-range.
- Lemon. We’ll use the juice and zest of a lemon here, so you’ll need an actual lemon, rather than lemon juice if possible.
- Herbs. Dried thyme and oregano, and fresh mint and flat-leaf parsley are the stars here. You could use dried mint, parsley, dill, rosemary or marjoram if you don’t have thyme or oregano, and you can skip the fresh herbs if you only have dried.
- Greek yogurt. This is for the quick tzatziki sauce. I much prefer the consistency of proper thick Greek yogurt, rather than plain yogurt which is a lot runnier. You could use plain yogurt if you don’t mind a runnier sauce. Low or zero-fat yogurt is perfectly fine here too.
- The binders. To help keep the meatball super juicy, you’ll also need an egg and panko (or regular) breadcrumbs.
How to make it
Get all your meatball ingredients into a large bowl and mix until the ingredients are evenly spread throughout the ground chicken.
PRO TIP: Stop mixing as soon as everything is combined – overmixing can cause the meatballs to become dry and tough.
Lightly wet your hands (this will stop the mixture from sticking to your hands), then use a spoon to scoop up a heaped tablespoon of the mixture. Roll it into a ball in your hands, then place it onto a lined oven tray. Drizzle them with olive oil, then bake the meatballs, until golden and glorious.
Mix the quick tzatziki sauce while the meatballs are in the oven, then pile them on top of the sauce, along with feta, cherry tomatoes and more herbs.
Got a question?
These meatballs are SUPER versatile. They can be served with so many things, which is why they’re perfect for meal prep.
– pile them on top of steamed white rice, quinoa, brown rice or couscous and pita chips.
– serve stuffed into pita or piled on top of flatbreads.
– enjoy them with a couple of salads (a smacked cucumber or green goddess salad would be lovely).
– pair with crispy roast potatoes, pesto potatoes, miso sweet potatoes or oven fries.
– toss through orzo pesto salad for an extra kick of protein.
– pile on top of creamy hummus, green tahini sauce or tahini yogurt sauce.
– serve with the tzatziki sauce on the side as a delicious party bite!
Yes! There are a couple of ways you can prep these ahead. You can form the meatballs, then place them on a plate covered with cling film (or in a covered container) and store them in the fridge until you’re ready to cook them (they’ll be fine for a day like this). You can also freeze the formed meatballs – place them on a lined oven tray in the freezer for 20 minutes, then store them in zip-lock bags. You can then cook them straight from frozen (add 5 minutes to the cooking time).
The cooked meatballs will keep well for 5 days, making this a great recipe for meal prep.
You can! Pop them into your air fryer then cook at 400F/200C for about 10 minutes.
Yes! It’s even quicker this way – just cook them with a little olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side, until they’re golden all over.
Watch how to make them
Like this recipe? Here are some more chicken ideas you might enjoy
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave me a comment below.
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Juicy Greek Chicken Meatballs
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Diet: Low Calorie
Description
Fresh, zesty, juicy Greek chicken meatballs are a super easy, versatile 25 minute meal. Piled onto quick tzatziki sauce, topped with creamy feta, cherry tomatoes and herbs, they make a wonderful weeknight winner the whole family will love.
Ingredients
For the meatballs –
- 1lb/500g ground chicken
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 small onion, very finely diced or grated
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup mint, finely chopped
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- Olive oil
To serve –
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt or labneh
- 1/2 a cucumber
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 lemon, zested
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 250g/9oz cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/2 cup feta, crumbled
- A handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- A handful of mint leaves, chopped
- Pita chips or flatbreads
Instructions
- Mix the meatballs. Heat your oven to 450F/230C fan. Add the ground chicken, 1 teaspoon of salt, the finely diced or grated onion, 3 crushed garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley, 1/4 cup chopped mint, the egg, panko breadcrumbs, zest and juice of 1 lemon and 1 teaspoon of fish sauce into a mixing bowl. Using either your hands or a large spoon or spatula, mix the ingredients until they’re all combined into a cohesive mix. Stop mixing as soon as everything is combined – overmixing can result in dense, dry meatballs.
- Form the meatballs and bake. Line an oven tray with baking paper, then lightly wet your hands (this will stop the mixture from sticking to them). Use a spoon or cookie scoop to scoop up a heaped tablespoon of the meatball mixture, then roll it into a ball in your hands. Place on the lined tray, then repeat with the rest of the meatballs (I got 18 meatballs from this mixture). Drizzle them with a little olive oil, then pop into the oven for 15 minutes.
- Make the tzatziki. While the meatballs are cooking, grate your cucumber on the coarse side of your grater, then squeeze as much moisture out of it as possible. Combine 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 1 crushed garlic clove, the zest of 1 lemon, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and the grated cucumber in a small bowl. Mix to combine, taste, and season with a little more salt if you think it needs it, then set it aside.
- Garnish and serve. After 15 minutes, the meatballs should look golden on top and they should be cooked through. Use a probe thermometer to check the internal temperature is 165F/75C or just cut into one to check – it should look white. Divide the tzatziki between plates, then top with the meatballs. Finish with the chopped tomatoes, creamy feta and herbs. Serve the pita chips or flatbreads on the side.
Notes
INGREDIENT NOTES: Grating the onion results in super fine pieces of onion throughout the meatballs, and provides more liquid to keep them moist, so I recommend giving it a go! I LOVE the savory depth fish sauce brings, but you can leave it out if you like. Try to use a thick Greek yogurt for the tzatziki, rather than a plain yogurt. The consistency is a lot nicer when the sauce isn’t super runny. Low or zero-fat yogurt is absolutely fine. Use whatever fresh, crunchy veggies you like to serve alongside the meatballs – diced cucumber, red onion or red peppers would be great too.
SUBSTITUTIONS: Swap the ground chicken for ground turkey or pork. You could also use all dried herbs in the meatballs, instead of the fresh mint and parsley. Switch out dried thyme and oregano for dried parsley, mint or marjoram. I like to use lemon zest in my tzatziki because you get that hit of lemon flavor, without the added liquid, but you could use 1 tablespoon of lemon juice if you don’t want to zest another lemon. You could also use a store-bought tzatziki if you like.
STORAGE INSTRUCTIONS: The cooked meatballs will keep well for 5 days, stored in a covered container in the fridge, making this a great recipe for meal prep. You could also form the meatballs a day in advance, then pop them onto a plate or tray, cover them with cling film, and store them in the fridge until you’re ready to cook them. You can also freeze the formed meatballs. Place them on a lined oven tray in the freezer for 20 minutes, then store them in zip-lock bags. You can cook them straight from frozen in the oven (add 5 minutes to the cooking time).
SERVING SUGGESTIONS: There are SO MANY ways you can serve these meatballs. Add rice or quinoa and pita chips to make a meatball bowl, serve stuffed into pita or on top of flatbreads, pile on top of creamy hummus or sundried tomato feta dip, toss through pasta salad, serve with a selection of salads (smacked cucumber and green goddess are my favorite), with crispy potatoes, oven fries or a pesto potato salad. They’re also great served with the tzatziki (or green tahini sauce or tahini yogurt sauce) on the side as a party snack.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 15
- Category: fakeaways
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: mediterranean
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 200g
- Calories: 382
- Sugar: 8.9g
- Sodium: 1627.4mg
- Fat: 17.1g
- Saturated Fat: 6.3g
- Unsaturated Fat: 9.4g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 24.1g
- Fiber: 3.6g
- Protein: 34.8g
- Cholesterol: 170.8mg
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