I love meatballs and my Baked Chicken Marsala Meatballs is one of my favorite ways to enjoy this classic Italian dish substituting the typical meatball mixture with ground chicken.
For about ten years I didn’t eat red meat and learned to love chicken burgers and chicken meatballs. Most people use ground turkey for their non-beef ground meat dishes, but I always found ground turkey too dry and tasteless.
Although ground chicken is a little harder to work with, with its wetter consistency, the texture and flavor are so much better than ground turkey.
Add in a mushroom marsala sauce and you’ve just elevated this dish to another level of deliciousness!
What Ingredients do I need to make Baked Chicken Meatballs?
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make Baked Chicken Meatballs. In Chef Speak this is called the “Mise en Place” which translates to “Everything in its Place”.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed the up cooking process, but it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
Can I use Ground Turkey instead of Ground Chicken?
You sure can. You could even use ground beef, your favorite blend of meats, or the new vegetarian ground meat.
Do I have to use a Marsala sauce with my Chicken Meatballs?
No, you don’t! Their equally delicious in a tomato sauce (homemade or store bought).
How do I make Chicken Meatballs with a Mushroom Marsala Sauce?
The first step in making the meatballs is prepping the bread crumbs for the mixture.
Once you’ve mixed the milk with the bread crumbs and allowed it to sit for five minutes, you can add it to the rest of the ingredients.
Gently mix together the ingredients until combined. Do not overmix!
Use a cookie scoop or tablespoon to portion the meatballs. Roll the mixture into balls and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet.
*Plastic gloves will make the job easier. If you don’t have gloves try wetting your hands.
Place the sheet pan under the broiler and cook for 7-10 minutes or until the meatballs get nicely browned. Remove the baked chicken meatballs from the oven and set aside until needed.
*The meatballs might not be fully cooked through, but they will finish cooking in the sauce.
Can I saute the Chicken Meatballs?
Yes, you can. Add oil to a large saute pan and sear on as many sides as possible. Be gently with the meatballs as they’re softer than beef meatballs.
While the meatballs are cooking, get the ingredients for the mushroom marsala sauce ready.
- Heat one tablespoon of olive oil and one tablespoon of butter to the pan over high heat. Add the mushrooms and saute for 5 minutes allowing the mushrooms to caramelize.
- Add 1 tablespoon of flour to the mushrooms and mix well, allowing the flour to cook over low heat for 3-4 minutes.
- Add the ⅓ cup marsala wine and stir until the mixture is smooth.
- Whisk in the chicken stock and simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Add the cream, parsley,/ and season to taste.
If the sauce isn’t thick enough, add one tablespoon of butter rolled in flour (beurre manie) to the sauce. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more marsala, stock or water to the pan.
Add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer for an additional 5 minutes to let the flavors blend.
Your friends and family are going to love these tasty Chicken Marsala Meatballs! Serve them over noodles, rice or in a hoagie roll as a submarine sandwich.
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Baked Chicken Marsala Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs
- ½ cup panko bread crumbs
- ¼ cup milk at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon marsala wine
- 2 pound ground chicken white meat
- ½ cup grated Romano cheese plus extra for serving
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ⅕ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon granulated onion
Mushroom Sauce
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 16 ounces baby portabella mushrooms sliced
- 6 ounces marsala wine
- 4 ounces chicken stock
- 1 ounce heavy cream or light cream. Sour cream or Greek Yogurt will also work.
Instructions
Meatballs
- In a large bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs, milk, and one tablespoon marsala wine. Allow this mixture to soak for 5 minutes.
- Add the ground chicken, Romano cheese, eggs, parsley, sea salt and black pepper.
- Gently mix together the ingredients until combined. Do not overmix!
- Use a cookie scoop or tablespoon to portion the meatballs. Roll the mixture into balls and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet.*Plastic gloves will make the job easier. If you don't have gloves try wetting your hands.
- Place the sheet pan under the broiler and cook for 7-10 minutes or until the meatballs get nicely browned. *The meatballs might not be fully cooked through, but they will finish cooking in the sauce.
- Remove from the oven and set aside.
Mushroom Sauce
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and one tablespoon of butter to the pan, over high heat. Add the mushrooms and saute for 5 minutes allowing the mushrooms to caramelize.
- Add flour to the mushrooms and mix well allowing the flour to cook over low heat for 3-4 minutes
- Add the ½ cup marsala wine and stir until the mixture is smooth.
- Whisk in the chicken stock and simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Add the cream, parsley and season to taste.
- Add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer for an additional 5 minutes to let the flavors blend. Finish the sauce with ¼ cup of marsala. If the sauce isn't thick enough, add one tablespoon of butter rolled in flour (beurre manie) to the sauce. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more marsala, stock or water to the pan.
Nutrition
Rebecca says
Absolutely delicious recipe and easy to make!! I found that I had very little sauce with the meatballs. Is this the intended result or did I do something wrong? If I wanted more sauce would I double the recipe or just increase the stock? (Seems like doubling would need a lot of Marsala.) Thanks for an AMAZING recipe!
Chef Dennis Littley says
You may have reduced the sauce just a little longer which gave you less sauce. You could easily increase the amount of sauce and depending on how much marsala flavor you wanted you could either add more stock, or simply double the recipe.
CATHY JOHNS says
How much flour? It does not say. Also, butter is listed (again, no quantity), but nowhere does it say to add butter. Am I missing something?? Hoping for a quick response as I’m making this tomorrow!! (4/6/23) Thank you.
Chef Dennis Littley says
hi Cathy
Thanks for letting me know about the post, there was a glitch with my recipe plugin with its recent update. I have added the amounts and made the ingredients and instructions more easily understandable.
Jamie says
These meatballs were delicious for dinner and made our whole house smell so lovely! It went great with some steamed veggies on the side.
Naiby says
When you brought marsala sauce, I knew your meatballs were going to be brought up to another level! Thanks for your recipe!
amy says
Such a great idea to bake the meatballs! And the addition of cheese to the meatballs sounds delicious. I can’t wait to try this recipe ~ thanks!