Allow yourself to be seduced by these cheesy, garlic-rich meatballs.
These Chicken Florentine Meatballs are healthy and delicious. What more can you ask for than a super tender bite, packed with spinach, cheese, and garlic-rich flavors? Better yet, they’re ready in fewer than twenty minutes! They make an instant appetizer, or you can turn them into a family dinner by letting a pot of tomato sauce simmer as you mix, shape, and bake these meatballs. Each meatball has fewer than 50 calories, too. There’s no reason you shouldn’t allow yourself to be seduced by our easy Chicken Florentine Meatballs.
A Great Way to Sneak Spinach into Your Kid’s Meals
A cup of spinach goes into the meatball mixture to help hold everything together. It also adds nutritional benefits because of its vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. I was a little surprised how green the meatballs looked when they were raw, and they turn a gorgeous color once they’re browned under the broiler. The spinach color stayed a lovely vibrant green, creating an intriguing and eye-catching dish. The kids won’t be able to protest.
Any Tips for Extra Tender Meatballs?
For these Chicken Florentine Meatballs, you can add some milk to the panko breadcrumbs to create a panade (a mixture of starch and liquid). Adding this to ground meat will keep the size and shape of the meatballs intact while retaining their moisture and tenderness. Because ground chicken is so lean, adding extra moisture and fat from the milk creates tenderness insurance. After all, nobody likes dry meatballs!
Looking for a vegetarian version? Take inspiration from our Meatless Quinoa Meatballs, and substitute a clever mix of quinoa and red lentils for the ground chicken.
Now What?
I think there’s an unspoken rule that you should never serve Italian meatballs without a sauce. It’s just so much more satisfying to roll, dip, and smother each meatball in a tasty tomato sauce. Check out our Classic Tomato Sauce recipe to get started.
Or take a different route and serve these Chicken Florentine Meatballs on top a Spaghetti Squash with a Sage Alfredo or this One Pot Zucchini and Mushroom Spaghetti.
What will you do with these meatballs? We’d love to see them in action! Tag us in your creations on Instagram.
Chicken Florentine Meatballs
Ingredients
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1 cup spinach chopped and cooked
- 1/2 cup yellow onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 cup fat-free grated parmesan
- 1/2 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs
- 1 pound ground chicken
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray and set aside.
- Combine all ingredients together and mix well. Form into 1 inch balls and place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake, uncovered, for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Serve over your favorite pasta, zoodles, or spaghetti squash.
Nutrition Information
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How many meatballs per serving, please?
Emily, This recipe makes about 12 1-inch meatballs, so the serving size would be two meatballs. 🙂
Is it 1 cup after the spinach is cooked or before it’s cooked? 🙂
The ingredient lists has the spinach listed as “cooked”.
There are THREE different calorie levels in this post. It says 50 kcal each in the narrative, a serving size of 5 = 188 kcal in the nutrition label, and a serving size of 2 with no kcal in the comments. It would be helpful to know accurate information. Plus, a cup of already cooked spinach will turn 1 lb of ground chicken solid green.
Hi Heather, the narrative states “each meatball has fewer than 50 calories”. Meaning there are LESS than 50 calories in one meatball, it does not say one meatball is 50 calories. In regards to the comments, we do not add additional calorie information in the comment section, please refer to the nutritional information listed under the recipes as this is the accurate information for this recipe.