These quick and easy buffalo chicken meatballs have the same flavor as your favorite buffalo wings, minus the mess! Serve these as an appetizer on game day or stuff them into hoagie rolls to make sub sandwiches.
Your Favorite Wings, in Meatball Form!
For all of you buffalo wing lovers (or, if you’re like me and go big with buffalo chicken legs), these chicken meatballs coated in buffalo sauce are going to scratch that spiced heat you know you’re craving.
Unlike chicken wings, these chicken meatballs are so much easier to prep, serve, and clean up after while still soaking in and slurping up all that buffalo sauce flavor.
To make things even easier, the meatballs are baked in the oven and then tossed with a basic buffalo sauce that can be made on the spot or prepped ahead and reheated if you’re making for a crowd.
Heidi’s Tips for Recipe Success
- Don’t go too lean. Because of their lower fat content, chicken meatballs can taste dry if overcooked. To remedy this, I use either a combination of ground chicken breast and thighs or just ground chicken thighs. If you have a food processor (I love mine) it’s easy to make your own ground chicken. Cut the chicken into large chunks then process in batches. It’s quick and budget friendly too.
- Don’t overmix the meatball blend. Over-handling the raw meat mixture will make a dry or tough meatball so while you want all of the ingredients to be evenly distributed, do so with a lighter hand.
- Brush the tops with a little oil. A light brush of oil to the tops of the meatballs then baking at high heat seals the moisture inside the meatball while caramelizing the outside.
What You’ll Need for the Meatballs and Buffalo Sauce
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Ground chicken — Either use a combination of white and dark meat or just dark meat for the juiciest meatballs.
- Aromatics — Green onions, garlic, and celery add flavor and help keep the meatballs moist.
- Eggs — My binding agent of choice when making meatballs.
- Dry breadcrumbs — Not Panko and not Italian-style, just the plain stuff.
- Frank’s RedHot Wings Buffalo Sauce — Because it is the best tasting in my opinion.
- Butter — A little melted butter is added to the buffalo sauce to make a classic coating for the meatballs.
- Blue cheese crumbles, creamy blue cheese dressing, or ranch dressing for dipping
How to Make the Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
- Mix together the meatball mixture. I prefer using my hands to do this so I can tell if I’m overworking the ground chicken by mistake.
- Use a 2-inch cookie scoop to form same-size meatballs. Make the meatballs similar-sized so they cook evenly.
- Bake the meatballs at a high temperature, then raise it for the last 5 minutes. A blast of high heat at the end gives the meatballs a final browning.
- Add the meatballs to the buffalo sauce. I always use Franks buffalo sauce because I think it has the best classic flavor, and when mixed with melted butter, creates an extra layer of lushness that’s lip-smacking delish.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on this recipe below and leave a comment, take a photo, and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.
Buffalo Chicken Meatballs Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups Frank's RedHot Wings Buffalo Sauce
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 2 pounds ground chicken , I prefer thigh meat
- 4 green onions , white and green parts minced
- 4 cloves garlic , minced or pressed
- 2 ribs celery , finely minced
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup plain breadcrumbs
- canola oil for brushing the tops of the meatballs
- blue cheese dressing for dipping
Instructions
- Reserve ¼ cup of the buffalo sauce for the meatball mixture. Add 2 the rest of the sauce and the butter to a large skillet and heat over medium until the butter melts, whisking well to make a smooth sauce. Turn off the heat and cover it with a lid.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F. In a large bowl, use your hands to gently mix the ground chicken with the reserved ¼ cup of buffalo sauce, the green onion, garlic, celery, eggs, salt and pepper, and breadcrumbs until well combined. Don't overwork the mixture or your meatballs could turn out dry or tough.
- Then, use a 2-inch cookie scoop to form all of the meatballs into equal size balls, laying them out in rows on a sheet pan. Next, fill a small bowl with water, dip your hands in, then roll each of the meatballs in the palms of your hands until smooth and uniform, placing them back on the sheet pan as you go. Brush each of the tops with a little oil then bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Raise the heat to 500°F and cook for 5 more minutes to brown the tops.
- Warm the buffalo sauce on medium then add the meatballs, tossing to coat. Serve with crumbles of blue cheese on top or blue cheese dressing or ranch dressing for dipping on the side.
Notes
Nutrition
What to Serve With Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
- Blue Cheese Dressing or Ranch Dressing with carrot and celery sticks
- Creamy Coleslaw
- Ranch Potato Salad
- Baked Mac and Cheese
- Slow Cooker Little Smokies
More Buffalo Chicken Recipes to Try
- Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Buffalo Chicken Pasta
- Buffalo Chicken Meatball Subs
- Baked Buffalo Chicken Breasts
- Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese
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