Cajun Chicken Meatballs

I have never been super into Mardi Gras, I’m not Catholic, I’m not from New Orleans, and I never had an inclination to go party in the party capital during the party of the year. But I will say, I love Cajun food, except for Crawfish. My first experience with crawfish was when I was pregnant and living in Houston, my husband’s work had a crawfish boil and just walking up to the venue, the smell of the crawfish was so intense and nauseating. I am also not one to work hard to be able to eat my food, crab legs for instance are NOT my jam, so the thought of cracking and pulling and sucking on a little crawfish was gross all by itself. Needless to say, I have never tried one and will never try one, I totally stuck with a nasty hot dog at that event and would make that same choice a million times over.

Back to Cajun food, I love the depth of flavor and the spicy heat that is so different from Latin spicy. I wanted to make something everyone in the house would love and meatballs are usually a good choice. And let me tell you, my youngest downed at least 10 of these meatballs, she loves spicy and it was so up her alley. My oldest had two and declared them too spicy, which means the general population would enjoy that heat level! There are a couple things I knew needed to be in this recipe, the Holy Trinity (celery, green bell peppers, and onions) and a great Cajun Seasoning mix. I found a fabulous seasoning at Gimme Some Oven, it was the perfect amount of heat and I only needed to buy one new spice, white pepper. And now I have a whole jar of this goodness that I can sprinkle on anything, I’m especially looking forward to some Cajun salmon.

This mixture also makes an incredible hash, when I was recipe testing, I attempted pan-frying them. Bad idea, they all fell apart and stuck to the pan, so I just broke it all up and used it as a hash with a fried egg on top, AMAZING. Like good enough for me to make again as a hash as a meal prep for easy breakfasts. I love that these are easy, it takes a little time because you have to cool the vegetables and then the meatballs, but I promise, they are worth it. Serve them as an appetizer with a little Crystal hot sauce (mix Crystal with some mayo for a spicy dipping sauce) or as a dinner, served with rice, and some roasted okra.

Cajun Chicken Meatballs

• 2 Tablespoons Cajun Seasoning (from Gimme Some Oven)

• 1 cup celery, finely diced (about 4 stalks)

• 1 cup green bell pepper, finely diced (1 medium)

• 1 cup onion, finely diced (1 medium)

• 1 Tablespoon oil

• 1 pound ground chicken

• 1 egg

• 1 cup almond flour or gluten free flour of choice

- In a skillet, heat the oil at medium-high heat, when it is hot, add the onions, pepper,celery, and Cajun Seasoning saute until it is tender.

- Cool the mixture for at least 30 minutes in the fridge. Once cooled, add the remaining ingredients and mix until combined.

- Using a scooper, make about 30 meatballs and place on a parchment or silicon mat covered baking sheet. Once all scooped, freeze meatballs on the baking sheet for about 30 minutes.

- Broil on high for 7 minutes, flip them over, and broil for an additional 5 minutes or until the center is cooked to 165 degrees

Cajun Seasoning, the HOLY TRINITY, and some ground turkey is almost all you need for these little meatballs

Cooking the vegetables does a few things: it releases the liquid from the vegetables to ensure the meatballs don’t get soggy, it adds a better texture rather than larger, hard chunks in the meatballs, it will give better flavor, and the spices cooked with the vegetables will be more flavorful because they have been heated up.

Make sure to cool the mixture so it doesn’t affect the meat or egg by cooking small portions.

Now that the vegetables are cooked and cooled, combine it with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Don’t mix it too much or the meatballs will be very dense.

Use a scoop to make the meatballs, place on a parchment or silicon mat lined baking sheet. You need to chill them in the freezer for a few minutes because chicken gets very soft and the meatballs fall apart easily. Then all you do is Broil for a few minutes on each side! Easy cleanup and cooking, no oil splatters, and the meatballs stay together. Throw a few dashes of Crystal Hot Sauce for authentic heat!