No-Chop One-Pot Chicken Meatball Dinner

I just spent two workdays in the kitchen testing and perfecting next week’s recipe.  

It’s a recipe for conchas. You know, Mexican sweet breads that are somehow even more delicious a day after baking. Perfect dipped in milky coffee. I found myself surrounded by four dozen conchas too many, trying to get just the right texture, translating a bakery recipe into a home baking recipe. I got it, friends. They’re darling and delicious and absolutely worth the double pile of dishes and oven burn on my knuckle.  

It’s work, sure… and it’s work I feel lucky to do (dishes included). The tough part is dinner after a day of baking.  It’s like wait, I have to keep standing here thinking about food? My go-to on testing days is fried eggs and frozen waffles or a handful of roasted cashews and lunch meat. Gosh, that reads as sad when I type it out but that’s just the truth.  Asking me to cut an onion after a day of baking is just entirely too much. 

Maybe you feel the same way after a year of pandemic cooking for you and yours.  It’s a lot.  Onions and garlic?  Too much in the year of our Lord 2021. 

With ease in mind, this week’s offering is a simple dinner from the freezer and pantry. We’re making meatballs with spices and cheese, cooked in a pot with rice and frozen spinach.  I added Mediterranean flavors to the plate but you’re invited to toss and crumble whatever you have in the fridge on top of your meatball dinner plate.   

 

Here’s what you’ll need for this simple meatball and rice dinner: 

•  Ground chicken though ground turkey would also be delicious. 

•  An egg for binding. 

•  Onion and garlic powder, dried thyme or dried oregano.  

•  Parmesan cheese, finely ground. 

•  Panko breadcrumbs or really any breadcrumbs you like. 

•  Olive oil for the meatballs and for frying the balls. 

•  Rice and chicken stock along with a few flavoring ingredients: bay leaf, mustard, white wine, salt and pepper. 

•  Frozen spinach though frozen peas also work well. 

•  For topping your dinner plate: sliced kalamata olives, capers if you have them, crumbled feta cheese, lemon wedges, crushed red pepper flakes. 

Start by combining all of the meatball ingredients in a medium bowl. 

Throw it all in and mix with a spatula to make sure all of the ingredients are evenly combined.  

Shape the mixture into 12 medium-sized meatballs.  

If you find that the meat mixture is sticking to your hands, rinse them off and shape the balls again with damp hands.  

Fry the balls in a few tablespoons of olive oil top and bottom. The balls won’t be cooked through but transfer them to a plate while you continue on with the rice.  

No need to wash the pan.  Add a pat of butter and toast the rice until fragrant. 

Add some flavor and veggie in whatever way feels good to you. I like a spoonful of dijon mustard, a bay leaf, and a cup of frozen spinach (you really don’t even have to thaw and drain it if you don’t want to). 

Add the chicken stock, nestle in the partially cooked meatballs and bring to a simmer before placing the lid on the pan and cooking the rice. 

Pretty easy, right? Dinner is just 20 minutes away aka time for a few snacks before dinner. 

Dinner all simmered and fluffed and flavorful! 

Remove that bay leaf and discard, spritz the whole pan with lemon and gather the plates for serving.  

Top with whatever you have in the fridge or herb garden. I sprinkled fresh parsley, capers, sliced olives, and crumbled feta cheese.  Salty, brined, fresh, ya know? 

We’ve done this meatball dinner dance before. If you want more in your life see: 

•  Baked Turkey Meatballs (I’m sorry but I eat these cold from the fridge and love it.) 

•  One-Pot Lamb Meatballs with Orzo. 

I hope this dinner offering treats you well and warms your belly.  

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Photos with my dear Jon Melendez.