These chicken meatballs are dairy, egg, and gluten free, and are delicious when served over garlicky zoodles. This is a recipe that’s family friendly and easy to make!
When you eliminate different foods from your diet, can be difficult to find simple and tasty dinner recipes that suit your dietary needs. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut, and it can feel like you’re eating steamed veggies and plain chicken every other day.
With a little creativity, you can enjoy a more variety in your diet, even if you’re sticking to a few basic food groups at first. These gluten and egg free chicken meatballs over zoodles are still technically “chicken and veggies,” but those basic ingredients are presented in a new and flavorful way.
This is an easy to prepare meal that’s very tasty, and nice and light for spring and summertime.
If you’re looking for more easy gluten free dinner recipes to try, these teriyaki turkey meatballs are another gluten free and dairy free main dish. (This recipe does contain soy, so if you have a soy allergy, you may want to try this recipe for soy sauce alternative).
When you’re in the mood for a rich and delicious pasta, try these chicken meatballs with dairy free creamy garlic pasta.
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Ingredient Notes
- Ground Chicken – I use a mix of ground chicken breasts and ground chicken thighs for the best flavor and texture. If you use all white meat chicken, these meatballs will be on the dry side.
- Potatoes – You might wonder about making meatballs without eggs or breadcrumbs, but there’s a secret ingredient in these that help bind them together – potatoes. Just ¾ cup of mashed cooked potatoes help hold these together and keeps them from drying out, too. If you’re able to eat eggs, you can use two eggs instead of the potatoes.
- Zucchini – You will need zucchini that are on the small side for this recipe. It’s a little easier to make the zoodles if the zucchini isn’t too large.
Substitutions
- If you don’t have ground chicken, you can make these with ground turkey. Be sure to use ground turkey that is 93% lean for the best results.
- Instead of zucchini, you can try these meatballs over spiralized yellow squash, or roasted spaghetti squash. Gluten free pasta would also be a good choice!
- If you can’t have onions or garlic, try adding more flavor to this recipe with fresh herbs like chives, basil, or thyme.
Special Equipment
A spiralizer is a good tool to use when you’re making veggie noodles. There are many varieties to choose from at kitchen stores or on Amazon. If you don’t have a spiralizer, you can just slice the zucchini very thin with a sharp knife.
Serving Suggestions
We like these chicken meatballs served over zoodles, but they would also be delicious over gluten free pasta or rice. You can also serve these with:
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They should stay fresh for about 3 days.
For more delicious allergy friendly recipes your whole family will love, grab my ebook, Allergy Free and Delicious.
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Recipe
Chicken Meatballs and Zoodles (Egg Free and Gluten Free).
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 pound ground chicken thighs
- 1 pound ground chicken breasts
- ¾ cups cooked potatoes (I used two Yukon Gold potatoes that had been baked, and I mashed them with a fork).
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
For the zoodles:
- 4 small zucchini
- 2 ½ Tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- salt and pepper
- fresh basil
Instructions
- Prepare your potatoes. I used two small Yukon Gold potatoes that I baked, then mashed with a fork. You could also use leftover mashed potatoes.
- Place all of the ingredients for the meatballs in a large bowl and use your hands to mix it all together. Pour the olive oil in a large skillet. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.Â
- Form the meat mixture into meatballs and place them in the skillet with the olive oil. Cook over medium heat, turning so that they are browned on all sides.
- Once the meatballs are browned, transfer them to a ceramic baking dish. Add ½ cup water, and bake at 375 degrees F until they are cooked through – about 15-20 minutes. The meatballs should reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees.Â
- Once the meatballs are almost done baking, use your spiralizer to make your zucchini into zoodles. (If you don't have a spiralizer, you can just thinly slice your zucchini.
- Place the zoodles into a pot with the olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until the zoodles are tender and bright green.
- Once the zoodles are cooked, season with salt and pepper. To serve, place some zoodles on each plate and top with meatballs. Garnish with fresh basil if desired.
Halie
Where do you find ground chicken thighs exactly?
I only see ground chicken but no where in stores do I see ground chicken thighs specifically. Where do I get ground chicken thighs?
Kelly Roenicke
Some brands make a darker, higher fat content ground chicken, like this one: https://www.bellandevans.com/product/organic-ground-chicken/
You can also make your own: https://masonfit.com/how-to-make-ground-chicken/
kathy
May I asked how you grind your thighs and chicken breast for this recipe? I’ve never seen ground chicken thighs in the store.
Kelly Roenicke
I have bought ground white meat chicken and ground dark meat chicken at Whole Foods as well as from Imperfect Foods before. I have never tried grinding it myself, although I’m sure you could!
Renee
Will this work with out the potato?
Kelly Roenicke
Yes, but the meatballs will be firmer.
Heather
This was amazing! Used parm and asiago cheese instead of feta. Added some basil as well. Will make over and over!
Kelly Roenicke
Love those substitutions! So glad you liked it!
Nicole | The Professional Mom Project
This looks amazing. It can be so difficult when your ingredient options are limited but I guess that’s when we need to be creative right? Pinning to try this sometime soon thanks for the inspiration
Kelly Roenicke
Thank you! Hope you love it!