One-pan meals complete with meat and vegetables are super-convenient, but developer Kara Barrett considers this one to be something special. While she says “There’s a nice simplicity to this dish,” she feels that the flavorful and unusual chicken meatballs with spinach and feta are elevated way beyond the ordinary by a lemon-cream sauce so tasty you may just want to eat it with a spoon. “I mean that sauce,” she says, “it’s really good.”
Despite its elegance, Barrett calls the dish budget-friendly without sacrificing flavor. She also notes that it’s not too labor-intensive, especially since you can make the meatballs ahead of time, which means that it “makes for a pretty delicious weeknight meal.” She also feels that since the recipe is so special, “This is a great dish to make on a lazy Sunday afternoon, the kind where you have time to babysit the pan of meatballs while they brown. Just throw on some music or grab your partner to hang out in the kitchen with you. Then, serve your dish with a nice glass of wine.”
Since this dish has protein and vegetables all in one pot, all you’ll need to do is add a simple side to make it a meal. Barrett suggests pasta or rice along with a green salad, but you may also want to add a hunk of bread to help you sop every last drop of sauce.
Collect the ingredients for the one-pan chicken, spinach and feta meatballs
Step 1: Combine the meatball ingredients in a bowl
Add the ground chicken, feta, ¼ cup grated Parmesan, 1 cup of chopped spinach, breadcrumbs, egg, and 1 teaspoon of salt to a large mixing bowl.
Step 2: Mix the meatball ingredients
Gently mix to combine.
Step 3: Shape the meatballs
Shape the mixture into meatballs, about the size of a golf ball.
Step 4:Melt some butter in a pan
On medium-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet.
Step 5: Put the meatballs in the pan
Add the meatballs to the skillet.
Step 6: Fry the meatballs
Lightly brown the meatballs on all sides, about 10 minutes.
Step 7: Pour the stock and cream
Add stock, heavy whipping cream, 1 teaspoon of salt, and lemon juice with zest to the skillet with the meatballs.
Step 8: Simmer the meatballs in the sauce
Reduce heat slightly and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Step 9: Add the parmesan
Add a ¼ cup Parmesan and cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the sauce is thickened.
Step 10: Add the butter
Swirl in 1 pat of butter.
Step 11: Add the spinach
Add 1 cup of reserved spinach and cook for a few more minutes, or until the spinach is just wilted.
Step 12: Serve the meatballs
Taste for salt and serve with additional crumbled feta if desired.
Total time: 1 hour
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground chicken
- ¼ cup crumbled feta, plus more for serving
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- 2 cups chopped fresh spinach, divided
- ⅓ cup breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 lemons, juice and zest
Directions
- Add the ground chicken, feta, ¼ cup grated Parmesan, 1 cup of chopped spinach, breadcrumbs, egg, and 1 teaspoon of salt to a large mixing bowl.
- Gently mix to combine.
- Shape the mixture into meatballs, about the size of a golf ball.
- On medium-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet.
- Add the meatballs to the skillet.
- Lightly brown the meatballs on all sides, about 10 minutes.
- Add stock, heavy whipping cream, 1 teaspoon of salt, and lemon juice with zest to the skillet with the meatballs.
- Reduce heat slightly and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add a ¼ cup Parmesan and cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the sauce is thickened.
- Swirl in 1 pat of butter.
- Add 1 cup of reserved spinach and cook for a few more minutes, or until the spinach is just wilted.
- Taste for salt and serve with additional crumbled feta if desired.
What ingredient substitutions would work with this recipe?
If you’re thinking this recipe sounds like something you might want to make for dinner tonight but you don’t have ground chicken, Barrett feels that ground turkey would make a great substitute. She says that she personally wouldn’t choose ground beef, though, and it’s true that its stronger flavor might overwhelm this rather delicate sauce. Ground lamb, however, goes well with spinach, feta, and lemon, so that could work. You could use a plant-based ground meat substitute if you prefer.
As for the cooking liquid, if you don’t have stock, you could always use broth, bouillion, or even water, but if you go with this last option, you may need to add a bit more salt to compensate for the lack of flavor. Barrett also suggests that if you have any white wine on hand, you could use this to replace all or part of the stock. (Here are our recommendations for white wines to use in cooking.) You could also use half-and-half or even milk in place of the heavy cream if you want to make a lighter version of the dish, although, of course, the sauce won’t taste quite so rich with this substitution. If you’re swapping milk for heavy cream out of necessity instead of for dietary reasons, you can always add extra butter to make up for the missing milk fat.
Can I use a different method to cook the meatballs?
If you’d prefer not to pan-fry the meatballs as Barrett does, you have several different cooking options open to you. Barrett suggests that you could bake them at 350 F for 15 minutes, which has the advantage of being hands-free. (Try baking them on a wire rack to help with caramelization.) You could also cook them under the broiler if you like them extra-crispy, something that will only take 5 to 10 minutes. With both baked and broiled meatballs, you might want to turn them over at the halfway point to ensure even cooking.
You could also cook the meatballs in an air fryer, which will take about 8 minutes per batch. Depending on the size of your air fryer, however, you might need to cook them in multiple batches. No matter how you heat your meatballs, Barrett says there’s no need to worry about whether they’re cooked all the way through. As she assures us, they’ll finish cooking while they simmer in the sauce.
