Golden brown chicken meatballs cozied up next to fixings like cucumbers, shallots, kewpie mayo, mint, a bit of chili crisp, and some fresh cilantro to make the ultimate chicken sando!
Ginger Chicken Meatball Sandos
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Delicious sandwiches. The meatballs are flavorful and are super easy to throw together. Will be making again! We used Atoria’s Lavash flatbread for the sandwiches and they were great. A thinner option than a naan or pita and the shape of the lavash made it easy to build a sandwich. Yum!
Jennifer
OKAY. How much do we love these meatballs? And this whole sandwich?
It’s an 11/10 for me. THEY ARE SO GOOD. The meatballs are jam-packed with flavor, golden brown on the outside, and perfectly tender. What a dream.
This whole thing comes together shockingly easy, especially if you use a little blitzer like this guy (affiliate link) to mince all the meatball mix-ins! The meatballs will beg to be eaten straight out of the pan as an “appetizer” before you even get to the sandwich, but once you do get there, you can use any number of types of bread – soft French bread or baguette or pita, for example – to build the sandwich. It might be a bit low brow, but my bread-y element of choice is that pillowy, pre-made store-bought naan. Stuffed with all this goodness and folded into a naan-wich… oof. It’s just really good.
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Ginger Chicken Meatball Sandos
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 2–4 servings (Bjork and I can easily finish the meatballs between the two of us) 1x
Description
Golden brown chicken meatballs cozied up next to fixings like cucumbers, shallots, kewpie mayo, mint, a bit of chili crisp*, and some fresh cilantro to make the ultimate chicken sando!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Ginger Chicken Meatballs:
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 serrano pepper, stem removed
- one 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled
- a bunch of fresh cilantro
- 3 teaspoons fish sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- pinch of salt
For serving:
- 4 pieces soft bread – either soft French bread or flatbread like pita or naan
- 1/2 cup mayo or kewpie*
- 1 cucumber, sliced
- 1 sliced shallot or red onion
- 2 tablespoons cilantro
- 1/4 cup mint leaves
- 2 tablespoons chili crisp* or sriracha
Instructions
- Blitz garlic, serrano pepper, a bunch of fresh cilantro, and a piece of ginger in a small chopper or food processor until minced.
- Add mixture to a large bowl. Mix with ground chicken, fish sauce, brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Form into 12 meatballs – they will be wet but that’s okay. The shape doesn’t need to be perfect! (See Note 1 below if your mixture is too wet to form into meatballs.)
- In a large skillet with a lid, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and let them begin to cook.
- Add 2 tablespoons water; it will sizzle, so wear an apron and have your lid ready! Put the lid on the pan and let the meatballs cook for a few minutes. Uncover, flip, and repeat. Within about 10 minutes, the meatballs should be cooked through, tender, and nicely golden brown.
- To serve, warm the bread so it’s nice and soft. Shmear with mayo, top with meatballs, sliced cucumber, sliced shallot, cilantro and mint, and a drizzle of chili crisp. Messy, saucy, and mind-blowingly delicious.
Notes
Note 1: The water content of ground chicken can vary. If your mixture is too wet and difficult to form into meatballs, trying adding a little more cornstarch or adding panko in the mix.
Sometimes it helps to cut the meatballs in half for layering on the sandwiches! And sometimes you can just go big and messy and not worry about it!
When I use naan (as pictured), I just use half of the naan per person, and then fold it in half almost like a quesadilla or more of a flat sandwich.
Nutrition information is for meatballs only.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Sandwich
- Method: Pan Fry
- Cuisine: Asian-Inspired
Keywords: chicken sandwich, ginger meatballs, meatball sandwich
More Sandwiches To Swoon Over
- The Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich (Breakfast made delicious!)
- Instant Pot Italian Beef Sandwiches (Just a few minutes of prep and totally hands-off to make)
- Smash Burgers with House Sauce (Wow! Just so good!)
Filed Under: All Recipes Dairy-Free Dinner Fall Healthy Lunch Main Dishes Meat and Chicken Quick and Easy Recipes Sandwiches Spring Stovetop Winter
December 5, 2022
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
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Could I bake these meatballs instead of frying? Thanks!
That should work, yes!
These had great flavor! I did find the meatball mixture super wet and sticky and difficult to form into the balls. Maybe I did something wrong? I ended up scooping them into the skillet and once they started cooking, they did hold their shape.
I did not have the chili crunch and I did feel like something was missing: will try that or something similar next time!
I found them to be very wet too. I added breadcrumbs and baked them instead. that seemed to help a bit, and not a big deal if they didn’t hold their shape. flavor was great. family loved them!
Nice post thank you
great and practical recipe i will try it
golden brown chicken is a testy dish ,I love this ,especially mint flavour are too good. thanks.
I just made this and it was so good! Instead of bread, I served it over rice with all the fixings. I do think the meatballs were missing some kind of binder, like egg. I found mine were falling apart if I wasn’t gentle with them. But great dish, and will definitely make again! And next time, I may bake to reduce mess.
The flavor was good but the mixture was way too wet to form into balls, even after adding some panko. We ended up baking for 30 minutes in an oven at 400 instead because of how wet they were.
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Very informative blog.I was searching for the recipe of ginger chicken meatball, thanks for sharing this.
Added another Serrano pepper to the mixture for extra heat. Found some mini naan bread and it was the perfect size for two meatballs some sriracha mayo, cucumber slices, and added shredded carrots. Was a great dinner that came together quickly.
These were pretty good, the meatball flavor was our favorite! Next time, I think I’ll do a pickled cucumber and sriracha instead of the raw cucumber and chili crisp. We ate them as instructed, then made another half with sriracha and for us it was just the punch it needed (I love chili crisp but it just comes off a little flat here)! A very easy weeknight recipe that I can’t wait to repeat and get creative with. Oh, I also put our raw onions in a little red wine vinegar and hot water for 15 min while prepping because I don’t love raw onion/shallot in this type of scenario.
This is very well explained! Thankyou so much! Christmas Eve here I come!!!
Healthy recipes to follow
These meatballs look absolutely amazing! Giving this a go asap! 🙂
Very informative blog for me because i need a recipe ginger chicken meat ball, thanks for sharing.
Your consistency is admirable, Lindsay. Keep up the good work! 🙂
Can I freeze these for a make ahead meal and reheat? And have you ever tossed them in a bit of sauce of any kind before assembling sandwiches?
We haven’t tried freezing them before, but we’d guess it should work! It’d be really yummy to toss them in a bit of the chili crisp before assembling the sandwiches. Enjoy!
The recipe looks great. I am surely going to try it! Thanks for sharing.
These are a staple in our house! We bake them in the oven at 350 until the thermometer reads done – takes an already easy meal to presto status. I usually have the kitchen cleaned before they are done!
Good taste. Thanks for sharing this blog
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These were very delicious with a naan! Instead of chili crisps, I used sriracha sauce and it was delish! The meatballs are definitely wetter than the freezer meal chicken meatballs but still not too hard to make.
Excellent Recipes. I like Ginger chicken meat ball sandos. Thank you for sharing
Great topic to introduce your taste in ginger chicken meatballs with us. Thanks for sharing your hard work.
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Was so excited to make these. As stated, meatballs were wet but I used a Dutch oven and they held up.
In the end there was so much delicious little brown bits I added chicken broth, ginger, garlic, brown sugar, flour and chili crisp to make the most amazing sauce to top it with.
My husband had it on a pita with the toppings while I had it over rice. Will do 2 lbs of chicken next time!! Definitely need a double batch!
Delicious sandwiches. The meatballs are flavorful and are super easy to throw together. Will be making again! We used Atoria’s Lavash flatbread for the sandwiches and they were great. A thinner option than a naan or pita and the shape of the lavash made it easy to build a sandwich. Yum!
Made these last night. Didn’t take to long (thought it would take longer). My fam loved them. I used mini naan breads with three meatballs, red onion, cucumbers , cilantro, mayo, siracha and chili crisp drizzle. Yum !! I did t have mint leaves. The meatball mixture was wet but I just used a cookie scoop to get them in the pan and I got about 21. I found the meatballs to be a little crumbly while cooking, had to be gentle with them so they didn’t come apart. I tried sliding the pan back and forth to move them around while cooking without taking the lid off and 2-3 fell apart. I didn’t mind eating the scraps. Will definitely make again and again.
These meatballs are soooo good! I didn’t have any cilantro so I skipped that. I air fried them, only because I am scared of oil splatter. I coated my hands in olive oil before rolling out the meatballs. They were so tender and delicious. I served with cukes, chili crisp, quick pickled red onions, and some avocado oil mayo. The next day I made the leftovers into a bowl with rice for lunch and topped it with chili crisp and tahini. Heavenly!