Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

by Sabrina Snyder

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4 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
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Buffalo Chicken Meatballs is an easy oven-baked meatball recipe with tasty hot sauce and tender chicken. Great with Blue Cheese dressing!

Buffalo Chicken Wings are always favorite party Appetizers, especially to serve during football season. These tender chicken meatballs have the same spicy buffalo flavor and make a fun alternative to the traditional appetizer. 

Sabrina’s Buffalo Chicken Meatballs Recipe

Crowd-pleasing Buffalo Chicken Meatballs are sure to be a hit at your next family get-together, movie night, or football party. They can be made ahead of time and can be used as an appetizer or transformed into the star of a main dish.

Recipe Card

Dinner, then Dessert

Buffalo Chicken Meatballs Recipe

Buffalo Chicken Meatballs is an easy oven-baked meatball recipe with tasty hot sauce and tender chicken. Great with Blue Cheese dressing!
Yield 4 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
meatballs on a green plate served with dipping sauce
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Ingredients
 

  • 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
  • 2/3 cup Louisiana-style hot sauce , divided
  • 1 stalk celery , minced
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 pound lean ground chicken
  • Blue Cheese Dressing

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • In a large bowl mix bread crumbs, ⅓ cup hot sauce, celery, and egg until combined.
  • Add chicken and mix lightly until just combined.
  • Shape mix into 1″ balls.
  • Place balls on parchment paper in a shallow baking pan.
  • Bake 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.
  • Toss meatballs with remaining hot sauce.
  • Serve with Blue Cheese dressing.

Nutrition

Calories: 230kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 23g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 144mg | Sodium: 1233mg | Potassium: 715mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 177IU | Vitamin C: 30mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 2mg

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About this Recipe

These meatballs are incredibly easy to make with ground chicken, hot sauce, and a few other basic ingredients. You will be enjoying them in just over 30 minutes!

Ingredients

  • Ground Chicken: Ground chicken breast is the perfect meat for this recipe. It’s juicy and easy to mix into the meatball ingredients, and it tastes more similar to classic buffalo chicken than beef meatballs would. 
  • Panko Breadcrumbs: The dry bread crumbs in the meatballs soak up the juices from the meat while they bake. That way the meatballs stay moist instead of drying out in the oven. 
  • Egg: The egg helps bind the chicken and breadcrumbs together. 
  • Flavoring Ingredients: This recipe adds hot sauce and minced celery sticks to the classic meatball base. The crisp celery adds some texture and a fresh flavor to the meat mixture. Louisiana-style hot sauce is what gives the chicken meatballs their classic buffalo wing flavor. 

Can this be made ahead of time?

Another great thing about this recipe is that you can easily make it in advance. Start the food preparation by combining the meatball mixture and baking them. Then you can freeze them for months before serving. When you’re ready to enjoy them, reheat them in the oven and toss them in fresh buffalo sauce.

What to Pair With

Once you’ve baked the chicken meatballs serve them up with creamy blue cheese sauce for the perfect combination of spicy and cool. 

How to Store

  • Serve: You can keep chicken meatballs at room temperature for 2 hours before you should store them. 
  • Store: Transfer cooled meatballs to an airtight container to store in the fridge for 3-4 days. 
  • Freeze: You can also flash freeze the meatballs for 2 hours on a cookie sheet. Then transfer the frozen meatballs to a freezer bag or another freezer-safe container for long-term storage. They’ll be good for up to 3 months in the freezer. 

Ideas to Serve

These fun, delicious meatballs are so versatile. They can be a main dish, a side, an appetizer, or the centerpiece of your party snack table.

  • Potluck: Follow the slow cooker version of this recipe below. Set out a small bowl or mason jar of your favorite sauce to accompany the Meatballs. Stick a spoon in the sauce and attendees can drizzle the sauce on their meatballs after they plate them.
  • Game Night: Set these Meatballs out in a serving bowl next to a basket of crusty French bread rolls. Your guests at your next board game night, or football watching party can choose to make their own Buffalo Chicken Meatball sliders if they like, or simply use the Rolls to soak up the sauce on their plate.
  • Appetizer Party: Serve a table full of appetizers to your guests. Some great recipes to serve alongside your Meatballs are Ranch Mix Saltines, Bacon Pinwheels, and a chilled veggie crudités platter filled with plenty of crunchy, refreshing celery.
  • Leftovers: If you have any leftovers of the fun appetizer, you can repurpose the chicken balls into a delicious buffalo chicken sandwich. Serve the meatballs in a toasted sub with extra buffalo sauce and blue cheese dressing over the top of the meatballs. Then add pepper jack cheese and close the sandwich with the top half of the bread. These subs make a delicious and filling dinner or lunch.

Slow Cooker Method

You can make these Meatballs in the slow cooker to serve to a crowd. Follow these easy steps:

  • Start by preheating the oven to 400 degrees F. 
  • Combine the meatball ingredients as usual, and roll them into balls. 
  • Place the meatballs on the baking sheet and bake for 4-5 minutes until browned. 
  • Toss the meatballs with buffalo sauce and put them in the slow cooker. 
  • Cover and cook on low for 2 hours. 

Frequent Questions

Can I serve Buffalo Chicken Meatballs as a main dish?

You can definitely serve this recipe as a main dish. Prepare the meatballs as directed. Then serve them over some fluffy white rice, which will soak up the Buffalo sauce. You could also serve them on top of some buttered noodles, or over a bed of grilled or roasted veggies.

Can I adjust the heat level?

To make these meatballs a little more mild, just decrease your hot sauce. To increase the spice you’ll add a little more hot sauce, but be careful. You don’t want your meatballs to be so wet they won’t come together. You can play with the taste by increasing or decreasing 1 tablespoon at a time.

Variations

  • Onion: Along with the celery, you can finely chop onion to mix into the meatball ingredients. Yellow onion or green onions would both taste delicious. 
  • Fresh Spices: There are lots of ways to experiment with the flavor by adding your favorite seasonings. Paprika, onion powder, black pepper, or cayenne spice would all taste amazing. If you want to add some bold, garlicky flavor, you could add garlic powder or minced garlic cloves. 
  • Cheese: You can stir flavorful cheese like Blue Cheese, Parmesan, Mozzarella, or Cheddar into the chicken mixture. 

More Meatballs Recipes

Meatballs collage with ingredients, unbaked meatballs, and finished meatballs with sauce

Photos used in previous versions of the post:

meatballs with fork poking in one
collage of meatball mixture

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

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