If you love buffalo chicken but want a healthier, leaner alternative to fried wings or traditional meatballs, these healthy buffalo chicken meatballs are for you! Made with lean ground chicken and baked or air-fried instead of fried, they’re packed with flavor while keeping things light. Perfect for game day, parties, or even a simple weeknight dinner, these meatballs are sure to be a crowd favorite.
Why You’ll Love These Healthy Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
- Healthier Alternative – Using ground chicken instead of beef or pork keeps these meatballs lean, and baking them eliminates the need for excess oil. These are also gluten-free, though you can swap the almond flour for plain Panko breadcrumbs if you prefer.
- Easy to Make – Just mix, roll, and bake! It really doesn’t get much easier than this recipe! A quick toss in buffalo sauce at the end brings everything together.
- Perfect for Entertaining – These meatballs are the ultimate party appetizer. Serve them with toothpicks and a side of ranch or blue cheese dressing for dipping, and watch them disappear!
The Ingredients:
- 1 lb lean ground chicken: I like to use at least 93% lean or leaner chicken to keep these lower calorie and lean. This also keeps the grease to a minimum as well!
- 1 egg: this helps the meatball bind and hold it’s shape. Plus a bonus is a little extra protein!
- 1/2 cup almond flour: this will keep the recipe gluten free, though you can certainly use Panko bread crumbs if you’d prefer a slightly crunchier texture and don’t mind the gluten.
- 1 Tbsp ranch dressing mix: this helps give it a delicious flavor. You can use about half a dry ranch dressing packet or I love this Homemade Ranch Seasoning Mix from The Pioneer Woman too.
- Spices – 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper: These spices give the meatballs flavor. Feel free to add a little more if you want extra flavor.
- 1 cup buffalo sauce: I prefer Frank’s Buffalo Sauce… it doesn’t get much better!
- Toppings: green onions, ranch, blue cheese: I prefer chopped green onions with mine!
Instructions for Healthy Buffalo Chicken Meatballs:
When it comes to making these healthy buffalo chicken meatballs, you have two options: bake or air fry. You can’t go wrong either way, but here are some considerations when choosing how you want to make them:
- Baking: When you bake these meatballs, they have a softer texture. If that’s your preference, baking is the way to go!
- Air frying: This is my personal favorite way to make these meatballs! They bake in half the time and have a little crispier texture to them.
You can see the difference between the way these meatballs bake. The lighter colored ones were baked in the oven for 10 minutes and the darker colored ones were cooked in the air fryer for about 10-11 minutes.
No matter which way you choose to prepare these meatballs, you’re going to love them! Give these easy, flavorful buffalo chicken meatballs a try, and you won’t miss the fried alternatives! Let me know how you like them and what you pair them with.
Storage:
These will stay good for about 2 days in the refrigerator. If you can keep the buffalo sauce off of the ones you aren’t using immediately, that will help keep them from getting too soggy in the refrigerator.
Healthier Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground chicken at least 93% lean or leaner
- 1 egg
- ½ cup almond flour or Panko bread crumbs
- 1 Tablespoon of ranch dressing mix
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup buffalo sauce I love Frank’s brand!
- Toppings/serve with: green onions ranch dressing, blue cheese dressing
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish.
- If air frying instead, spray air fryer with non-stick spray.
- In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except for the buffalo sauce. They'll form better if not overmixed.
- Scoop about 1 Tablespoon of mixture, roll into a ball, and place in the baking dish. Continue until all mixture is used. (I like to keep the balls small so they cook more thoroughly and take less time.)
- If baking in the oven, bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches at least 165 degrees F.
- If cooking in air fryer, place meatballs in the air fryer and air fry at 400 degrees for about 10-12 minutes.
- Pour buffalo sauce into a large bowl and toss meatballs to coat. Top with green onions and serve with ranch or blue cheese if desired.
Nutrition
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