Butter Chicken Meatballs
Butter Chicken Meatballs feature tender, spice-laden meatballs with a rich and creamy, flavorful sauce. Serve with rice or naan.
My kids love meatballs. I have several recipes of various types posted for them already. Our family also enjoys butter chicken (Mr. Dreamboat and I love all Indian food, but my kids are a little less adventurous). So I decided to combine the two to make Butter Chicken Meatballs.
I used the same sauce recipe as for Butter Paneer, and the paneer marinade inspired the meatball seasoning ingredients. The result was a hit. As usual, when we eat meatballs, the kids cleaned their plates. I served mine with store-bought frozen paratha, but they would be excellent with rice, naan, or flatbread.
If your family is also a fan of meatballs, butter chicken, or both, I highly recommend giving this recipe a try.
How to Make Butter Chicken Meatballs
As always, when I make any kind of meatballs, I like to start this recipe by making the meatballs. This involves adding the ground meat (in this case, chicken or turkey) to a large bowl with the binders and seasoning (panko, yogurt, egg, ginger, garlic, salt, garam masala, turmeric, and cayenne).
Stir the ingredients together (using a large spoon or your hands) until everything is evenly distributed and uniform. Scoop the mixture in portions to form 1-1½ inch meatballs (you should have about 36) and lay them on a plate or baking sheet. Bake or air-fry the meatballs for 18-20 minutes (14-15 if using the air-fryer), until cooked through and browned.
While the meatballs are cooking, start making the sauce. Heat the oil in a large skillet, Dutch oven, or saute pan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, tomato paste, and salt, and cook until the onion is softened and the tomato paste has darkened. Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant. Stir in the spices and cook for another minute.
Stir in the tomato puree (or diced or crushed tomatoes) and bring the mixture to a simmer. Stir in the whipping cream and sugar, and remove the pan from the heat. Use an immersion blender to blend the sauce until smooth (you can do this right in the pan). Alternatively, transfer the sauce to a traditional blender (I recommend letting it cool for a few minutes first), blend until smooth, and return the sauce to the pan.
Return the pan to medium heat, then stir in the butter until melted. Stir in the cooked meatballs and simmer until heated through. Serve the meatballs with sauce over rice, or with naan, paratha, or flatbread. Sprinkle with minced cilantro if desired.
Make-Ahead Instructions
Meatballs take time to make. They’re not difficult, but rolling out dozens of meatballs takes a while. If you’re in a rush at dinner time, there are a couple of ways to make this meal make-ahead friendly.
The first make-ahead method is to prep the meatballs, then store the shaped meatballs in the fridge until you’re ready to eat. At mealtime, resume the recipe to cook the meatballs and make the sauce. No cooking time adjustments are required in this method.
The next method is to prep and fully cook the meatballs, then store the cooked meatballs in the fridge until ready to use. Resume the recipe to make the sauce, then re-heat the meatballs right in the sauce. In this method, you may need to simmer the meatballs in the sauce for a few extra minutes than the recipe says, since you’re starting with cold meatballs.
Butter Chicken Meatballs Ingredients
- Ground chicken or turkey
- Panko – Or you can use gluten-free panko or gluten-free breadcrumbs to make these meatballs gluten-free. Find regular panko in the international aisle in any grocery store, and gluten-free panko in the gluten-free aisle of well-stocked or specialty stores.
- Plain Greek yogurt – I recommend using yogurt with 2% milkfat or higher for this recipe.
- Large egg
- Fresh ginger – Pro-tip: always keep a piece of whole ginger in the freezer, stored in a zipper bag. You can grate it from frozen with a microplane whenever you need it. You will use it in the meatballs and the butter chicken sauce.
- Garlic – You will use garlic in the meatballs and the butter chicken sauce.
- Kosher salt or MSG-salt – You will need this for the meatballs and the butter chicken sauce.
- Garam masala – garam masala is a spice blend used in Indian cooking. It is commonly available in the spice aisle or international aisle of most grocery stores. If you have a well-stocked spice cabinet, you might also be able to make your own blend. You will need this for the meatballs and for the butter chicken sauce.
- Ground turmeric – Find this in the spice aisle of any grocery store. It provides a bright yellow color and mild flavor.
- Cayenne – I consider these meatballs to be quite mild, but you can reduce or omit if you want your meatballs to be very mild.
- Canola oil – Or use any other neutral-flavored cooking oil.
- Medium onion
- Tomato paste – If you buy your tomato paste in cans (it is cheaper this way), save the leftovers by freezing it in individual portions in an ice cube tray. Alternatively, you can buy it in a tube and squeeze out only as much as you need, keeping the rest in the fridge.
- Paprika – I recommend regular (either sweet or hot) paprika here, not smoked paprika.
- Ground cinnamon – Your butter chicken will not taste cinnamony as you are only using a small amount.
- Tomato puree – Alternatively, you can use diced or crushed tomatoes
- Whipping cream – While whipping cream will give you the creamiest butter chicken, you can also use coffee cream (18%MF) or half-and-half (10%MF).
- Granulated sugar – A little bit of sugar helps to tone down the acidity from the tomatoes in the butter chicken sauce.
- Unsalted butter – A little butter is added to the butter chicken sauce right at the end of cooking. If you don’t have unsalted butter, replacing it with salted butter will work out just fine.
Want more meatball recipes?
Butter Chicken Meatballs Nutrition Notes
The nutrition information in the recipe below is for the meatballs and butter chicken sauce only. It does not include what you might serve with it, like rice or naan.
Note that this recipe is fairly high in sodium, total, and saturated fat. If you require a lower-sodium diet, you could cut back on the amount of salt you add to the meatballs and sauce.
If you require a diet that is lower in saturated fat, you could swap the whipping cream for half-and-half, though the sauce won’t be quite as creamy.
You could also keep your portion size small. My family of 4 did have leftovers when I made this, but my kids probably eat less than most adults.
Butter Chicken Meatballs
Equipment
Ingredients
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper or foil. Set aside. Alternatively, you can cook the meatballs in the air-fryer (see directions below).
- Add 1 pound ground chicken or turkey, 1 cup panko, ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt, 1 large egg, 1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger, 4 cloves garlic, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon garam masala, ½ teaspoon ground turmeric, and ¼ teaspoon cayenne to a large bowl. Using a large spoon or your hands, mix the ingredients together until everything is evenly distributed. Form the mixture into 1 – 1 ½ inch meatballs (about 36).
- Spread the meatballs onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 18-20 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through. If using your air-fryer, cook the meatballs at 375°F for 14-15 minutes. Set the cooked meatballs aside while the sauce finishes cooking.
- Start cooking the sauce while the meatballs are cooking. Heat 2 Tablespoons canola oil in a large skillet, medium Dutch oven, or saute pan over medium heat. Add the minced onion, 1 Tablespoon tomato paste, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Cook until the onion becomes soft and the tomato paste darkens, about 5-8 minutes.
- Stir in the minced garlic and 1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in 1 Tablespoon garam masala, 2 teaspoons paprika, and ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, and cook for another minute.
- Stir in 1 cup tomato puree and cook until it comes to a simmer, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in ½ cup whipping cream and 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar, and remove the pan from the heat.
- Use an immersion blender to puree the sauce (alternatively, you can use a traditional blender, but I recommend letting the sauce cool a little bit before hand and/or blending in 2-3 batches to prevent the steam from blowing the lid off the blender).
- Return the pan to medium heat and stir in 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter until it melts into the sauce. Stir in the cooked meatballs and cook until they're heated through, about 3-5 minutes.
- If desired, sprinkle minced cilantro over the meatballs. Serve the butter chicken meatballs over rice and/or with naan, paratha bread, or flatbread.
- Make the meatballs according to recipe steps 1 and 2. Instead of cooking the meatballs right away, place them on a plate wrapped with plastic or in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Cook the meatballs using step 3 of the recipe just before you're ready to eat. Alternatively, you could make and cook the meatballs (steps 1-3 of the recipe), then refrigerate them in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
- Make the sauce by following steps 4-7 of the recipe. Refrigerate the sauce in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
- Reheat the sauce by adding it to the original pot/pan that you cooked it in. Heat over medium heat until it comes to a gentle simmer, about 5-8 minutes. Note that if the sauce has become too thick, you can thin it with a little bit of water. Once the sauce has reached a simmer, stir in 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, then the meatballs. Continue to cook until the meatballs are heated through. Serve with rice and/or naan or paratha as desired.
Nutrition
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