Freeze cooked · Tested twice, then tested from frozen

Ginger Scallion Chicken Meatballs

Name: Ginger Scallion Chicken Meatballs
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 75 min
Yield: 8 portions
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 lb ground chicken; 1 cup panko breadcrumbs; 2 large eggs; 6 scallions, finely sliced; 3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger; 4 cloves garlic, minced; 3 tablespoons soy sauce; 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon white pepper; 2 tablespoons neutral oil, for the pans

Forty small meatballs from one bowl of mixing. They freeze cooked, reheat straight from the freezer in the oven, and work over rice, in soup, or in a sandwich.

45 minHands-on

75 minTotal

8Portions

340Cal / portion*

Cook the batch

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F and line two sheet pans with parchment.
Mix everything except the neutral oil in a large bowl with your hands until just combined. Stop as soon as it comes together — overmixed ground meat turns springy and dense.
Fry a teaspoon of the mixture in a small pan and taste it. This is the only chance to adjust seasoning across forty meatballs, so take it.
Roll into 40 balls, about 1 1/4 inches each, and space them on the oiled pans.
Bake 18-20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway, until browned and 165 degrees F at the centre.

Portion and freeze

Cool the meatballs on a rack for no more than an hour — they must be fully cool before freezing, or the steam turns to ice crystals.
Freeze them in a single layer on a tray for 2 hours until solid. This stops them fusing into one block.
Transfer to freezer bags in portions of five, press out the air, and label the bag with the details below.

Copy this onto the container

ContentsChicken meatballs, cooked

Portions40 meatballs (8 portions of 5)

Use within3 months

ReheatOven 375°F, 18–20 min from frozen

Reheating, from frozen

Oven, from frozen375°F, 18–20 min, covered

Skillet with sauce, from frozenSimmer covered 15 min

Microwave, from frozen5 meatballs, 2–3 min, check centre

Safe when165°F at the centre

The bit that matters

Open-freeze on a tray before bagging. Skipping that hour is the difference between five meatballs you can take out and a solid brick you have to thaw entirely.

*Approximately 340 calories per portion. Calories are an estimate from standard ingredient databases; actual values vary by brand and portion. See our disclaimer.