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One Pan Chicken Feta Meatballs with Lemon Turmeric Rice
I’m telling you, this is the easiest, most satisfying dinner you’ll make all week. We love a one-pan meal!
This healthy one-pan meal is about to become your new favorite weeknight dinner. Making your own meatballs might sound like a lot of work, but it’s actually super easy. Just put a few ingredients in a bowl, mix it up, roll, and cook. That’s all there is to it!
You can make as much or as little as you want depending on your family size or how many leftovers you want. Plus, cooking the meatballs in the same pan as the lemon turmeric rice just makes everything that much simpler. Put this chicken meatballs recipe in your back pocket because it truly is the easiest base for so many recipes.
Watch Me Make Chicken Meatballs with Turmeric Rice
Table of Contents
Ingredients and Substitutions
How to Make Chicken Meatballs with Turmeric Rice
Storing and Reheating
Chicken Meatballs with Turmeric Rice Recipe
Ingredients and Substitutions
Ground Chicken
Ground chicken and ground turkey are both great sources of lean protein, so you can use either one. Ground beef, pork, or lamb are also great for meatballs and are more nutrient-dense with iron, zinc, and B-vitamins, but they do contain more calories and saturated fat, so if that’s something you’re concerned about for your health, stick to the poultry.
Feta
I like using feta cheese because it creates little salty pockets of cheese in the meatballs. A lot of meatball recipes use shredded parmesan cheese, which is a great substitute.
Rice
Any kind of white rice is perfect for this one-pan meal, so I use jasmine. Brown rice can work but it takes longer to cook and therefore requires more broth or water.
Onion and Garlic
Save yourself some prep time by blitzing the garlic and onion in a food processor before adding to the rice mixture. 2 teaspoons of garlic powder works if you don’t have garlic cloves.
Chicken Broth
Cooking the rice in broth gives it more flavor and nutrients than if you used water, but water will work just as well. If you swap the chicken for a red meat like beef, pork, or lamb, use beef or bone broth instead.
Spinach
Spinach packs even more nutrients into a meal that is already quite nourishing. It’s a super easy way to sneak more greens into your one-pan meals. Frozen or fresh peas or green beans would also be great substitutes or additions.
Egg and Panko Bread Crumbs
The egg and panko act as binders for your meatballs, but if you’re gluten free, swap the panko for ground rolled oats (or oat flour).
Lemon
Lemon juice really perks up the rice, as it gets absorbed in every grain. Lemon zest also brightens everything up when added at the end as a topping with extra feta and fresh dill.
Turmeric
Turmeric adds a beautiful orange color to the rice, but it also adds anti-inflammatory benefits and a warm, earthy flavor to the whole dish.
How to Make One Pan Chicken Feta Meatballs with Lemon Turmeric Rice
Step 1
In a large mixing bowl, combine the egg, panko bread crumbs, feta cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. Add the ground chicken to fully combine.
Step 2
Form the mixture into golf ball sized meatballs. Heat oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add the meatballs to the pan and cook for 3-4 min, then flip and cook for another 3-4 min or until just cooked through. Remove from the pan and set aside on a large plate or bowl.
Step 3
In the same pan, add a drizzle of olive oil if needed then add the onion and garlic. Stir occasionally over medium heat until the onion is translucent, 4-5 minutes.
Step 4
Add the uncooked rice, turmeric, salt and pepper and stir to combine, about 1 minute.
Step 5
Add the chicken broth, spinach, and lemon juice and stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, scraping the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Once just boiling, cover, reduce heat to low, and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
Step 6
Once the rice has cooked and almost all of the liquid has absorbed, add the meatballs back on top. Cover and continue to cook over low heat for 5 minutes until the meatballs are heated through and the rice is tender. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes while covered. Top with feta, dill, and lemon zest.
Storing and Reheating Meatballs and Rice
Once cooled completely, the rice and meatballs can be stored together or separately in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days.
Reheat the rice and meatballs together with a splash of water in the microwave in 30-second increments until the meatballs are completely warmed through. Don’t forget to top with fresh lemon zest, dill, and feta!
This recipe is really flavorful and would definitely make again! I will say that 30 minutes is a bit unrealistic for cook time – these take closer to 45 mins to an hour when you factor in getting out ingredients, reading recipe as you go, and cook time.
Another winner from Brocc! So flavorful but feels healthy at the same time. Adding this to my normal rotation!
10/10!!! This was so so good!! My husband and I have a new baby at home and he was able to whip this up while I tended to our girl. It was easy and so flavorful. We subbed ground turkey for chicken because that’s what we had and it worked great. This will be in our rotation!
Only critique, is related to printing the recipe. When I printed from my iPhone the entire first page was the gigantic photo of the recipe and it was just a waste of ink IMO. Wish it was more printer friendly when printing from your phone, that’s all 😊
Thanks for the note!
Yum!!! I just found you via Instagram and made this recipe tonight. Was a hit for the whole family, including my 2 year old who normally dislikes rice. Made exactly as written but did 3/4 cup rice, 1/4 quinoa because I was short on rice. Will definitely make again!
one of the best one pan meals I’ve ever had! flavors was through the roof and it came together so easily like all of BYB recipes!