Chicken Meatballs in Creamy Sauce

Tender chicken meatballs in creamy sauce served with mashed potatoes, a delightful dish that your family will love.

These chicken meatballs in creamy sauce are something for the children. And for grown-up men, who love children's food. Like my husband... A delicious and comforting meal, soft dumplings made with chicken breast and rice and slowly simmered in a cream sauce with herbs.

I found this recipe for ground chicken meatballs in sauce in a Romanian cookbook written by Silvia Jurcovan. I use Silvia Jurcovan's books often when it comes to Romanian cooking, here are some more of the dishes she inspired, if you are curious: Cauliflower in Tomato Sauce, Romanian Sweet Bread with Walnuts - Cozonac, or the Greta Garbo Cake.

This creamy chicken dumpling dish is quite easy to make, you just need a little patience when forming the meatballs. The result is a very mild fine meal, with soft chicken meatballs that will almost melt in your mouth and a velvety sauce. And if you like meatballs in a creamy sauce, try these German Meatballs in Caper Sauce or these Polish Meatballs in Mushroom Sauce.

Recipe ingredients

Ground chicken:

• Making ground chicken meatballs is not the first choice when making meatballs. Is not that I don't like them, I love them actually, but ground chicken meat is not available in Germany, I have never seen it. So, when making poultry meatballs, I usually go for turkey, it is at least from time to time available. You could make these creamy chicken dumplings using turkey meat instead, if you wish.
• Or go for beef or a mixture of ground beef and pork, the dish will be delicious as well.
• But, of course, preparing the chicken breast for making chicken meatballs at home is not that difficult either, I will explain later how you can do that.

Rice:

• I use white, uncooked rice for the creamy chicken dumplings. Don't worry about the rice being uncooked, it will have enough time to get soft while you cook the ground chicken meatballs in the sauce.
• I would not use brown rice in this case, because brown rice needs a longer cooking time.

Mushrooms:

• I used cremini mushrooms, but button mushrooms or chopped portobello mushrooms would be perfectly fine as well.
• Actually the difference between these sorts of mushrooms is just age. The white button mushrooms are the youngest variety, the cremini are in between and the portobello mushrooms are overgrown white mushrooms.
• I cooked the mushrooms separately in a little water, drained them and added them to the sauce after the meatballs were cooked.

How to grind chicken breast?

There are two ways of grinding chicken or any kind of meat at home, with a grinder or with a food processor.

With a grinder:

• To grind the chicken breast with the grinder, I prefer to use frozen and partially thawed chicken breast. I let it thaw partially, cut it into cubes and grind it.
• If you bought fresh chicken breast already, cut it into cubes, place the cubes on a baking sheet (that will fit in your freezer) lined with baking paper and freeze the meat cubes for about 30 minutes.
• Freezing the meat might seem like an unnecessary step, but it really isn't. This will help the meat stay firm and make the whole grinding process easier.
• I use a manual grinder, so I place the meat cubes into the hopper and turn the handle until the meat is ground. If using another sort of mixer, regard the instructions concerning the setting and speed you are supposed to use.

With the food processor:

• Not many people actually own a grinder nowadays. So, most people would use the food processor for grinding meat. I use my Thermomix to do that, but any good food processor would be fine.
• To grind the chicken with the food processor, you will also have to partially thaw frozen chicken breast or partially freeze fresh chicken breast. The procedure is the same as explained above.
• Read the instructions of your food processor in order to know what setting and speed you are supposed to use for grinding meat.

Safety when grinding meat:

• Don't stick your fingers into the hopper when grinding meat. Always use the meat pusher provided with the meat grinder.
• If you have long hair, better tie it back, so that it won't get caught into the grinder.
• Here you can read more about safety when using a grinder.

How to form the dumplings?

• Add all the dumpling ingredients to the ground chicken meat.
• Mix well to obtain a paste and form the chicken dumplings with the help of 2 teaspoons.
• The mixture is very sticky, so using the hands to form them is not a good idea. You will have about 25-30 of them.

How to cook?

• Saute onion in melted butter until translucent.
• Simmer meatballs: Add stock, bring to a boil. Add meatballs, cover, and cook on low heat for about 30 minutes. Stir once after 15 minutes to turn the balls on the other side.
• Cook mushrooms: Slice the mushrooms. Place them into a small pot, cover with water, bring to a simmer and cook for about 3 minutes. Drain well and set aside.
• Thicken sauce: Whisk the flour with the cream and cold water. Whisk into the sauce and bring to a boil again. Add the drained mushrooms and stir well. Let the sauce cook for a minute or two until the sauce thickens slightly. If the sauce seems too thick, add a little water or stock and simmer for another minute or two.
• Adjust the taste with nutmeg, salt, pepper, and some lemon juice.
• Add the parsley and serve.

How to serve?

• Definitely with mashed potatoes, for me that is the perfect combination. Soft mashed potatoes, topped with this velvety cream sauce and the tender chicken dumplings.
• And some some pickled vegetables on the side: pickled green tomatoes, zucchini pickles or gherkins, for instance. The pickles would really make this a genuine Romanian meal.
• However, you can also serve the ground chicken meatballs in sauce with plain rice, pasta, boiled potatoes or even bread. And a nice green salad.
• The chicken meatballs in creamy sauce can be easily reheated.

More meatballs:

• Spanish Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
• Meatballs and Rice
• Turkish Meatballs
• Beef Meatballs with Zucchini
• Turkey Meatballs without Breadcrumbs

Chicken Meatballs in Sauce / Chicken Dumplings

Tender chicken meatballs or chicken dumplings simmered in a cream sauce and served with mashed potatoes.

5 from 2 votes

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Course: Chicken Breast

Cuisine: Romanian

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes minutes

Servings: 4

Calories: 437kcal

Author: Adina

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Ingredients 

• ▢ Chicken meatballs:
• ▢ 250 g/ 8.8 oz boneless skinless chicken breast
• ▢ ½ tablespoon vegetable oil
• ▢ 1 small onion
• ▢ 50 g/ 1.7 oz/ scant ¼ cup white rice
• ▢ 25 g/ 1 oz/ 3 level tablespoons flour
• ▢ 1 egg
• ▢ 1 tablespoon dill or parsley very finely chopped
• ▢ 1 scant teaspoon salt
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ▢ Sauce:
• ▢ 1 tablespoon butter
• ▢ 1 small onion
• ▢ 600 ml/ 1.2 pints/ 2.5 cups of chicken stock
• ▢ 25 g/ 1 oz/ 3 level tablespoons flour
• ▢ 150 ml/ 5 fl.oz/ ⅔ cups heavy cream
• ▢ 2 tablespoons cold water
• ▢ 125 g/ 4.4 oz cremini mushrooms See note
• ▢ a few grindings of nutmeg
• ▢ 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice more to taste
• ▢ fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ▢ 1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Instructions

Chicken meatballs:

• If the chicken breast is frozen, let it thaw partially and cut it into cubes. If the chicken breast is fresh, cut it into cubes, place the cubes on a baking tray lined with baking paper and freeze for 30 minutes. This will make grinding easier.
• Grind the chicken with a grinder or in a food processor. See the blog post for more details on that.
• Chop the onion very finely. Heat the oil in the pot that you will use afterward for making the sauce and braise the onion lightly. Add it to the ground chicken meat and mix well.
• Add the washed but uncooked rice, flour, egg, chopped herbs, salt, and pepper. Mix very well.
• Form the chicken meatballs with the help of 2 teaspoons. The mixture is very sticky so using the hands to form them is not a good idea. You will have about 25-30 of them.

Sauce:

• Melt the butter in the pot you used before for cooking the onion.
• Chop the onion finely, cook until translucent.
• Add the chicken stock and bring everything to a boil.
• Reduce the heat and add the meatballs.
• Cover the pot and cook on low heat for about 30 minutes. Stir once after 15 minutes to turn the balls on the other side.
• Slice the mushrooms. Place them into a small pot, cover with water, bring to a simmer and cook for about 3 minutes. Drain well and set aside.
• Whisk the flour with the cream and cold water very thoroughly.
• Whisk this mixture into the sauce and bring to a boil again. Add the drained mushrooms and stir well.
• Let the sauce cook for a minute or two until the sauce thickens slightly.
• If the sauce gets too thick you can add a little water or broth and let it simmer for another minute or two.
• Adjust the taste with nutmeg, salt, pepper, and some lemon juice.
• Add the parsley and serve with mashed potatoes, salad, or pickles.

Notes

You can use white button or portobello mushrooms instead.

Nutrition

Serving: 1/4 of the dish | Calories: 437kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 29g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 155mg | Sodium: 979mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 7g

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