Chicken Parm Bites

I was invited to a neighbor's house to watch the Superbowl on Sunday. I don't enjoy football, but I went anyway, just to socialize and eat. And, oh, was there food! Everyone brought a dish to share, so we ended up with 3 different kinds of wings, veggies with dip, pulled pork sandwiches, chili, and loaded potato skins.

My contribution was these chicken parmesan meatballs from Cake, Batter and Bowl. She had the ingenious idea to stuff an Italian-seasoned chicken meatball with mozzarella, and serve with marina as a dipping sauce! They are a bit labor-intensive, but SO worth the final (delicious) result.

They were a huge hit and I'm glad I doubled the recipe! They went very quickly.

Chicken Parm Bites
Source: Cake, Batter and Bowl
Makes 16 meatballs (8 servings)

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ½ cup chopped shallots
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1 ¼ cups panko bread crumbs, divided
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp salt
• 16 fresh mini mozzarella balls (also called bocconcini)
• ½ cup marinara sauce (store-bought or homemade)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper, or tinfoil sprayed with nonstick spray.
2. Heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Saute the shallots until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Remove from heat, and let cool a few minutes.
4. Place the ground chicken, ¼ cup of the panko, oregano, basil, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the cooled shallots and garlic. Gently mixed together until evenly combined.
5. Place the remaining cup of panko crumbs in a shallow dish.
6. Take a mini mozzarella ball, and carefully wrap just enough ground chicken mixture around the ball to completely cover it. Roll the ball in the panko, then place it on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining mozzarella balls and chicken.
7. Bake the meatballs for 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.
8. Serve the meatballs on toothpicks alongside the warmed marinara sauce.