Baked Chicken Meatballs with Garlic Dill Yogurt Sauce
Feb 19, 2017, Updated Mar 20, 2021
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Baked Chicken Meatballs with Garlic Dill Yogurt Sauce – Tender, juicy, perfectly seasoned baked chicken meatballs topped with a delicious garlic and dill yogurt sauce.
I made us some baked chicken meatballs that are so incredibly good, you guys!
Baked Chicken Meatballs
These chicken meatballs are tender, they’re seasoned well, and, most importantly, they’re not fried! To go with it all, I’ve got this yogurt sauce that is creamy and luscious and garlicky, and it is always a major food feature on our dinner table.
Hi Hi Hello! My dear friends, how are you? Happy Sunday, by the way! I hope it’s a great one!
Also, I know why I’m here today, and I know why you are here, too: because we want to eat something new! Or a spin on the usual tomato sauce and meatballs deal. No worries. You’ve come to the right place, boo!
Trying to rhyme and clearly, I’m no poet. Let me stick to what I know: FOOD!
HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN MEATBALLS
This bowl contains every ingredient for a happy Sunday with Chardonnay on the side. And what if I tell you that it can come together in just about 30 minutes? WHAT A GIFT, right?! Let’s talk about how you need to try it. Today.
Meatballs are the answer to my whiny kids that won’t try anything new. For whatever odd reason, if it’s shaped in a ball, they’ll try it! If they can dunk it in ketchup?? EVEN BETTER! So, because they refused to eat my Garlic Yogurt Baked Chicken a couple of weeks ago, I made these meatballs and what do you know? They loved ’em!
- My secret here is a perfect mixture of ground chicken, dried herbs, panko crumbs, onions and garlic. Pretty straight forward and to the point.
…and baked to a browned perfection.
- While in the oven, I prepare an amazing yogurt sauce with a good amount of garlic, a nice dose of fresh dill, yogurt, and a bit of olive oil to thin out the yogurt. Sometimes, I use water to thin it out and you can try that, too. The sauce shouldn’t be thick, but rather smooth and pourable, but not necessarily thin. Something between thick and thin, but NOT totally thin. DOES this make sense?!? Shoot me an email if you’re having trouble.
Top this hug-in-a-meatball with the prepared yogurt sauce, a little more dill for garnish, and a glass of Chard on the side. Dinner served.
ENJOY!
CRAVING MORE? SIGN UP FOR THE DIETHOOD NEWSLETTER FOR FRESH NEW RECIPES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX!
FOLLOW DIETHOOD ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER, PINTEREST AND INSTAGRAM FOR ALL OF THE LATEST CONTENT, RECIPES AND UPDATES.
TOOLS AND INGREDIENTS USED IN THIS RECIPE
Pin this now to find it later
Pin It
Baked Chicken Meatballs with Garlic Dill Yogurt Sauce
Ingredients
FOR THE CHICKEN MEATBALLS
- 1 pound lean ground chicken
- 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
- 2 garlic cloves, , minced
- 3 tablespoons finely diced yellow onion
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- fresh ground pepper, , to taste
FOR THE GARLIC DILL YOGURT SAUCE
- 3 garlic cloves, , minced
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt, , or to taste
- fresh ground pepper, , to taste
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill, , chopped + more for garnish
- 1 cup non-fat plain yogurt
- 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine chicken, panko bread crumbs, garlic, onion, thyme, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper; mix and stir until thoroughly combined.
- Form the mixture into 1-1/2 inch meatballs.
- Transfer the meatballs to previously prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until meatballs are cooked through.
- In the meantime prepare the yogurt sauce.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine garlic, salt, ground pepper, dill, yogurt, and olive oil; mix until thoroughly incorporated.
- Taste for seasonings and adjust accordingly. I always find that it needs a tad bit more salt.
- Remove chicken meatballs from the oven and let stand couple minutes.
- Transfer to a serving bowl and top spoon yogurt sauce over the meatballs.
- Garnish with chopped fresh dill and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
LOVED this for meal prep. Packed four days with roasted cauliflower rice and chopped pickled piquillo peppers with the sauce in a jar on the side. After warmed up the base, added the yogurt and a chopped Persian cucumber on top of that. So tasty, light, and filling.
I am very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
This recipe is amazing! I made it exactly as written except I doubled the garlic in the meatballs and sauce. I love garlic and it was super tasty and lots of flavor. I wasn’t sure if my husband would want sauce on the meatballs, so we ate it on the side (lots of it). My husband literally talked about how good this recipe was the whole time we ate! He thought I bought the meatballs! He said I have to make meatballs with this recipe in the future and also loved the sauce. I will have to use the sauce for other things too! I got 20 meatballs that I think were about 1 1/2″. I gave my husband 8 and he ate them all! Served with couscous and broccoli. Will DEFINITELY make again and will share this recipe with others. Thank u so much!
That’s great! I am very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
this dish is absolutely amazing, thank you very much
Thank YOU! I am very happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
Would these meatballs be good served with angel hair pasta?
Delicious meal! I modified it a bit and loved the outcome.
I used store bought meatballs for their ease, and added maybe 2ish tablespoons of lemon juice to the sauce. Tossed fettuccine in the sauce with some feta cheese and served with meatballs on top. Fantastic, every bite 🙂
Would this work with ground turkey instead of chicken?
Hi!
Yep, it works with any ground meat.
Hi Hannah, can sour cream be used in place of yogurt?
Hi! Yep, I don’t see why not… that sounds delish! 🙂
I made this recipe as written and it was just awesome, served with salad and roasted acorn squash. Very, very pleased !
Making these tonight! Did you bake yours on parchment paper?
Can’t wait! Thanks for the idea.
Hi Hope! No, I just baked them in my pyrex baking dish. 😀 If you have a minute, let me know if you enjoyed them. 🙂
These were delicious! Followed meatball recipe exactly.
Only used one clove of garlic for the yogurt sauce and was still super garlicky! Will definitely make these again!
Thanks!
Is plain greek yogurt ok to use?
Hi Hannah! Sure, so long as you thin it out with olive oil or water so it’s somewhat pourable. I hope that makes sense. 😀
Making these right now!! I love Greek Chicken on the grill but I live in Ny and it is sooo cold right now, so Im not going outside to freeze haha..Thanks for this recipe so I can still get my fix :-p
Sounds dee-lish! What would you recommend as a side?
Hi Julie!! If you’re having them with either rice or pasta, I’d say a fresh crisp salad is best. Pour some of that yogurt dressing over it and nyum! 😉