These Egg Roll Chicken Meatballs paired with a homemade Sweet Chili Sauce are made with coconut aminos for the perfect Paleo recipe. Juicy and crunchy just like the Asian appetizer, and sure to be a family favorite!
Jump to Recipe
Another recipe that came from my need to use up ingredients – cabbage lying in my fridge for a month and a half.
Sauteed cabbage wasn’t happening – not my style – and deep fried egg rolls are urgh. So here’s something a little fancier inspired by that second one.
Added a bunch of cabbage and carrots to ground chicken and turned them into meatballs.
And of course egg rolls need a dipping sauce, so I whipped up an easy sweet chili sauce! Used stevia for the sweetness and thickened it with Xanthan Gum instead of cornstarch – Keto and Paleo!
Xanthan Gum is a stabilizing and thickening agent, and just a tiny bit made this sauce gel-like in seconds! I used the one from Kiva – it’s just pure product, and GF too!
Ingredients for these ground chicken egg roll meatballs?
Well don’t be turned off by all those vegetables in the meatballs – you can call them hidden veggie chicken meatballs – but trust me, this combination goes well!
- Ground Chicken – You can also use regular chicken breasts and make your own ground chicken from scratch by chopping it and then pulsing in the food processor (pulse not process, or you end up with mush).
- Cabbage, Carrots, White Onion and Green Onion – The classic ingredients for good chicken egg rolls
- Minged Ginger and Garlic – Essentials to any Asian inspired dish, meatballs or not!
- Coconut Aminos – A soy sauce substitute to make this recipe paleo, but a regular low sodium soy sauce should be fine.
- Salt & Pepper
- Almond Flour – This binds the meat in these meatballs, so theres’s no bread crumbs; So other than Paleo, this also makes the ground chicken meatballs low carb, keto-friendly and gluten-free!
How to cook these healthy Asian Chicken Meatballs?
- Chop all the vegetables in a food processor: cabbage, carrots, green and white onions
- Mix the chicken, vegetables, almond flour, coconut aminos/soy sauce, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Use a spoon.
- Spoon out about 1-2 tablespoons of the vegetable chicken mixture (about 20 portions) and toss them between your hands to shape them into meatballs. and then and place them on a greased baking sheet.
Bake those chicken meatballs in the oven at 350°F for 23 minutes.
You can also cook these chicken meatballs in an air fryer for about 17-18 minutes. Work in batches if you need to.
The Sugar Free, Keto and Paleo Sweet Chili Sauce
This homemade sweet chili sauce is sweetened with stevia and makes the perfect sweet and spicy dipping sauce for these Asian inspired meatballs.
All you need is:
- Rice Vinegar – or just White Wine Vinegar
- A bit of Coconut Aminos (or the Soy Sauce again)
- Chicken Broth – the usual recipes call for Sherry
- Minced Ginger and Garlic
- Crushed Red Chili Pepper Flakes – This is a bit spicy, so tone down the quantity if you need
- Stevia sweetener – Adds the sweet to the sweet chili sauce, but with no sugar (natural or added!); Another factor that makes this a keto recipe
- Xanthan Gum – A stabilizing agent/food additive that forms a gel-like substance when added to water. Here it’s used to thicken the sauce without adding any cornstarch.
To cook the sauce (you can do this while the meatballs are cooking), all you need to do is combine together all the ingredients – other than the xanthan gum – and head the mixture in a small pot.
When it starts to simmer, add in the xanthan gum and whisk to thicken.
Remove from heat immediately, since the sauce will thicken more when it cools. Stir in some more water if it gets too thick.
Slather some of the homemade sauce on the cooked meatballs and use the rest for dipping – a delicious and healthy dinner!
Make ahead Cabbage Roll Chicken Meatballs
You can make the chicken egg roll inspired mix with the cabbage and carrots, shape the meatballs, and keep them in the freezer until you’re ready to cook.
Place each meatball on a parchment lined baking sheet and them freeze individually. Then transfer the frozen meatballs to zipper bag. They should keep 2-3 months.
To cook raw meatballs, bake them for about 3-4 minutes longer.
Can you store these Low carb and Gluten Free Chicken Meatballs
Meal prep these vegetable and chicken meatballs and the spicy sweet chili sauce, and keep them in the fridge for about 3-4 days in an airtight container.
Be sure to keep the sauce in a separate container.
The cooked chicken meatballs are also freezer-friendly; Follow the same process as for the uncooked ones. They should keep
I would not recommend freezing the sauce.
To reheat cooked meatballs (let frozen ones thaw) just microwave them for about 30 seconds.
Alternate ingredients for these homemade meatballs and sweet chili sauce
- Chicken: Ground turkey works great too, or even pork – but go for the extra lean cuts
- Almond flour: Use about 2-3 tablespoon coconut flour or just the same ½ cup of bread crumbs if you don’t have dietary restrictions
- Coconut Aminos: Low Sodium Soy Sauce – but the meatballs won’t be paleo
- Stevia sweetener: Regular confectioners sugar, but that would increase the calories
- Xanthan gum: You can swap this out for about 1-2 teaspoons of cornstarch – or tapioca/arrowroot starch for paleo
How to serve these Crunchy Asian Chicken Meatballs
Dip the meatballs in the homemade sweet chili sauce for the perfect appetizer!
If you want to turn this into a full meal, pair it with some steamed broccoli or snap peas.
Or maybe just some simply cooked noodles tossed in veggies.
Some more Healthy, Low Carb, Paleo friendly Meatballs you’ll love
Egg Roll Chicken Meatballs with Sweet Chili Sauce
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 1 lb Chicken Breast, Ground or Whole, 454g
- 2 cups Shredded Cabbage, 140g
- ½ cup Carrots, Chopped, 64g
- ¼ cup White Onion, Chopped, 40g
- ¼ cup Green Onion, Chopped, about 25g
- 1½ tablespoon Minced Garlic, about 4-5 cloves
- 1 tablespoon Minced Ginger, about 6g
- 1½ tablespoon Coconut Aminos, or Low Sodium Soy Sauce
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Black Pepper
- ½ cup Almond Flour, 40g, see notes for sub
Sauce:
- ½ cup Water
- ¼ cup Rice Vinegar, or White Wine Vinegar
- 2 teaspoon Chicken Broth
- 1 teaspoon Coconut Aminos, or Low Sodium Soy Sauce
- 1½ teaspoon Crushed Red Chili Pepper Flakes
- 1½ teaspoon Minced Garlic, 1-2 cloves
- 1 teaspoon Minced Ginger
- Stevia Sweetener, ¼ cup sugar worth (Use your brand’s Conversion Chart)
- ¼ teaspoon Xanthan Gum, see notes for sub
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and lightly grease a baking sheet.
Prepare Chicken and Vegetables:
- If using whole chicken breast, cut into large chunks and place in a food processor.
- Pulse (do not process, use the pulse option, or the chicken will form mush) about 10-15 times until it turns into a ground chicken. Set aside.Work in batches if needed.
- Place cabbage, carrots, white onion and green onion in food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
Make Meatballs:
- In a large bowl combine chicken, chopped vegetables, coconut aminos/soy sauce, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper and, almond flour, and stir until uniform.
- Spoon out a heaping 1-2 tablespoons worth of the mix, toss between hands to shape into meatballs (about 20) and transfer to baking sheet. Use clean hands!
- Bake for 23 minutes.
Cook Sauce:
- While meatballs cook, heat a small pot over medium and combine vinegar, water, broth, coconut aminos or soy sauce, chili flakes, garlic, ginger and stevia sweetener. Bring to a simmer. Simmer for 3-4 minutes until it starts to thicken.
- Add in xanthan gum, whisking until it starts to thicken. Set aside.
- Sauce will thicken more when cooled. Add more water if too thin.
Serve:
- Transfer meatballs to a serving dish, top with sauce and garnish with more cilantro.
- Serve with your choice of side. Rice or Cauliflower Rice go well!
Notes
- To replace almond flour use ¼ cup breadcrumbs or 1 tablespoon Coconut Flour.
- Make sure to use “pulse” and not the regular “process” option on the food processor, or it will turn the chicken into a soft mush.
- Cook sauce when serving.
- Place baking sheet in freezer and allow meatballs to freeze. When frozen, transfer to a freezer-safe bag and freeze. Thaw before cooking, and increase cook time by 3-4 minutes.
- Fridge: 3-4 days in an airtight glass container. Microwave on high for 1 minute until warmed through.
- Freeze: Cook sauce when serving, or freeze cooked curry separately. Cook patties and cool. Transfer to parchment paper lined baking sheet and freeze. When frozen, transfer to a freezer-safe bag and freeze. Thaw and reheat in microwave to serve.
- BetterBody Foods Organic Coconut Aminos
- Nature’s Eats Superfine Almond Flour
- NOW Foods Superfine Almond Flour
- Servings: 20 2” meatballs + ½ cup sauce | Serving size: 5 meatballs + 2 tablespoon sauce
- Calories: 230kcal
- Fat: 7.8g | Saturated fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 9.3g | Fiber: 3.3g | Sugar: 3.3g
- Protein: 28.4g
Dawn says
I absolutely love this recipe! I tried it out once, then went shopping for more ground chicken that same week to make two more batches. It’s great that so many veggies sneak their way into a savory chicken dish. It actually tastes like an egg roll!
Haylee Jane Monteiro says
Omigosh that’s so great to hear! And I completely agree – sneaking in veggies is the easy way to get them in 🙂