General Tso's Chicken Meatballs
A new twist on General Tso's Chicken! I'm making General Tso's chicken meatballs and serving them as a complete meal, loaded with tender broccoli over a bed of rice. You could easily make these as appetizers too!
Servings: 18 -22 Meatballs (6-7 servings)
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 1 1/4 pound ground chicken or turkey
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
- 1 tablespoons EACH: low sodium soy sauce sesame oil AND sesame seeds
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 3/4 teaspoon salt + 1/2 teaspoon pepp
General Tso's Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 4 scallions thinly sliced (separate the whites and the greens)
- 8 dried Thai chilies
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 cup EACH: low sodium soy sauce AND chicken broth
- 1/3 cup EACH: brown sugar AND rice vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger
- 2 tablespoons EACH: hoisin sauce AND tomato paste
- 2 cups steamed broccoli florets see notes
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoon water
Instructions
- MEATBALLS: In a medium bowl, using a fork, mix together all the ingredients except the ground chicken. Then add the ground chicken and mix until *just* combined. Just be sure you don’t overwork the meat. Roll into 18-22 meatballs using a cookie scoop (affiliate link) or about 1 1/2 tablespoons each.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Drizzle in a little oil. Add the meatballs to the skillet but do not overcrowd. Cook in batches if they don’t all fit. Sear the meatballs for 6-7 minutes, flipping to brown all sides evenly. We’ll finish cooking the meatballs through in the sauce later. Remove meatballs to a plate.
- SAUCE: In a large measuring cup, combine the soy sauce, chicken broth, brown sugar, dried ginger, rice vinegar, hoisin sauce, and tomato paste. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add the thinly sliced scallions (white portion) and the dried Thai chilies and let sizzle for about a minute before adding the garlic and letting it cook for just 30 seconds. Slowly pour in the prepared sauce and allow the sauce to reach a simmer. Stir in the cornstarch slurry and you’ll notice the sauce thickens a little. Add the meatballs into the sauce and let cook for 3-4 minutes on low heat. Stir in the steamed broccoli florets. Top with the remaining scallion greens and serve warm over jasmine rice, quinoa, or egg noodles.
Notes
- You can steam the broccoli in the microwave in a deep bowl and 1 tablespoon of water for 1 - 1 1/2 minutes or until they turn bright green. Alternately, this can also be done in a steamer basket set over a pot of hot water on the stove for roughly 3 minutes.
