What I love about Greek-style Chicken Meatballs with Tzatziki
I recently whipped up these Greek-style Chicken Meatballs with Tzatziki, and I’m absolutely obsessed! Not only are they incredibly tender, but they’re also bursting with vibrant flavors. Instead of frying them in batches on the stovetop, I bake them in the oven, which simplifies the cooking process significantly. Since leaner meats like chicken and turkey can dry out easily, they need a little extra help to stay moist. Fortunately, the butter in these meatballs keeps them super delicious.
On top of that, I’m a huge fan of homemade tzatziki—there’s truly nothing like it! Once you try making it yourself, you’ll never go back to store-bought, I promise. Made with wholesome, fresh ingredients like Greek yogurt, cucumber, and dill, it’s creamy, zesty, and tastes like a burst of summer. When paired with these chicken meatballs, it creates a delicious and effortless meal. Plus, it stores well in the fridge, so any leftovers can be enjoyed over the next few days. For a complete meal, simply add a fresh Greek salad, and you’re all set!
What you will need to make Greek-style Chicken Meatballs and Tzatziki
Here’s a list of ingredients that you will need:
- Ground chicken – You can use ground chicken or ground turkey for the meatballs. If you can’t find either, what I’ve done in the past is bought boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed them and threw them in the food processor to make my own ground chicken. It works great!
- Butter – Chicken is a leaner meat, so I like to add butter to the meatballs for a little fat and flavour!
- Garlic – We are loving the garlic in this recipe! You will need fresh garlic cloves for both the meatballs and the tzatziki. It’s a necessary ingredient for this recipe!
- Fresh herbs – Mmmm, I LOVE fresh dill. There’s just something about that smell. The flavour too is so unique, fresh and tasty. You will need fresh dill for both the meatballs and the tzatziki. You will also need a little fresh oregano for the tzatziki. I know you don’t need much, but the leftovers would be delicious in a lasagna or used for another Italian-style recipe.
- Spices – For the meatballs, you will need a little dried oregano, onion powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper. For the tzatziki, you just need salt and pepper.
- Greek yogurt – You definitely want to find the highest fat content for the greek yogurt. Because we are adding lemon juice and fresh grated cucumber, we need to try to prevent the tzatziki from having too much liquid. We want it nice and thick, hence the high-fat greek yogurt.
- Cucumber – Long English cucumber works best for the tzatziki.
- Lemon – I would recommend using fresh lemon juice, but it’s not detrimental to use store-bought.
- Olive oil – I recommend using a good quality, extra virgin olive oil for the tzatziki.
Greek-style Chicken Meatballs with Tzatziki
Equipment
- 1 Baking Sheet
Ingredients
For the chicken meatballs:
- 2 lbs organic ground chicken
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 cup fresh dill fronds finely chopped
- 2 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
For the tzatziki:
- 1 cup high-fat plain greek yogurt
- 1 cup grated cucumber
- 1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/3 cup fresh dill fronds finely chopped
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp fresh oregano finely chopped
- 1/4 tsp each sea salt, black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the chicken, melted butter, garlic, dill, oregano, onion powder, cinnamon and salt and pepper. Mix well with your hands until all of the ingredients are fully combined. Wash your hands thoroughly.
- With a small cookie scoop, scoop the chicken meatball mixture onto the lined baking sheet in rows leaving an inch between each meatball.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until meatballs are fully cooked.
- While the meatballs are cooking make the tzatziki: In a small mixing bowl, add the yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, dill, olive oil, oregano and salt and pepper and mix well until combined.
- Add the grated cucumber to a dish towel and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. It will be more like 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup once you're done this step. Add the cucumber to the yogurt mixture and mix to combine.
- Enjoy immediately with warm chicken meatballs. Yum!
Leave a Reply