If you take one piece of advice from me ever, it should be to make these Asian-inspired Whole30 and Paleo Orange Chicken Meatballs! There’s so much flavor in the Orange Hoisin sauce that this easy recipe will quickly become your new favorite weeknight dinner! I like to serve them with steamed broccoli for a complete meal that’s Gluten Free friendly, Paleo, and Whole30.
Table of Contents
💡About
You might already know that my Whole30 Orange Sesame Chicken and Broccoli recipe is one of my most popular recipes. Fun Fact: The first time I shared that recipe was back in 2015 on the Whole30 Instagram page! Since then, I’ve heard from a ton of people who’ve made it, and it always gets great reviews!
I think people really love all the rich flavors from the ginger, garlic, coconut aminos, almond butter, and orange juice. Honestly, it’s just a lovely finished dish.
So tonight, I wanted to recreate those flavors, but this time (with my daughter in mind), I made it into an easy, Whole 30 meatballs recipe!
I actually think you could call me the Queen of Paleo Meatballs. Because I have a LOT of meatballs recipes. A few of my favorites? Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs, Mediterranean Lamb Meatballs, Turkey Meatball Soup, and my Meatballs and Spaghetti Squash Marinara.
Ingredients
Whether you do your Whole30 shopping at Aldi, Walmart, or any other grocery store, these ingredients are easy to find. Here’s what you need to make this fabulous dish at home!
- Protein: Ground chicken, egg
- Pantry: Almond flour, sesame oil, almond butter, dates, coconut aminos, Chinese 5 spice seasoning, apple cider vinegar
- Produce: Oranges, Garlic, Ginger, Broccoli
Use it on my Orange Sesame Chicken & Broccoli Stir Fry!
Instructions
What I really love about this recipe is that it’s super, super easy to make! There’s really not even much chopping or prep work required!
🔪 Do the prep work
- First, you have to mince the ginger and garlic, slice the green onion, and juice the orange.
- Then add all the meatballs ingredients to a bowl, and mix them well.
🍊 Orange Sauce
Trust me, the sauce is totally the star in this dish. And isn’t it just extra awesome when something you love is made even a little easier?
Tips: For this recipe, I recreated my Whole30 Orange Hoisin sauce from the Orange Sesame Chicken recipe, but I made it just a little faster this time. And I decided to save myself a tiny bit of work and simmer the sauce at the same time as the meatballs. Here are a few other tips:
- The sauce should reduce by about half as it cooks with the meatballs, until it gets to be sticky and thickened slightly.
- If you find it’s reducing a little too quickly:
Squeeze some more orange juice into the pan and stir gently. You can also cover the skillet to keep it from reducing too quickly.
- Form the meatballs in your hands into 2 tbsp balls
- Brown them in a skillet (It’s quicker than you’d think!)
- Blend the sauce ingredients, then pour the mixture onto the meatballs
- Finish cooking the meatballs and reduce the sauce at the same time.
- Steam the broccoli in a separate skillet
- Serve the meatballs with the broccoli, and sprinkle with sesame seeds, a little orange zest, and sliced green onions.
FAQ
Some of my favorite sides are simple steamed broccoli, roasted broccoli, air fryer mushrooms, or oven roasted spaghetti squash.
Absolutely! Make the meatballs in advance, and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a day. You can also make the sauce in advance and keep it in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, or store in the freezer for 2 months (it freezes beautifully!)
To store leftovers, transfer the cooled meatballs to an airtight container or zip top bag. Store in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, per FDA.
If you like these Meatballs, check out some of my other Whole30 and Paleo friendly recipes: Butter Chicken, Asian Steak & Asparagus Kebabs, Chicken Pad Thai, Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry.
Now all that’s left to do is start cooking!
Liked this dish? Drop a star rating below or tag me on Instagram @cookathomemom!
Asian-inspired Orange Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients
Orange Chicken Meatballs and Broccoli
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 4 Tablespoon almond flour
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoons ginger minced
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoons orange zest
- 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoons pepper
- 2 Tablespoon sesame oil
- 4 cups broccoli florets about 2 heads
Easy Orange Hoisin Sauce
- 2 Tablespoon almond butter
- 3 dates
- 2 medium oranges, juice only
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoons minced ginger
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos
- 1/2 teaspoons Chinese five spice seasoning
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoons pepper
- 1 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Garnishes
- 1 teaspoons sesame seeds
- 1 green onion sliced
- 1 teaspoons sesame seeds
- 1 teaspoons orange zest
Instructions
Prep the Orange Sauce
- Zest and juice the oranges. Set the zest aside for later, and add all the sauce ingredients to a blender. Blend on medium-high until well combined. Set the sauce aside until you're ready to cook! *You can do this in advance, if you'd like!
Make the Chicken Meatballs
- Lightly beat the egg. Mince the garlic and ginger and zest the orange.
- Mix all ingredients except the sesame oil together in a bowl. Cover and set the mixture aside for at least 10 minutes to allow the almond flour to absorb the liquid a bit.
- Using your hands, form the mixture into balls, about 2 tbsp each. It should make around 12 meatballs.
- Add the sesame oil to a large pan and heat it over medium heat. Add the meatballs in and brown them, about 1-2 minutes per side.
- Pour in the Orange Sauce and bring to a simmer. Lower the heat and allow the meatballs to finish cooking in the simmering sauce for about 5 minutes. Stir and turn the meatballs occasionally (see note below).
Steam the Broccoli
- Add the broccoli to a large skillet with 1/4 cup of water. Cover and set the heat to medium-low. Steam for about 5 minutes or until bright green, then drain and season lightly with salt.
Assemble the Dish
- Serve the broccoli in a large dish with the meatballs on top. Spoon any extra sauce from the pan onto the meatballs, then sprinkle with sesame seeds, sliced green onion, and orange zest.
Donna says
I have made this twice now. I will admit that I don’t follow recipes very well. I am more of a throw things in kind of gal. However, I did try to measure (for the most part). I used ground chicken the first time and the only thing I changed was adding more garlic, orange zest and ginger. The first time the sauce was excellent!!! The meatballs had good flavor but they were “mealy”. I tried it again and doubled the recipe (why not when I didn’t get it right the first time🤦♀️). This time I used half chicken and half turkey. I omitted the almond flour because I thought that was the culprit. Unfortunately, it again has a weird mealy texture (not a pronounced as the first time) and I messed up the sauce, but that was totally on me because the first time it was great. Anyway, I want to try again but am a little gun shy. Anyone else have an issue with the meat texture?
Cook at Home Mom says
Hi Donna! Thank you for the feedback. I’m wondering if you omitted the almond flour the second time, did you use anything else to bind it? Some flours like almond and coconut can have a bit of a mealy texture if they aren’t ground fine. A quick solution would be to make sure your almond flour is fine ground. Would love to help you get to the bottom of this so you can thoroughly enjoy the recipe! -Laura
Teri says
Could you use store bough Hoison and add orange? I already have a bottle in refrigerator.
Cook at Home Mom says
Hi Teri! Absolutely! The only reason you’d need to make your own sauce is if you were avoiding certain ingredients like soy or sugar. If a storebought sauce works for your dietary restrictions, it’ll work for this recipe! 🙂 -Laura
Kassie says
Is there anything I can sub for the dates? I’m not currently doing a Whole30
Cook at Home Mom says
Hi Kassie! Great question. A little honey would work great, about 2 teaspoons should work great. Please let me know how it turns out! 🙂 -Laura
Stefanie says
That was really tasty, but my sauce turned out more like a classic satay sauce. I even added a bit more oj but it never turned into a glaze.
Cook at Home Mom says
Hi Stefanie! I’m so glad you enjoyed it, and thank you for this feedback. If you decide to make it again, you can optionally strain the sauce to make it more glaze-like. -Laura
Emma says
This was amazing. Thanks for this recipe!
Cook at Home Mom says
Hi Emma, Thank you so much for taking the time to tell me you enjoyed this recipe!! You made my day! -Laura
Charity says
My sauce turned out a lot more nutty than I would have thought. Is that normal? I did the amount of almond butter in the recipe.
Cook at Home Mom says
Hi Charity! Normally the nut butter just adds a bit of richness and doesn’t add much nuttiness to the sauce. It’s possible that the kind of nut butter you used was stronger in flavor or maybe toasted, which could help explain it, but you could always use less next time or omit it completely. I hope that helps! -Laura
Tiffany says
Give my these meatballs all day everyday and I will be grateful! (Drooling)
Cook at Home Mom says
Hi Tiffany! You got it!! -Laura
Rhonda says
I love this recipe for small appetizer size meatballs. What a crowd pleaser!
Cook at Home Mom says
Hi Rhonda, What a good idea! This recipe would be fab as an appetizer! -Laura
Cook at Home Mom says
So glad you enjoy it! Hope you try it out! -Laura
dave says
again, so tempting