The Brothers Brown: Bringing you innovative ways to get your buffalo-wing fix since 2009.
Fact: we love buffalo wings. Fact: meatballs are also delicious. Enter the buffalo chicken meatball, a self-contained flavor bomb of Frank’s Red Hot and blue cheese. We threw together a carrot yogurt dipping sauce just to up the interesting quotient but rest assured these are great on their own and take just as long to make as you’d spend waiting for delivery. Get to it.
Equipment Needed: Large Mixing Bowl, Baking Pan, Cheese Grater or Microplane, Chef’s Knife, Cutting Board, Blender
Serving Suggestion: Family Style
Servings: 6
Suggested Wine Pairing: This is a tough pairing so you’re better off just drinking whatever you prefer (as if you listen to our pairing advice anyway)
Suggested Beer Pairing: Beer (although we’d avoid sweeter options like dubbels or barleywines)
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs ground chicken breast ($4.99/lb)
- 2 carrots ($1.99/lb)
- 3 cloves garlic ($2.99/lb)
- 1/3 C grated onion (about 1/2 a small onion) ($0.99/lb)
- 1/4 lb blue cheese ($7.99/lb)
- 1/2 C panko breadcrumbs (we actually found a tasty chipotle-seasoned style)($2.99/12 oz)
- 1 egg ($2.79/dozen)
- 1/4-1/2 C Frank’s Red Hot sauce ($2.89/12 oz)
- 2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil ($9.99/32 oz)
- 1 1/2 C plain Greek yogurt ($3.59/16 oz)
- 1 lemon ($0.50/each)
- 2 TSP honey ($4.39/12 oz)
- Salt
- Black Pepper
Meatball Preparation:
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- In the large mixing bowl add your ground chicken, breadcrumbs, egg and hot sauce. Grate in about half of a small onion then mince your garlic and toss it in the mix.
Add an egg to help bind things together.
Frank's Red Hot. 'Nuff said.
- Crumble in your blue cheese, roll up your sleeves and get in there with your hands to mix everything together. Chicken is a lot stickier than other ground meats so it’s imperative that you don’t overwork it or you’ll never be able to get it off your fingers.
- Coat the bottom of your baking pan with extra virgin olive oil. You won’t be able to roll these like turkey or beef meatballs so just grab a glob about the size of a golf ball and form it by cupping your hands together. Place the meatballs in the pan evenly spaced with some room to breathe. Pop them in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the juice from the meatballs runs clear. Let them cool for a couple minutes then go to town.
Carrot Yogurt Dip Preparation:
- Scoop the yogurt into your blender and squeeze in the juice of half a lemon.
- Add the honey and a couple solid pinches of salt and pepper. Using the finest setting on your grating implement of choice, shred the carrots into the blender and puree the whole lot until smooth.
Shred the carrots finely for easier blending.
