These baked Italian style chicken meatballs are made with Grana Padano cheese, sautéed peppers, and onions, and baked using a special technique that keeps the meatballs tender and moist. Grana Padano cheese is made from unpasteurized, semi-skimmed cow’s milk and aged for a minimum of 9 months to over 20 months, giving it a light crumbly texture and satisfyingly sweet.

Preparation

Heat the olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add the peppers and onions and sauté for 3-5 minutes or until softened.

Mix the peppers and onions with the breadcrumbs, cheese, ½ cup chicken broth, egg, garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and crushed red pepper flakes.
Add the meat and just combine. Do not over mix, but be sure seasonings are well dispersed.

Coat a baking sheet with rimmed edges with non-stick spray and roll meatballs into 1-inch balls.
Pour reserved chicken broth around meatballs and bake at 450 for 25 minutes.

To serve these meatballs, heat 2 cups of homemade tomato sauce or your favorite jarred sauce over medium heat in a large skillet and add in the cooked meatballs. Gently toss the meatballs in the sauce and remove from heat. Serve with additional freshly grated Grana Padano cheese.

[ – Ground beef or ground turkey may be substituted for ground chicken.
– These meatballs are great served without the tomato sauce as well.
– Serve meatballs and sauce with pasta if desired.]