Zucchini Noodles with Mini Chicken Feta and Spinach Meatballs.
It’s a Monday meal!
We all have Monday meals right?
I mean, besides a salad with chicken because OMGIateallthethingsthisweekend but there are a few things that are simple, healthy and frankly… boring… come Monday night. amIright?
It’s right for me. I am the cliche stereotype and Monday is always a struggle. Almost always! Sooo… to find the most delicious meal that doesn’t includes as many cheeseburger and pizza as the weekend? That’s the mission.
Max LOVES meatballs. Like completely loves them. So I wanted to throw a spin on them and include some greens, and also figured they’d be perfect on top of zoodles. A super light summery meal that feels comforting and more satisfying that the summer grilled chicken everything we tend to lean towards this season.
ALSO. This pin. This freaking pin has been haunting me. It looked so beautifully delicious but I couldn’t find the recipe, so I decided to just make my own. The flavor combination just sounded incredibly delicious. Albeit, well… green. Very very green.
It’s okay! I can handle it. We can handle it.
The meatballs are filled with a mixture of chopped up spinach and garlic and studded with feta crumbles, then baked. I know most people hate turning on their oven in the summer, but the thought of standing over a skillet flipping meatballs sounded worse to me than baking the balls. You can totally make them either way! Throw a bit of olive oil or grapeseed oil in skillet and cook until browned on all sides if that’s your thang.
Or bake ‘em like me. When you bake them, you can make a huuuuge amount at once and save them for sandwiches or salads or even freeze them if needed.
Plus, they are mini. Mini things are adorable and mini means you get to eat MORE. Woohoo.
The zoodles, up next. The zucc noodles are tossed in olive oil, garlic and butter and cooked until slightly soft. I prefer my noodles to have a bit of crunch to them but sometimes I cook them a bit longer for Max.
If you wanted more flavor, you could always toss the whole thing in red sauce, in some sort of cream sauce, in whatever sauce you’d like. Cream sauce… is probably not on your list of Monday meals. Let me guess.
That’s that! The meatballs will take the longest and you can have this meal finished in under an hour. That’s sometimes a bit longer that I prefer to spend on a Monday meal… but it’s TOTALLY worth it.
Just look! Promise. Swear. On the moon and the stars and the sky.
Zoodles with Chicken Feta and Spinach Meatballs
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups fresh baby spinach
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled, plus extra for topping
- 1 pound lean ground chicken
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup seasoned panko breadcrumbs
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 3 tablespoons fresh oregano, plus extra for sprinkling
zoodles
- 2 medium zucchini squash, spiralized
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 lemon, juiced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In your food processor, combine the spinach and garlic and pulse until small pieces remain. You don’t want it completely pureed, but you want it to look as if the spinach is chopped. Drizzle in 1 tablespoon of olive oil and add half of the feta (2 ounces), pulsing again just a few times.
- In a bowl, mix together the chicken, egg, worcestershire, spinach mixture, salt, pepper, oregano and 1/3 cup breadcrumbs with your hands until just combined. If it feels too wet and is difficult to shape into balls, add a touch more breadcrumbs and mix. Add in the remaining feta cheese and mix. Form into 30 or so mini meatballs, about 1/2 inch in diameter. Place on the parchment and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through.
- While the meatballs are cooking, spiralize the zucchini into noodles. Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat and add olive oil and butter. Add the garlic and pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute, the stir in the lemon juice. Add the zoodles and toss well to coat. Cook until the noodles softened slightly, tossing often, for about 5 to 6 minutes.
- To serve, serve the meatballs on a bed of zoodles. Top with extra feta and fresh oregano.
Did you make this recipe?
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Oooooh this makes me happy.
110 Comments on “Zucchini Noodles with Mini Chicken Feta and Spinach Meatballs.”
I made these with arm and asiago instead of feta, amazing! I will be making these over and over again.
I mean parm!
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Hi, was just wondering if I can use frozen spinach instead of fresh?
I made this today for myself for dinner. I added halved cherry tomatoes to it. Such a delicious dinner. I LOVE your recipes.
This looks so good! I can’t wait to try it. I’m such a sucker for anything with feta!
How do you spiralize the zucchini? Is that a special tool?
Delicious recipe and great use of spiralized zucchini. Be sure to use all the herbs recommended. Next time I might add a little white wine or vegetable broth because we wanted a little more “sauce” for the meatballs. Thank you Jessica!
Awesome!! I used low fat turkey sausage because that is what I had. My meatballs were great. I added two tablespoons low fat cream cheese and 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese to the zoodles. We loved it. Thank you for the great recipe.
Super easy to make. Great way to sneak in the veggies. you don’t even taste it!
I forgot to get oregano so i just added some extra dried herbs. It turned out great!
You guys! This was absolutely amazing. Super easy to make, coming from someone who doesn’t cook very often. Used slightly less breadcrumbs and olive oil than the recipe calls for and no butter at all, and it was splendid.
Oh my stars , this was such a great recipe. I used yellow squash for my zoodles because the stay crunchier and a few greek olives. It was so yummy. Loved it so much i extra meatballs and froze them for a quick week night healthy dinner
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Made my second batch today! Made homemade fettuccine last time, and trying zoodles for the first time today! I just got them at the store!! They’re in the precut section of the produce department.
Love the look of this recipe but would like to have the nutrition breakdown. Am doing a low carb and important to know the fat, carbs, fiber and protein.
The panko makes this not quite low carb. You can find tons of nutrition calculators on line. Here’s what I found for this recipe; not bad: Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories 261
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 13.2g 17%
Saturated Fat 5g 25%
Cholesterol 115mg 38%
Sodium 459mg 20%
Total Carbohydrate 8.4g 3%
Dietary Fiber 1.7g 6%
Total Sugars 1.6g
Protein 26.6g
Vitamin D 3mcg 15%
Calcium 148mg 11%
Iron 2mg 14%
Potassium 251mg 5%
I made this twice and it was very good. I had to tweak it a bit though. 3 tablespoons of oregano
was too much for the meatballs last time, so I did 1 1/2 tablespoons instead the second time
and it was much better.
I also didn’t really like the lemon in the zoodles, so I didn’t add that the second time I made it
and I liked it better. And I really love feta, so I used a lot more than suggested. Definitely adding to
the weekday rotation. Turned out to be a fantastic dish!
Fabulous recipe! I make this on a very regular basis but typically use ground turkey. I freeze them in batches. They freeze really well and extremely tasty!
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Super tasty dish! Great recommmendation on using the food processor to finely chop the spinal and garlic. Thanks for the recipe!
*spinach
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Came out dry :(
I was excited to make these and had them saved for a while, but unfortunately didn’t turn out as juicy as I’d want it to be.
Hands down one of my favorite meals to make! The meatballs were delicious! I am going to make as second batch to freeze as we ate most of them, or are having them as leftovers. We weren’t big fans of the zucchini noodles, but the chicken meatballs will definitely be in our rotation. I didn’t use the food processor at all, just mixed everything together in a bowl. I used frozen spinach and forgot to add in the oregano and honestly didn’t even notice something was missing, they were that good. Thanks for a great recipe!
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This was such a delicious dinner! It was so flavorful and light. I will definitely be making this one again :)
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