Sticky Chicken Meatballs with Charred Broccoli

I'm a big meatball gal. I love them because you can take almost any dish and make it in meatball form and everyone thinks you're so creative. In reality, I'm just out here meatball-ifying other recipes. They are also so quick and perfect for weeknight meals. Don't come to my house during a busy week. It's just meatballs everywhere.

Sticky Chicken Meatballs with Charred Broccoli

Serves: 4

Active Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb. ground chicken
• 1 tbsp. low sodium soy sauce
• Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 green onion thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp. corn starch
• 1 tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 large head of broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp. oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp. fish sauce
• 1 1/2 tbsp. honey
• 1/2 tbsp. sriracha (or more to taste)
• 1 inch fresh grated ginger (or 1/2 tsp. dried ground ginger)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a bowl, combine the ground chicken, soy sauce, salt, pepper, green onion, panko breadcrumbs, and egg and mix to combine. Form the mixture into tablespoon sized meatballs.
2. In a separate bowl, dredge the meatballs in the cornstarch. (This will help make the meatballs crisp and browned on the outside.)
3. Next, heat the sesame oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add the meatballs into the skillet and cook evenly on each side (about 8 minutes total.) Remove the meatballs from the skillet.
4. Add the broccoli to the skillet and cook until slightly softened and beginning to char. Add the garlic just before the broccoli is finished and let it cook until fragrant (about 1 minute)
5. Meanwhile, combine the oyster sauce, fish sauce, honey, sriracha and ginger in a separate bowl and whisk until smooth.
6. Add the meatballs back into the skillet. Add the sauce and stir everything together until the meatballs and broccoli are evenly coated in sauce.
7. Serve over white rice garnish with additional green onion and toasted sesame seeds!

Grüner Veltliner

MY RECOMMENDATION:

Stopfer Grüner Veltliner- find it at Total Wine

WHY IT WORKS:

• Grüner Veltliner is the wine that Austria is most famous for. This varietal of grapes thrives in colder climates, making it well suited for the mountainous, cool environment of Austria.
• Grüner Veltliner typically has notes of green apple, pear, minerals and pepper. It is extremely high in acidity, which allows it to pair well with a wide variety of different foods.
• I like this wine with the sticky chicken meatballs and broccoli because the bright acidity and pepper notes work with the charred broccoli. The wine is also quite neutral in flavor, so if you prefer to add extra sriracha and crank up the heat in the sticky sauce, the wine will not overpower or clash with it.
• I think that Grüner Veltliner is wildly under-rated. I dare you to find something that you can't pair with a Grüner. It's the cool friend at the party that is never the center of attention, but everybody leaves being like "wow, that was a really cool guy." Grüner is the cool guy.