These tasty buffalo chicken meatballs have a surprise in the middle – blue cheese! Using almond flour these are both gluten free and low carb. Great appetizer!
This is a recipe I concocted a couple weeks ago because I stumbled upon some ground chicken while grocery shopping. I was trying to think of what I could make with it and this is what I thought of….savory buffalo chicken meatballs stuffed with blue cheese. Doesn’t that sound yummy? I’ve never made buffalo chicken of any sort but I do enjoy it. I imagined a hot and spicy buffalo sauce covering crunchy seasoned chicken meatballs with a creamy blue cheese center. I was licking my lips! My husband really praised me for this dish. That always brings a smile to my face, but I really enjoyed them too.
Before we start with the recipe, there are a few things I’d like to point out. First of all they are gluten free and low carb in my opinion. There is some controversy about blue cheese being gluten free but the consensus seems to think it is safe. If you are gluten sensitive you probably already have made up your mind on this one. Personally I am not gluten sensitive but I don’t like to eat wheat so bread crumbs are out and almond flour is in and I have no problems with blue cheese.
I made my own almond flour but it was not ground as finely as I’d like … because I was in a hungry and didn’t grind it fine enough. I usually use this brand. Some of the almond flour was used in the meatballs and as the coating. I ran out of coating for the last 2 meatballs and they tasted just as good so if you want to skip the coating you could and they would taste fine. But please note, when you roll these into balls, they are very sticky. Keep a bowl of water handy if you are not using the coating so your hands don’t get all icky.
Let’s make some Buffalo chicken meatballs, shall we.
- Mix the spices, chicken, egg and almond flour together in a large bowl. Then you want to shape them into meatballs of any size you like. Set them on a piece of wax paper.
- Cut the meatball in half and place a chunk of blue cheese in the middle and then mold the meatball back together again to hide the cheese. It takes a bit of finessing but it’s not hard.
- Roll them in the coating which is almond flour and spices. As I mentioned before you can skip this step if you want and it would be just as good though they are crunchier with the coating.
- Add them to a heated oven safe pan or cast iron skillet and brown.
In a separate pan, make your buffalo sauce and the pour it over your browned meatballs. Set the whole thing into the oven and bake 7 minutes.
And now you’ve got a spicy meatball! Yummy blue cheese filled buffalo chicken meatballs to be exact. Eat it for lunch, eat it for dinner or take these to a party and be a star. One note of caution, they are hot and they are filling. But they are most definitely delicious. Enjoy! Nutritional information below.
1 meatball with sauce = 118 cals / 9.4g fat / 2g carbs / 0.3g fiber / 7.3g protein = 1.7g net carbs
Blue Cheese Filled Buffalo Chicken Meatballs (low carb, gluten free)
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- Meatballs
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup blue cheese crumbled or chunks
- Coating
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- Sauce
- 2/3 cup Frank's hot sauce
- 6 Tablespoons butter
- 1 clove garlic crushed
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
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In a small bowl, mix the coating items: almond flour and spices and set aside.
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In a large bowl, add the chicken, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, egg and almond flour. Mix with your hands and then roll into meatballs and place on a piece of wax paper.
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Next take a meatball and break in two. Make an indent in one side and place a piece of blue cheese. Then place the other half on top and smooth to cover the cheese. Continue with all the meatballs. This recipe made 18 for me.
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Once the blue cheese is inside, roll them in the coating and place plate. Continue with all the meatballs.
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In a cast iron skillet or oven safe pan, heat some olive oil over medium high heat.
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When the oil is hot, brown all the meatballs.
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While they are browning, make your sauce by boiling the hot sauce, butter and garlic. Once boiling, turn off and set aside.
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Strain off any extra oil from frying the meatballs and the pour over your buffalo sauce.Place in the oven and bake for 7 minutes.
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Enjoy!
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More Buffalo flavored dishes to try!
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- Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Chiles
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- Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Skillet
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- Pumpkin Fries with Buffalo Aioli
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- Buffalo Chicken Dip & Wontons
Barbara Bianchi
January 30, 2016 at 5:01 pmWhoa. Theses sound and look delicious.
Denise
January 30, 2016 at 5:02 pmThank Barbara! We really enjoyed them.
Michelle | A Dish of Daily Life
January 28, 2016 at 4:26 pmThese look awesome, Denise! I made a stuffed meatball the other day but I love the blue cheese buffalo chicken combo! I’m featuring these tonight at #FoodieFriDIY!
Denise
January 29, 2016 at 1:44 pmThanks so much Michelle!
Patti
January 22, 2016 at 5:23 amMy husband loved blue cheese and buffalo wings. He will love these. I like that the recipe is gluten free, too. I would never have thought of using almond flour. Great idea.
Denise
January 22, 2016 at 11:34 amThanks Patti, my hubby loved them so I hope you hubby will too!
Melinda
January 8, 2016 at 12:50 amMade these last night and OMG they are SO SUPER DELICIOUS!!! I used Tapatio to make the sauce and they were really extra spicy, but I could not stop eating them!! I also made a second batch for the kids but stuffed them with chunks of mozzarella (I just chopped up a string cheese stick) and used some marinara sauce instead of buffalo sauce. They loved them too! I have never made my own meatballs before, so I love that they were not complicated, even with adding the cheese to them. Also, my 6 year old helped and had so much fun mixing up the chicken with her hands and putting the cheese in the middle. She was so proud <3 Each pound of chicken made 16 meat balls (I guess they were kinda big), I ate 3, my man ate the rest of them and raved about how delicious they are. I will be making these again for sure! Thank you again for sharing your amazing recipes 🙂
Denise
January 8, 2016 at 8:30 amThank you! I’m so glad you like them. I think I’m making them again this weekend but I love your idea with the string cheese. Maybe I’ll make both and take them to a party I’m going to. Thanks again for stopping back and commenting!
Michelle @ A Dish of Daily Life
January 5, 2016 at 1:21 amI am loving this recipe! Not only am I addicted to buffalo anything, but stuffed with blue cheese…yum, yum, YUM!! I need these in my life!
Denise
January 5, 2016 at 6:31 amThanks Michelle! They did turn out good. My husband loved them as well and didn’t complain that there was almond flour in it. 😉
Lynn | The Road to Honey
January 2, 2016 at 11:06 amWow! These meatballs look absolutely scrumptious. I’m not a big fan of buffalo wings but I do love the flavors of the spicy sauce and blue cheese. This reinvention is perfect for me. And you can’t beat that they are low carb – a great way to whittle the waistline after indulging in way too many treats this past month.
Denise
January 2, 2016 at 2:14 pmI don’t like wings period…too much work. But I do love buffalo sauce and these were the perfect thing for me. Thanks for stopping by!
sophie
January 2, 2016 at 9:27 amNutritional information is per one ball + accompanying sauce?
Denise
January 2, 2016 at 12:04 pmHi Sophie, the nutritional info is per meatball with sauce. Please note that they are very filling in my opinion. Hope that helps and thanks for stopping by!
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