Orecchiette with Mini Chicken Meatballs

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Fantastic! When my husband saw me watching this episode, the second Giada put the mozzarella balls in the pasta he asked me to make this. Knowing her kid version would be a little mild for us I made a few changes: I replaced the chicken with Italian turkey sausages and added onions, garlic, white wine, cream, and spinach to the sauce. It was so good! I prepped the meatballs in the morning so when it was time for dinner it only took 15 minutes! In my opinion, roasting the meatballs makes life so much easier. Will definitely make again.

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Great meatballs, I used seasoned bread crumbs, and no parsley. SO good. I did not like the pasta with the dish (though I didn't use the tomatoes. I think this is better with mashed potatoes and a veggie. I will def make the meatballs again.

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This recipe was great. I did change a few things. I added 1-3/4 cups of raw spinach to it and it cooked down very nicely. I also subbed 1/2 cup of egg beaters for real eggs, skim milk in place of whole. For my family we got 8 servings out of this and if you are on Weight Watchers, one serving came to 8 points. Again, that was for 8 servings, not the 4-6 as they recommend. This will be a definate make again meal. You may want to add just a touch of onion to it for some added flavor.

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I thought the meatballs were amazing, but the pasta was pretty bland! I'm keeping the meatball recipe and just adding it to another pasta dish.

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This recipe is a big hit in my house. I've made it twice and both times it's turned out really well. This time I doubled the meatballs so that the pasta/meatball ratio would be more proportional - since my kids, 5 and 8 years old, kept saying "more meatballs"! This is from kids who moan every time I make any kind of chicken or meat for dinner... meat isn't their favorite. I also used more chicken stock than the recipe called for - enough to cover the meatballs completely and then cooked them longer than 5 minutes in the broth, just to be sure they were cooked through (kid safety. Therefore, I didn't need any pasta water and the dish had lots of flavor. I also used Romano cheese instead of parmesan (for more flavor, and since it was out from making the meatballs and used a bit more cheese inside the meatballs than called for (since I had grated it already. The only tricky part for me is that both times the raw meatball mixture turns out a bit gooey and doesn't form firm balls, but I'm guessing that's part of why they end up so moist in the finished dish. I would definitely make this again, especially when kids are involved.

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I'd never made chicken meatballs before since my husband is a picky eater and I didnt think he'd like them. But I tried this and he loved it!
After reading the recipe through, I decided to bake the meatballs in an enameled dutch oven, no oil, and then made the sauce in the same pan on a burner. I also added a few red pepper flakes as some of the other reviewers did to give it a little kick. Other than that, I made no other changes and it turned out great! Thanks, Giada!

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Agreed...it's a little bland. I made this for just myself and my husband. It makes 6-8 servings so, we'll be eating this all week. Over all it was good. I read the previous reviews and made some adjustments. I used ground turkey instead of chicken because that's what I had in the freezer. I added 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes to the meat mixture. I did add a little white wine to the broth and added spinach just before serving to get some extra greens in the dish. Husband thought it was bland. To fix, next time I will add 1-2 cloves of garlic to the meatballs. I did think that the liquid was more than what I liked. I did drain the oil from the pan from frying the meatballs before I went to the next step. I can see why kids would like this dish. I would make it again.
Thanks.

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I made this last night for myself and my boyfriend and it was a hit! My only complaint was I thought the chicken stock made the sauce too "watery." Are you supposed to let it simmer for a while until it reduces, or is it supposed to be watered down? The meatballs were delicious and easy to make--next time I may add some garlic or hot pepper flakes to the sauce to give it a little more kick.

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My husband, who is not a fan of trying new dishes, especially healthy ones, really loved the chicken meatballs, as did I. I'm not sure if I just purchased low quality bocconcini, but neither of us liked this addition to the dish. They were water logged, chewy and flavourless. I left this item out the next time and just shredded some mozza up so people could add it after they dished up. I love the idea of cooking the meatballs in the oven! If you cannot find Orecchiette, use any smaller pasta like Cavatappi or similiar.

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This is a great meal, one of my husbands favorites. The meatballs are more time consuming than I'd like. I definitely enjoyed this more with Italian breadcrumbs and garlic minced in the meatballs, even more in the sauce. I didn't think about adding wine like some suggested, that would probably kick up the flavor too! But you should try this recipe out!