Coconut Curry Chicken Meatballs – baked Thai flavoured chicken or turkey meatballs swimming in a rich, coconut curry sauce with sliced red bell peppers, wilted spinach and topped with fresh cilantro. Enjoy served over a bed of rice. To pack even more veg into this dish and to keep it low carb/paleo friendly serve over cauliflower rice. | Gluten Free + Paleo + Whole30 + Low Carb
I think coconut and lime might, low key, be one of the greatest flavour combos ever. Ever.
I think you guys might agree seeing as how my Coconut Lime Chicken is my most popular recipe!
The slight sweetness from the coconut brighten up by the fresh, zippiness of lime juice balanced out with just the right amount of salty goodness – it’s heaven!
And that’s what we’re working with today with these coconut curry chicken meatballs. Simple, Thai inspired meatballs balls made with with chicken or turkey – whatever you got – swimming in this ultra rich and light coconut sauce. Is your mouth watering yet?
How to Make these Coconut Curry Meatballs
This recipe can be broken up in three stages: the meatballs, the coconut curry sauce bringing it all together.
The Meatballs
These meatballs are based on my popular Baked Thai Meatball recipe. They’re made up of only 6 ingredients, mixed together in one bowl. From here it’s just a matter of rolling your balls and then baking for 20 minutes until cooked.
Coconut Curry Sauce
While your meatballs are baking you can begin working on your sauce. Start out by frying your onion in coconut oil for a few minutes to soften. Then layer in your flavour by stirring in the garlic, ginger and bell pepper. Cook for another minute or two. Make sure to stir often to keep the garlic from burning.
Next, add your curry powder and curry paste and cook just another minute before stirring in the coconut milk and chicken stock. Mix everything together and bring the mixture to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, reduce the heat slightly to achieve a gentle simmer and let the sauce simmer and cook about 10 minutes, uncovered. The sauce should thicken and reduce in this time.
After about 10 minutes you can stir in your now baked meatballs. Stir well to cover in sauce and cook another 5 minutes. This will give the meatballs a little time to soak up some of the coconut sauce.
A few minutes before serving, stir in the spinach and lime juice until the spinach is wilted. Taste and season with a little more salt and lime juice if you think it needs it and that’s it!
Questions and Substitutions
Can I use light coconut milk or coconut milk from a carton?
- Ideally no. At most you can use light coconut milk but I’d stay away from carton coconut milk (like the one you might use in cereal). The creaminess of the full fat coconut milk is really important for adding creaminess and silkiness to this dish.
- You can also use unsweetened coconut cream in place of full fat coconut milk.
Can I use meat other than chicken or turkey?
- Yes. Just keep in mind that using a fattier meat will give you more tender meatballs and leaner meat might make for tougher meatballs.
What do I serve this with?
- If you’re looking to keep this low carb/paleo friendly then serve this over a bed of cauliflower to soak up all the extra flavour. The sauce really takes over the flavour of the cauliflower rice making it a great way to double up on veg!
- If you don’t need to keep this paleo then serve over rice or maybe another grain like quinoa or buckwheat. It’s up to you!
Enjoy!
Similar recipes you might enjoy:
- Coconut Lime Chicken
- Tomato Coconut Curry Chicken
- Thai Red Coconut Chicken
- Chicken Korma with Coconut Milk
- Spinach and Turmeric Fish Curry
- Thai Meatball Egg Drop Soup
- Honey Sriracha Turkey Meatballs
Coconut Curry Chicken Meatballs
Coconut Curry Chicken Meatballs - baked Thai flavoured chicken or turkey meatballs swimming in a rich, coconut curry sauce with sliced red bell peppers, wilted spinach and topped with fresh cilantro.
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 pound ground chicken or turkey (I like using something with about 5-7% fat)
- 3 whole spring onions, finely chopped
- 1 green chili pepper, deseeded and chopped
- 1 teaspoon (3 g) minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml)coconut aminos (for paleo) or gluten free soy sauce
- 3/4 teaspoon salt (omit if using soy sauce)
Curry
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) coconut oil
- 1 medium (150 g) white onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon (5 g) minced ginger
- 1 tablespoon (9 g)minced garlic
- 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and cut into slices
- 3 tablespoons red curry paste
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 14 ounce can unsweetened full fat coconut milk
- 1 cup (240 ml) chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons (15 ml) lime juice
- 1 large handfull spinach
Instructions
Meatballs
- Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C.
- In a bowl combine all of your meatball ingredients.Mix well and form into tablespoon sized balls. You should end up with about 20 meatballs.
- Place balls on lined baking sheet and bake for 18 minutes.
Curry
- While the meatballs are baking, melt the coconut oil in a large skillet over a medium heat on the stove. Add the onion and cook for 4-5 minutes to soften.
- Add the garlic, ginger and red pepper and cook another 2-3 minutes. Stir in the curry powder and curry paste. Cook 1 minute.
- Add the coconut milk and chicken stock. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat slightly and simmer. Let simmer for about 10 minutes or until the mixture begins to thicken and reduces down in volume.
- Stir in meatballs. Cook another 5 minutes or until the curry sauce has reduced down to your preference. The longer it cooks the thicker the sauce.
- Add the spinach and lime juice to the skillet. Stir and let the spinach wilt. Taste and season with salt if needed.
- Serve over rice or cauliflower rice and enjoy.
mar says
This sounds tasty. Do you know a good curry paste that is low in heat and reasonable in sodium? Want the flavor but family does not like the spicy heat. Red chili adverse
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Mar! I believe Thai Kitchen’s red curry paste is considered to be pretty low spice and generally kid friendly.
It’s not as convenient, but you could also try making your own red curry paste so that you can really control the amount of salt and heat. This recipe includes a quick, DIY paste that’s not super spicy: https://www.asaucykitchen.com/thai-red-coconut-chicken/ You can leave out the chili, only use half or make it with a low spice chili (something like an aneheim chili would be great here).
You might also prefer swapping out the red for a yellow curry paste instead if you want to keep it simple with a pre-made curry. It’s much more mild than red/green paste and focuses more on non-spicy herbs and spices like lemongrass, coriander and cumin. Again, I think Thai Kitchen’s yellow paste is probably the best option for a mild spice.
I hope this helps!
Ashley says
What curry powder are you using in this recipe?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Ashley! I believe I used Sainsbury’s Medium Curry Powder here – it’s usually what I use when I just want a basic curry powder that’s not too hot but has a small amount of heat. The ingredients include: Coriander Seed, Turmeric, Ginger, Cumin Seed, Salt, Cayenne Pepper, Dried Garlic, Pimento, Black Pepper, Fenugreek
If you have a favorite or go-to curry powder that you like to use, feel free to use it here 🙂
Lauren says
Blown away by the flavours of the meatballs. We’ve been cooking it with lemongrass stalks or kaffir leaves in the sauce, and it’s beautiful. I pack a carrot into the meatballs just to add a little more veggies too. I add snow peas and salad to the table and kids love it with rice or glass noodles.
Sarah Nevins says
So thrilled to hear how much you enjoyed this! Thank you so much for coming back to leave a review 🙂
Theresa Kulik says
Absolutely wonderful. I have made this many times and I am never disappointed.
Sarah Nevins says
I’m so thrilled to hear that – thank you so much Theresa!
Meri says
Made this following directions exactly. I like that the meatballs don’t have cheese, or breading. They were really good. I served with rice noodles – it was delicious!
Sarah Nevins says
Wonderful! So glad to hear you enjoyed them – thanks Meri 🙂
Linda says
Smells amazing while it’s cooking. Used zoodles also to curb the carbs. How do I upload a photo?
Sarah Nevins says
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it – thanks Linda! 🙂
You can always share the photo on my facebook page or tag me on instagram, but I don’t currently have a way for you to upload pics to this site.
DebS says
This looks amazing! Thought I would prep ahead of time and freeze the meatballs for an easy mid-week meal. Can you use with pork or beef as well?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Deb! So glad you enjoyed the meatballs 🙂 You can absolutely use pork or beef here if you prefer!
Leanne says
I made this and served it over zoodles, it was great! Just looking at the nutrition and wondered where the 14g net carbs come from in this dish – is it based on a serving of rice? Just seems a lot given the ingredients? I’m doing a low carb diet and was putting this recipe into my log for the day and expected it to be lower is all.
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Leanne! I know what you mean about the carbs! I just looked up all the individual ingredients for this recipe on myfitnesspal and it looks to me like the onion is the main culprit (there are 10g of carbs and only 1.9 g fibre in a medium onion). The other main source of carbs seems to be the curry paste (7 grams of carbs). Depending on what type of curry paste you use this can vary based on what you use. Looking at all the individual ingredients it looks like it’s mostly just a case of individual veggies containing a small amount of carbs but not a enough fibre to pull the net carbs down. Does that makes sense? Hope that helps!
Rachel says
I’m going to try making this in my croc pot insert , adding the meatballs and then leaving it on warm for later in the day . Will add spinach and lime when ready to eat .
Hopeful it will work 🤞
Sarah Nevins says
Oooh LOVE that idea!