Buffalo Chicken Meatballs (Slow Cooker)

I was feeling creative this weekend and I wanted to come up with a new recipe that would be good to serve while watching football. I’ve had meatballs on the brain lately and whenever I think of football I think of Buffalo chicken, so I decided to combine the two.  I always make meatballs in the crockpot, and I figure pouring a bottle of wing sauce over these would keep them moist and help them suck up the Buffalo flavor. The meatballs are a mixture of everything you’d find on a plate of wings: chicken, carrots, celery and blue cheese. I thought they featured those flavors really well and were a perfect warm, hearty dish for cheering on your team from the couch.


I served these a la carte with a dish of light blue cheese dressing for drizzling and they went over really well. I think they’d also be great on a sub or served over pasta with some blue cheese dressing or light alfredo mixed in. Get creative and let me know how you serve them!

Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
Source: Emily Bites Original

Ingredients:
1 lb ground chicken breast (if you can’t find breast meat only you can grind your own chicken breasts in a food processor)
1 medium carrot, chopped finely in a food processor (or shredded on the small side of a box grater)
1 medium stalk of celery, chopped finely in a food processor (or shredded on the small side of a box grater)
½ cup plain dried breadcrumbs
2 eggs
Splash of skim milk (about 2 T)
1 t garlic powder
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
12 oz bottle of Buffalo wing sauce (such as Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wings Sauce)

Directions:
1.    In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients except wing sauce until thoroughly combined. Use your hands to form the mixture into 12 equal sized balls.
**My slow cooker has a detachable pot that rests on a heated base and is meant to go from stovetop to slow cooker. If your crock pot is all attached and the pot is not removable or tis not stovetop safe, complete step one in a heavy pot on the stove and then transfer contents to crock pot for step two**
2.    Mist the inside of your crock pot (or other pot) with cooking spray and brown the meatballs on all sides on the stove top. Do not cook all the way through.
3.    Transfer pot (or contents of pot) back onto your crock pot base and pout the wing sauce over the top. Stir meatballs to coat. Turn crock pot temperature to low and cover. Cook for 7-8 hours.

Serving Suggestions: I liked these meatballs a la carte with a little light blue cheese dressing drizzled over the top, but the possibilities are endless. You can serve them as an appetizer or as a meal. You can make them into a sandwich or sub or serve them over pasta. Let me know how you eat yours!

Yields 12 meatballs. WW P+: 2 per meatball (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
Nutrition Information per meatball from myfitnesspal.com: 82 calories, 4 g carbs, 3 g fat, 11 g protein, 1 g fiber