Your favorite chicken dish transformed into meatballs! My Skinny Florentine Chicken Meatballs in Pan Sauce take chicken meatballs to the next level. This pan sauce is decadent yet lightened-up, utilizing ingredients like reduced fat cream cheese, reduced sodium chicken broth, shallots and lemon. Fresh spinach is added to balance it all out and add an extra dose of healthy ingredients. The recipe makes 20 meatballs, so there’s plenty to share–or keep it all for yourself for the rest of the week!
All about my Skinny Florentine Chicken Meatballs in Pan Sauce
Traditional meatballs are great–check out my Italian Beef Meatballs here–but this recipe is proof that you can do so much more with them! This recipe is inspired by Florentine Chicken, a restaurant favorite. Once you fall in love with the flavors of these Skinny Florentine Chicken Meatballs in Pan Sauce, check out my Light Slow Cooker Florentine Chicken for another easy weeknight meal.
This recipe list may seem daunting, but trust me when I tell you that you already have a lot of these ingredients on hand. If you’re a regular to the blog, you’ll recognize some of my frequently used ingredients like ground chicken, egg, shallots, garlic, etc. It doesn’t have to be complicated!
This recipe yields 20 meatballs, with 5 meatballs per serving. These meatballs go great served over pasta, or with mashed potatoes and a vegetable.
If you want to try out another one of my non-traditional meatball recipes, check out my Buffalo Ranch Chicken Meatballs or Asian Glazed Turkey Meatballs.
What you’ll need to make this recipe
Chicken meatballs:
- Ground chicken breast
- Egg
- Seasoned breadcrumbs
- Grated pecorino romano cheese
- Fresh parsley
- Garlic
- Shallot
- Dried basil
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Kosher salt
- Lemon zest
Pan sauce:
- Shallot
- White wine
- Flour
- Kosher salt
- Fresh cracked pepper
- Lemon juice
- Reduced sodium chicken broth
- Fresh spinach
- Reduced fat cream cheese
What to do if you can’t find ground chicken breast
This recipe calls for 99% fat free ground chicken breast (you can always use turkey breast too!) So what on earth is one to do if you can’t find it in the stores? Granted, you could always use the 93% fat free kind, but we all know the calories and points for that is almost as high as ground beef; and if you ask me, I’d rather use the ground beef! When I went to the store to get my ingredients for this recipe, they were out of the ground chicken breast. So instead, I remembered the tip I got from my friend Biz (http://www.mybizzykitchen.com); I bought regular chicken breast, and used my food processor to grind it up. Within seconds, I had my own ground chicken breast. It couldn’t be easier. And nine times out of ten, it’s cheaper too. Next time you are in this rut, do yourself a favor and grind up your own chicken breast. It’s such a life saver!
How to make these Skinny Florentine Chicken Meatballs in Pan Sauce
How-To Video
Skinny Florentine Chicken Meatballs in Pan Sauce
Equipment
- mixing bowl
- casserole dish
- frying pan
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 lb ground chicken breast, 98-99% fat free
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
- 2 tbsp pecorino Romano, grated
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 lemon, zested
Pan Sauce
- 3 shallots, sliced
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- fresh cracked pepper
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
- 5 oz fresh spinach
- 1.5 oz reduced fat cream cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Mince the parsley, garlic, and shallot.
- Add them to a bowl with the ground chicken, egg, breadcrumb, dried basil, garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, and zest of a lemon. Mix together with your hands and form into 20 meatballs, using a small cookie scoop.
- Add olive oil spray to a frying pan over medium heat. Working in two batches, sear the meatballs on all sides until golden brown (they will not be cooked through).
- Place the partially cooked meatballs into a baking dish, and finish cooking in the oven at 375F for 20 minutes or until they reach an internal temperature of 165F.
- To make the pan sauce, slice the remaining 3 shallots and add them to the same pan you cooked the meatballs in, sprayed with olive oil spray. Cook over medium high heat for about 5 minutes or until tender
- Deglaze the pan with the white wine.
- Once the wine is evaporated, sprinkle in the flour and stir to coat the shallots.
- Pour in the juice of the lemon and the chicken broth. Simmer until the sauce thickens slightly (about 5 minutes).
- Season with the salt and pepper, and stir in the cream cheese.
- Finally, add the spinach to the pan and cover with a lid to wilt the leaves.
- When the meatballs are done cooking, add them to the sauce in the pan and toss to coat. Simmer in the sauce until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Related Posts
This was amazing!!! Probably the best meal I’ve made in a while. My husband loved it and my 4yr old loved it. Definitely will make this on a regular basis!!!
We had this for dinner tonight with egg noodles and green beans. Soooo yummy and full of flavor. Very light and delicious.
My hubby turned and said “ this is really good!”
We are eating Steph meals 4-5 x a week now.
Thank you for another awesome recipe.
have you ever tried making with gluten free flour or breadcrumbs?
someone made them using gluten free breadcrumbs with no issue!
Delicious!! Have made this 6 times and my husband and I love it. Have to say 10 minutes prep is definitely not it. 19 ingredients is gonna take longer than 10 minutes but again love love love this!!! Make it!!!
I made these last night and they’re incredible!! The meatballs and sauce are so flavorful and when you put them together, wow! I love the addition of spinach for a dose of veggies – I used about 6.5 ounces because why not?
Is there a specific type of white wine or will any do?
Outstanding. A few tweaks to the recipe. I made the meatballs and placed them on a foil lined baking sheet with spray and baked at 375 for 20 min. They were nice and brown on the bottom. I added 6 oz of spinach vs. 5 but next time might add the whole bag of 8 oz spinach. I did not have shallots. I used red onion in the meatballs and regular onion in the sauce.
One note that the ingredient list is missing the onion powder. The text says add the onion powder so I guesstimated at 1 tsp
Adding this to my favorite SS&S recipes! The taste is amazing!
Delicious!! Made it tonight for dinner. Question, I don’t see onion powder on the ingredients list but it’s on the directions to add it. I added a tsp like the garlic powder and they were great! Also didn’t see where to add the Romano cheese. I figured it went in the meatballs since it is on the ingredients list. We shredded a little on top and had with mashed potatoes. Definitely a keeper recipe!
I double the recipe and freeze a bag of the meatballs and make another batch of the sauce to top the heated up meatballs. Delicious recipe that my husband requested I make again. Thanks Steph for all your healthy options recipes.
Absolutely delicious! A big hit with my husband and two boys – some had over rice and some over mashed potatoes – delicious both ways. Only change I will make in the future is to use a bit less lemon juice in the pan sauce. But otherwise, a total winner! Thanks Steph!!
These were absolutely delicious & easy to make. So much flavor and enjoyed by my entire family. Thank You!!
These are so good. I’ve always been slightly turned off by chicken meatballs but I loved these so much I’m already wanting more! I think the ground breast instead of the mixed ground chicken is why I liked these better. The flavors are chef kiss and my husband and son loved them. I sautéed the shallots and garlic before adding to the meatball mixture, which I do when I make beef meatballs. Thanks, Steph!!
This recipe! It’s hands down one of my favorite things I have ever made- and I cook A LOT! Seriously, this was my love language! Served it over egg noodles with some crusty bread to soak up the delicious sauce. Don’t sleep on this one!
This dish is fabulous! So flavorful & easy to make. My family loved it.
New household favorite! So much flavor. Can’t wait to make again.
This recipe is so delicious and a joy to make. Bringing to lunch every day this week. You can’t go wrong with Steph’s recipes.
Delicious dinner, thank you so much for another wonderful recipe. My husband and sister loved it as much as I did. I ended up having to use 98/2 ground turkey breast and it was bright and super flavorful. I’ll probably be making this again next week.
Every time I try one of your recipes i think, “This is the best one.” THIS IS THE BEST ONE! ugh. So good. I wish I made a double recipe for more leftovers. So good and red meat loving partner also loved it!
Very good!! Served it along side TJ mashed potatoes for dinner. Definitely make again.
This was really yummy.
I baked the meatballs in oven and came out fine. I’m sure we would have gotten more flavor browning in pan first.
My lemon was very juicy and although I love lemon juice, this was a little overpowering for some at the table. The recipe doesn’t say how much lemon juice to add exactly but I will adjust next time to the juice of half a lemon.
Also doubled the spinach, because why not!!!
Thanks Steph… it’s joining the weekly rotation!
Freaking amazing!! Served them over spaghetti squash!! So so good!!!
Just made this for dinner prep and it smells and tastes amazing. I just baked the meatballs to save on time instead of browning them first and because I have to watch my sodium, left out the added salt and used no sodium bouillon with water in place of the chicken broth, so very easy modifications. Will for sure make again. Love all the added lemon flavors.
This was delicious and a huge hit with my family. Delicious and light!
These were amazing! My family loved them too!!!
This dish was absolutely delicious.
Made these for meal prep this week and paired it with the asparagus orzo (I omitted the bacone because I didn’t have any). Turned out to be such a delicious meal that I looked forward to each day! Love that all your recipes are filling, use real ingredients, and are lightened up! You have helped me so much with never feeling deprived on my weight loss journey!
So delicious 😋
Great recipe and easy to modify, depending on what you have at home. A little time consuming the first time, but I can see ways to shorten the prep time.
So easy to make, husband loves. Says it doesn’t taste like a “healthy” meal lol. Third time making it. Delish 👌🏻added mushrooms to change it up this last time!
Wonderful Dinner. Served with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans. Hubby went back for seconds.
Absolutely delicious
SO YUMMY !
This was absolutely delicious! It will definitely be on repeat for us! I noticed 2 errors in the written instructions.. There’s no mention of when to add the pecorino Romano cheese (I added it to the meatballs before I browned them) and there’s no mention of onion powder in the ingredient list. I just added a tsp like the garlic powder. It was fabulous! Another winner, Stephanie!
!
This is a new favorite. It was absolutely delish
Thank you for a light and delicious recipe!
Absolutely delicious! Wouldn’t have known it was Weight Watchers friendly if I hadn’t read it. Thanks for sharing!!