Harissa Chicken Meatballs

This loaded bowl with juicy harissa chicken meatballs, rice pilaf, creamy hummus, and fresh herbs is sure to satisfy your appetite!

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Recipe

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Harissa Chicken Meatballs

Total Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Keyword: chicken

Servings: 4

Author: Christine Ma

Ingredients

Rice pilaf

• 1 tablespoon butter
• ½ medium onion chopped
• 2 garlic minced
• 1 cup medium-grain rice
• ½ cup white wine
• 1 ¼ cups chicken broth

Harissa

• 2 dried guajillo chilies
• 1 dried ancho chile
• 5 dried chile de arbol
• 1 roasted red bell pepper
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 3 garlic cloves
• juice of ½ lemon
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper

Harissa chicken meatballs

• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1 tablespoon fresh dill chopped
• ¼ cup fresh parsley chopped
• ¼ cup onion grated
• ¼ cup panko
• 1 large egg white

Remaining ingredients

• 1 small cucumber diced
• 2 tomatoes diced
• ½ cup hummus
• ½ cup feta crumbled
• 2 tablespoons fresh dill

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Make the harissa. Put the dried guajillo, ancho, and chile de arbol in a bowl and pour enough boiling water to cover the chilies. Place a plate on top to keep the chilies submerged and let soak for 30 minutes. Drain the water and remove the stems and seeds.
• Meanwhile, make the rice pilaf. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Saute the onion until translucent and softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and rice and saute for 1 minute, stirring frequently. Add the white wine and bring it to a boil. Continue to simmer until almost all of the liquid has evaporated. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes or until the rice is done. Keep warm.
• Blend the rehydrated chilies with the remaining ingredients for the harissa in a blender or food processor until smooth.
• Combine the ground chicken with 3 tablespoons of the harissa, dill, parsley, grated onion, panko and egg white. Reserve the remaining harissa for another time. Shape the ground chicken into 12 meatballs. Drizzle oil on a baking sheet and arrange the meatballs on the sheet pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until browned.
• Assemble the harissa chicken meatball bowls. Portion the rice into four bowls and top with the meatballs, cucumber, tomato, hummus, feta, fresh dill, and extra harissa sauce, if desired.

Notes

You can make harissa up to 1 week in advance and store it in the refridgerator until ready to use.

Step-by-step instructions

Step 1: Prepare harissa

This recipe requires multiple steps, but you don't have to make all of the components. The harissa chicken meatballs go fantastically with the rice pilaf, but you can just stick to the meatballs.

You can also prepare the harissa the day before to reduce cooking time.

To make the meatballs, first, make the harissa. Harissa can be very spicy or mild, depending on your preference. This harissa has a medium heat level, so if you want to kick it up a notch, add more chili de arbol.

Rehydrate the dried chilies by soaking them in hot water for 30 minutes. Remove the seeds and stems and blend them with the remaining ingredients.

You only need 3 tablespoons for the chicken, but that just means you can save the harissa for another recipe like this harissa chicken arayes and roasted cauliflower with harissa date gremolata!

Step 2: Make meatballs

Season the ground chicken with the harissa, fresh herbs, egg white, and a bit of panko. You can swap out the chicken for beef, lamb, pork, or even tofu.

The mixture will feel wet, but I discovered that this also ensures a moist and tender meatball. This is especially important when using ground chicken or turkey since they have less fat than ground beef or ground pork.

Shape the mixture into about 12 meatballs and space them evenly on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Then, bake the meatballs until golden brown and the juices run clear, about 15 minutes.

You can also air fry the meatballs, cook them on the stovetop, or deep fry them.

Step 3: Assemble bowls

While the meatballs are cooking, cook the rice pilaf. You can also prepare plain rice if you prefer, or switch the rice for quinoa, farro, or wild rice.

I like to add some freshness to the harissa chicken meatball bowl, so I chose to top the bowls with cucumber and tomato tossed in extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. Plus, you can't forget about the hummus, fresh herbs, and crumbled feta!

You can also pile on other toppings such as fresh avocado, pickled onions, or sumac red onions.

Put together the bowls and dig in! I'm not going to lie, these harissa chicken meatballs were insanely good. I was honestly surprised at how delicious they were. Give these a try, and you won't be going back to the store-bought harissa!

For another great Mediterranean chicken dish, check out this sheet pan chicken koobideh!

Make-ahead and storage

• Make-ahead: You can prepare the harissa up to a week in advance and shape the meatballs the day before.
• Store: Keep components in separate containers and in the refridgerator for up to 3 days.

More Mediterranean chicken recipes

Looking for more Mediterranean chicken ideas? Try these: