Buffalo Chicken Balls - Easy & Delicious Low Carb

This evening I decided to make a quick and easy meal using the package of Perdue ground chicken breast I had in the fridge. I decided to make a version of Buffalo Chicken Balls, modeled after Buffalo Chicken Wings. They turned out great and were delicious. They'd be great for lunch or dinner or served as an appetizer. Traditionally, buffalo style chicken wings are served with celery and blue cheese dressing. I'll be honest, I am not a big fan of blue cheese and I don't care for blue cheese dressing whatsoever, but I wanted to get all the traditional flavors into these spicy little balls of deliciousness. So, I decided to add all the flavors into the chicken balls rather than serving the celery and blue cheese dressing along with them. 

Since we are basically making a meatball, I wanted to mix something into my chicken balls to act as a bit of a binder to help hold them together. I could have used almond flour or ground flax, but I wanted these babies to be tender and moist and not like solid little rocks. Since shredded cheese works so nicely in my meatloaves as a binder, I decided it would probably work just as well in my Buffalo Chicken Balls...and it did! I used shredded mozzarella as the binder because it doesn't really add flavor, it just acts as a bit of glue. For flavor, I added buffalo wing sauce (such as Frank's or Texas Pete's). I also added the crumbled blue cheese as well as the celery and onion cooked in butter to the meatballs. The butter added moistness to the lean ground chicken breast I used and helped keep them tender and they baked. The wing sauce added the "kick" you expect when eating buffalo wings (or in this case, buffalo balls). LOL I snapped a few photos below as well as included my easy peasy recipe. These little devils definitely have a spicy little kick to them but they are delicious. Feel free to increase or decrease the wing sauce depending on your desire for spiciness. These are not overly spicy but you definitely know its there. Rather than serve with blue cheese dressing, I served these with plain sour cream for dipping and to balance the spiciness. Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Balls

Ingredients:

1 pound ground chicken (I used ground chicken breast)
2 tablespoons butter
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup buffalo wing sauce, plus extra for drizzling on top (I used Texas Pete's)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 2 quart baking dish and set aside.

Place ground chicken in a large bowl. Heat butter in a small skillet; add celery and saute over medium heat until softened, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add onions and saute an additional 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer sauteed celery, onions and melted butter to the ground chicken mixture. Add mozzarella, blue cheese, salt, and wing sauce and mix just until combined. 

Roll chicken mixture into approximate 1-inch balls using wet hands, dampened with water, and place side by side in a baking dish with meatballs touching each other. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or light golden brown and done. If desired, drizzle with additional wing sauce when serving. 

*Note: Serve with blue cheese dressing or plain sour cream for dipping, if desired.