I hope everyone had a lovely Memorial Day weekend – I spent mine in Florida with my family. It was so nice to see Luca and my parents together – I was lucky to have both sets of my grandparents live near me (one of my grandmother’s was our neighbor!), so it kinda breaks my heart that Luca won’t get that same experience – but I know most people don’t have this luxury, so I’m thankful that I had it.
All in all, it was a great, relaxing and family-filled weekend (despite the rain!)
Now, I know I just posted a buffalo chicken recipe recently, but, I’m on a buffalo kick and in case you are too, here’s another healthy, creative way to enjoy the spicy flavor!
I just think meatballs are great – you can sneak in veggies (there are carrots and celery in these – kind of like you’d get served with buffalo wings on the side) and you can make them into bowl meals or serve as a quasi-pasta, like here with this recipe!
The avocado ranch dressing is SUPER simple, but you can use any ranch dressing you’d like – or heck, omit a dressing altogether and eat this without it!
Hope everyone’s done with the post-holiday blues! Have an amazing rest of your (short) week!
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Nutritional Information & Recipe
Buffalo Chicken Meatballs with Zucchini Noodles and Avocado Ranch Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground chicken
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 large egg
- 1 large garlic clove minced
- ¼ cup finely minced celery
- ¼ cup finely minced carrot
- salt and pepper
- 1.5 medium zucchinis/per person*
- ¼ cup hot sauce I used Frank’s
- ¼ cup sliced diced scallions
- *Since this recipe makes a lot of meatballs you may want to only use a portion of them (depending on how many you’re serving.) If you’re serving 6 people, for example, you’ll need 9 zucchinis (6 x 1.5 = 9).
- For the avocado ranch:
- 1 ripe avocado
- ¼ cup plain unsweetened almond milk
- 2 garlic cloves chopped
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried dill
- 1.5 teaspoons dried parsley
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine the chicken, almond flour, onion powder, egg, garlic, celery, and carrot. Season with salt and pepper. Mix until combined. Roll the mixture into 18-20 round meatballs (I like to rinse my hands when forming meatballs – when your hands get sticky, rinse them and keep going.)
- Place the meatballs onto the baking sheet and bake until cooked through and starting to brown on the outside, 15-20 minutes.
- While the meatballs are cooking, spiralize your zucchinis on Blade D and trim the noodles. Set aside. Then, prepare your avocado dressing: place all of the ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth and combined. Taste and adjust if needed. Set aside.
- Place the meatballs in a bowl with the hot sauce and scallions and toss to combine.
- Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the zucchini noodles and cook for 5 minutes or until al dente. If there’s moisture in the pan, drain the noodles in a colander. Otherwise, divide the noodles onto plates, top with meatballs and drizzle with dressing. Serve.
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