Soft Chicken Meatballs For Babies, Toddlers, Kids (BLW)
Soft chicken meatballs for baby made with ground chicken, vegetables, soft avocado and seasonings, no bread or flour needed. These chicken meatballs are a great way to serve chicken for babies starting from 6-7 month and up. They are perfect for baby led weaning (BLW) as finger food, including toddlers and older kid’s school lunch box.
Since these baby chicken meatballs are freezer friendly you can make them ahead of time and serve them in under 20 minutes. Plus they are completely customizable, egg free option included.
You may also like these soft beef meatballs, baby turkey meatballs or these turkey avocado patties.
Chicken Meatballs For Babies (BWL), Toddlers & Kids
That’s what I love about these baby chicken meatballs. They are SO EASY to make and meal prep friendly. They can be served with mashed cauliflower and roasted vegetables or saved for the next week’s meatball dinner, when hunger calls. Whether you’re doing baby led weaning or not these chicken meatballs are perfect as baby led weaning finger food – they’re soft enough for babies to gum them even when they don’t have any teeth.
If you’re looking to reduce stovetop messes, then you’ll love how well these baby chicken meatballs can be browned in a hot oven rather than frying in a skillet. And then there’s the option to just simmer the meatballs in sauce without pre-cooking at all. I like to simmer the meatballs in chicken broth/ stock with some added coconut milk (or cream) with garlic and Dijon mustard and season to taste.
Related: Salmon Meatballs (BLW)
Ingredients For The Recipe
- Ground chicken – you can use the store-bought version or make some ground chicken yourself. Just add some chicken meat in a food processor and mix it with plenty of dry spices and herbs.
- Garlic & Onion – finely chopped. Ground powder works well, but I prefer to use real food ingredients for baby’s recipes.
- Carrot – you can use any starchy vegetable you like.
- Avocado – is used to provide the chicken meatballs a softer texture. Since we’re not using breadcrumbs or cheese, this will also help with binding everything together.
- Egg – is used as a binding agent. See egg free version below in recipe card.
- Tomato paste – is used for flavoring. The acid component brightens up the flavor.
- Seasonings – I used the most basic ones usually suitable for chicken meat: black pepper, sage and salt, but you can also try some fresh chopped basil, dried oregano or coriander. Use Himalayan pink salt for very small babies or omit it entirely.
How To Make Baby Chicken Meatballs
Prepare & Mix The Ingredients:
- Prep the vegetables (onion, carrot, garlic): clean and peel and throw them in a food processor along with avocado and seasonings.
- Mix: pulse a few times until finely chopped, then add the egg and tomato paste, pulse another few times until incorporated. Then add the ground chicken and mix by hand or with a spatula. Don’t mix in the food processor it will make the texture very wet and will be harder to handle.
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Form The Chicken Meatballs
- Use a small cookie or ice cream scoop to evenly portion out the meatballs. Place one by one in a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, or if you have mini muffin pan, use that, it will help keep the shape better. To help with stickiness when rolling: lightly dampen hands with some oil.
Bake The Chicken Meatballs
- Place in a 400-degree F oven and bake for 20 minutes until slightly golden browned. They usually have a lighter color than those made with red meat. You can turn the broil function for the last minute or two of baking for a more golden surface. Baking the chicken meatballs is easier, healthier and mess free. But you can also fry them if you like.
Keep the Chicken Meatballs Moist And Soft
- When using ground chicken, add some thigh meat mixed with white chicken meat – for a more round flavor and fat. Red chicken meat is usually less lean (than chicken breast) and softer when cooked.
- Don’t over bake the meatballs. Take them out of the oven when they are cooked through inside, sometimes they might not get browned but they tend to cook even after you take them out.
Make Ahead
Gather the ingredients and form the baby meatballs, place them on parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Freeze them raw. Once frozen transfer them in a plastic bag and keep frozen for up to 3-4 months. When you need a quick finger food or meal for your baby, you’ll have fresh tasting chicken meatballs for your baby in no time!
Egg Free Baby Chicken Meatballs Version
Keep everything the same, you just need to replace the egg with parmesan cheese and add some bread crumbs (or flour) in order to absorb the extra moisture. Add them at the end with the meat and mix by hand. For the grain free / gluten free version opt for a nut/ seed flour or arrowroot flour.
How To Store
- Store leftovers for 4-5 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- Freeze up to 3 months in an airtight container.
- Thaw / reheat – just pop them out of the freezer and place them on a backing sheet. Cover with foil and reheat at 170C /350F until heated through. Or thaw the chicken meatballs overnight in the refrigerator and reheat on the stove: In a pot add a touch of water or stock and the meatballs, cover and let them steam inside at low temperature for 10-15 minutes.
Need more recipes? Check out the finger food category for more ideas!
More Recipes With Meat / Chicken For Babies
- Beef Meatballs For Baby (BLW) Toddler, No Egg
- Chicken & Mushroom Crepe Rolls – Kid & Baby Friendly
- Baby Turkey Meatballs (BLW)
- Turkey Avocado Patties For Baby (BLW) Toddlers, Kids
- Chicken Soup For Baby, Toddler, Kids (GAPS Friendly)
- Chicken Liver Muffins For Babies, Toddlers, Kids
- Mini Chicken Cutlets
Have you tried this recipe? Your feedback is really helpful, please rate and leave a comment below recipe card!
Soft Chicken Meatballs For Babies, Toddlers, Kids (BLW)
Ingredients
- 1 lb (454g) ground chicken
- 3/4 avocado
- 1 medium carrot
- 1 small onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 egg
- 1.5-2 tbsp tomato paste (lemon juice or some mustard will also work)
- 1/3 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp sage (or basil)
- 1/3 tsp sea salt (for babies 12 months +)
Eggless Chicken Meatballs
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese (grated) (as eggs substitute)
- 3-4 tbsp bread crumbs (or almond flour (grain free version))
Instructions
Prepare The Ingredients
- Prep the vegetables (onion, carrot, garlic): clean and peel and throw them in a food processor along with avocado and seasonings.
Mix The Ingredients
- Pulse the ingredients a few times until finely chopped, then add the egg and tomato paste, pulse another few times until incorporated.
- Then add the ground chicken and mix by hand or with a spatula. Don't mix in the food processor it will make the texture very wet and will be harder to handle.
- If you can't find pre-made ground chicken, use your food processor to finely ground some chicken breasts. If you can, add some thigh meat as well for a more round flavor.
Form The Meatballs
- Use a small cookie or ice cream scoop to evenly portion out the meatballs. Place one by one in a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, or if you have mini muffin pan, use that, it will help keep the shape better.To help with stickiness when rolling: lightly dampen hands with some oil.
Bake The Meatballs
- Place in a 400-degree F oven and bake for 20 minutes until slightly golden browned. They usually have a lighter color than those made with red meat. You can turn the broil function for the last minute or two of baking for a more golden surface.Baking the meatballs is easier, healthier and mess free. But you can also fry them if you like.
Egg Free Chicken Meatballs Version
- Keep everything the same, you just need to replace the egg with parmesan cheese and add some bread crumbs (or flour) in order to absorb the extra moisture. Add them at the end with the meat and mix by hand.For the grain free / gluten free version opt for a nut/ seed flour or arrowroot flour.
Notes
- For more flavor you can add some parmesan cheese to the original recipe and some chopped fresh herbs like parsley, basil, spinach or kale.
- Store in the refrigerator for 3-5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months in an airtight container.
- Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Reheat on the stove. In a pot add a touch of water or stock and the meatballs, cover and let them steam inside at low temperature for 10-15 minutes. Or just pop them out of the freezer and place them on a backing sheet. Cover with foil and reheat at 170C /350F until heated through.
Nutrition
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Not only did my six month old manage to eat quite a bit of his one (yay! finally an iron rich food besides eggs that he actually managed to eat!) but even my somewhat picky husband loved them and requested they be added to the regular rotation list. For the baby I shaped them cylindrical, worked great for his palmar grasp. I omitted the spices since he is so small and my ground chicken was unfortunately pre-salted. They were really good though.
Thank you for your review!
Can these be reheated in the microwave? I’m thinking of making these to send for my son’s daycare lunches
yes
Oh my goodness. These. Were. Amazing! I made them for my son and I wanted to eat them! I used steamed broccoli and chopped it up really fine and it was great. I also used a whole avocado. And used powdered garlic and onion and no s&p and didn’t have sage so didn’t use that either. Also didn’t have any carrots so I guess my recipe was a little different from what’s listed above but they were great and SO soft on the inside. My 16mo loves them and they are even super soft after reheating! Will definitely recommend and make them again!
I’m glad you liked them, it looks like you’re good at improvising!
Very good and quick recipe but they appeared a bit bitter when I made them.
Any idea why is that? I did not used spices. Could carrot give the bitterness ?
I don’t know, it could be any ingredient, was everything fresh?
Any suggestions for an avocado substitute? My son is allergic unfortunately.
Just remove the avocado, add some breadcrumbs soaked in liquid.
How about substitute the avocado (and egg) with yoghurt? Thoughts?
Sorry, I never tried yogurt in a meat recipe, so I can’t tell.
Can you use ground turkey instead?
Sure!
Can you cook from frozen? And if so how long would you bake for?
If you mean frozen raw meatballs, I wouldn’t, the insides will not cook through. It would be better to let them defrost in the fridge overnight and then bake.
Avocado! Genius! Finally a recipe that makes the meatballs or patties soft for my 9 month old. She loved them. Thank you!
Wonderful, I’m glad she loved them! Thank you for your feedback!
I love this recipe. It was the perfect recipe for my first son’s daycare lunches when he had an egg allergy and it’s now the first meat recipe I’ve tried with my twins. The beef meatballs are also awesome. Thanks !!
Is there any reason you can’t freeze these after they have been cooked?
You can freeze them.
My 9-month old loved these! And so did my husband and me. Perfect for the whole family and easy to make.
That’s wonderful, enjoy!
Can you sub or leave out the tomato paste?
Yes you can leave it out if you must.
Interesting use of avocado. It makes sense given that chicken meatballs can be dry and dense. My previous attempts with other recipes have resulted in dry meatballs with thick cristy exteriors. I will try this one, but will steam them as the Chinese do to for a soft exterior. BTW
Yes that’s the purpose of avocado basically, to provide softness. If you prefer to steam the meatballs, sure no problem!
I’m going to make this for my picky one year old and 7 year old! Wish me luck!!
I made these tonight for my 9 month old and she ate them up! They were so soft and a perfect texture for her. My mixture ended up looking like blobs rather than shaped meatballs, but the end result was exactly what I was hoping for. I’ll definitely make these again!
Sounds wonderful, I’m glad you liked them!
My baby loved the chicken meatballs!
That’s great!