I was craving meatballs one night, but wanted chicken instead of the traditional beef. This recipe combines a lot of safe ingredients that combine to make one delicious bowl.
As a side note – I happen to have a mini-muffin pan and the third time I made the recipe it occurred to me I may be able to speed up the cook time. It cuts the meatball cook time eight minutes or so, and the shave off the cook time coupled with happiness I have a reason to use the pan, normally makes me grab the mini-muffin pan. It definitely helps that I don’t do the dishes in our house – I cook – and the pots, pans and dishes are tackled by my other half. 🙂
If you can find oyster mushrooms, add them in the meatballs. I tend to buy oyster mushrooms when I find them because I’m excited they’re in stock and then I toss them in whatever I can. Similarly, the pattypan squash is not a must and I add it in the Summer out of excitement it’s available. I make this dish fairly often and typically I do not have the oyster mushrooms or pattypan squash and the dish is still great without them.
I like this meal for the crisp, toasted surface of the meatballs and the lemon balsamic dressing that I love to put on whatever I can.
Low Fodmap Chicken Meatball & Arugula Bowl
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1/4 tsp Freefod Garlic Replacer or SnS Essence of Garlic Salt
- 1/2 tsp Freefod Onion Replacer or SnS Essence of Onion Salt
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 3 tbsp green onions, finely chopped (green parts only)
- 2 tbsp bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, gluten-free if necessary
- 3 tbsp oyster mushrooms, finely chopped (optional)
Veggies
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 1 pattypan squash, deseeded & sliced
- Olive oil
- Salt & pepper
Dressing
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp garlic olive oil
- 1 tsp Fody Shallot Olive Oil
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- Juice from 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp low-Fodmap yogurt
- 1 1/2 tbsp lemon balsamic vinegar
- Salt & pepper to taste
Bowl
- 1 cup brown rice, quinoa or mix
- 2 cups arugula
- 2 tbsp green onions, chopped (green parts only)
- 2 tbsp pine nuts (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400℉.
- Cook rice according to instructions.
- Make dressing and set aside.
- Cup up carrots into roughly 1" pieces. Slice the thicker pieces in half to speed up cooking time. Toss carrots with some olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at 400℉ until soft, about 10 minutes.
- If using pattypan squash, cut out seeded center and cut the rest of the squash into 1/3" slices and cook on stovetop on medium heat with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste until they start to soften, about 5 minutes.
Meatballs
- Finely chop bell pepper, green onions and oyster mushrooms (if using).
- Combine dried parsley, onion and garlic replacers, salt, pepper and breadcrumbs.
- Whisk egg.
- Put ground chicken, dry mixture, chopped veggie and whisked egg into a bowl and mix to combine. Form meatballs into 1 1/2" sized balls.
- Cover cookie sheet with foil and space meatballs evenly on the foil. Carefully place the cookie sheet in the oven and cook until meatball internal temperature is 165℉, approximately 20 minutes.
- If you have a mini-muffin pan, I highly recommend as it can shave about eight minutes off of the cooking time. Before you place the meatballs in the cookie sheet, make sure you do a quick, thin coat of a low-Fodmap fat to grease the mini-muffin pan to ensure easy removal later.
- If you want a crisper, cooked look to the meatballs, five minutes into cooking coat with a thin layer of olive oil and put back in the oven. Flip the meatballs four minutes later and coat with another thin layer of olive oil and place back in the oven. You can broil for a minute or two if desired, but keep an eye on the internal temperature of the meatballs.
Assembly
- Place 1 cup arugula, 1/2 cup of brown rice/quinoa, 1/2 cup carrots, 1/2 cup of squash (if using), and six meatballs per bowl. Top each bowl with 1 tbsp green onions, and 1 tbsp of pine nuts. Toss with dressing and serve.