Coconut Curry Chicken Meatballs (2024)

Coconut Curry Chicken Meatballs – baked Thai flavoured chicken or turkey meatballs swimming in a rich, coconut curry sauce with sliced red bell peppers, wilted spinach and topped with fresh cilantro. Enjoy served over a bed of rice. To pack even more veg into this dish and to keep it low carb/paleo friendly serve over cauliflower rice. | Gluten Free + Paleo + Whole30 + Low Carb

I think coconut and lime might, low key, be one of the greatest flavour combos ever. Ever.

I think you guys might agree seeing as how my Coconut Lime Chicken is my most popular recipe!

The slight sweetness from the coconut brighten up by the fresh, zippiness of lime juice balanced out with just the right amount of salty goodness – it’s heaven!

And that’s what we’re working with today with these coconut curry chicken meatballs. Simple, Thai inspired meatballs balls made with with chicken or turkey – whatever you got – swimming in this ultra rich and light coconut sauce. Is your mouth watering yet?

How to Make these Coconut Curry Meatballs

This recipe can be broken up in three stages: the meatballs, the coconut curry sauce bringing it all together.

The Meatballs

These meatballs are based on my popular Baked Thai Meatball recipe. They’re made up of only 6 ingredients, mixed together in one bowl. From here it’s just a matter of rolling your balls and then baking for 20 minutes until cooked.

Coconut Curry Sauce

While your meatballs are baking you can begin working on your sauce. Start out by frying your onion in coconut oil for a few minutes to soften. Then layer in your flavour by stirring in the garlic, ginger and bell pepper. Cook for another minute or two. Make sure to stir often to keep the garlic from burning.

Next, add your curry powder and curry paste and cook just another minute before stirring in the coconut milk and chicken stock. Mix everything together and bring the mixture to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, reduce the heat slightly to achieve a gentle simmer and let the sauce simmer and cook about 10 minutes, uncovered. The sauce should thicken and reduce in this time.

After about 10 minutes you can stir in your now baked meatballs. Stir well to cover in sauce and cook another 5 minutes. This will give the meatballs a little time to soak up some of the coconut sauce.

A few minutes before serving, stir in the spinach and lime juice until the spinach is wilted. Taste and season with a little more salt and lime juice if you think it needs it and that’s it!

Questions and Substitutions

Can I use light coconut milk or coconut milk from a carton?

• Ideally no. At most you can use light coconut milk but I’d stay away from carton coconut milk (like the one you might use in cereal). The creaminess of the full fat coconut milk is really important for adding creaminess and silkiness to this dish.
• You can also use unsweetened coconut cream in place of full fat coconut milk.

Can I use meat other than chicken or turkey?

• Yes. Just keep in mind that using a fattier meat will give you more tender meatballs and leaner meat might make for tougher meatballs.

What do I serve this with?

• If you’re looking to keep this low carb/paleo friendly then serve this over a bed of cauliflower to soak up all the extra flavour. The sauce really takes over the flavour of the cauliflower rice making it a great way to double up on veg!
• If you don’t need to keep this paleo then serve over rice or maybe another grain like quinoa or buckwheat. It’s up to you!

Enjoy!

Similar recipes you might enjoy:

• Coconut Lime Chicken
• Tomato Coconut Curry Chicken
• Thai Red Coconut Chicken
• Chicken Korma with Coconut Milk
• Spinach and Turmeric Fish Curry
• Thai Meatball Egg Drop Soup
• Honey Sriracha Turkey Meatballs