Chicken meatballs in a creamy coconut lime sauce with fresh basil. Easy to make and full of flavor. This is weeknight magic!
I love this meatball recipe because it tastes like something you’d order out, but it’s ridiculously easy to pull off at home. The coconut lime sauce is silky, punchy, and just the right kind of addictive, with basil cutting through at the end.
It’s the sort of dinner that makes a regular night feel upgraded. Low effort, high reward, and exactly the kind of thing I want in my weeknight arsenal.
Watch the recipe video
Let me guide you through this step-by-step VIDEO or follow along on YouTube.
More meatball dinners to try
Meatballs are always a good idea here, especially when they come with a good sauce. If you’re into this kind of dinner too, try my sticky beef meatballs, firecracker meatballs, or my all-time favorite chicken meatballs in Thai coconut curry. And if the coconut-lime combo is what caught your eye, my chicken in coconut basil sauce is another one worth making.
Ingredients
Nothing fancy here, just simple ingredients that come together in a very good way. For the meatballs, I combine ground chicken with breadcrumbs, egg, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. That’s it. Simple, but it works.
The sauce comes together in the same pan with garlic, coconut milk, lime zest, and lime juice. I season it with curry powder, black pepper, fish sauce, a little sugar, and some sambal oelek for heat. Fresh basil goes in at the end and lifts the whole thing. It’s a quick pan sauce, but it tastes like more is going on.
Variations
- Add broccoli, spinach, or cauliflower if you want to work in more vegetables. Just let them cook in the sauce until tender.
- For more heat, add extra sambal oelek.
- You can also swap the ground chicken for ground pork or turkey.
- Or use cilantro instead of basil for a different finish.
Serving tips
- Serve with steamed rice, warm naan, rice noodles, or cauliflower rice. I also love it over fried rice or with quinoa.
- On the side, a creamy Asian-style cucumber salad, crunchy coleslaw, or cucumber salad with soy sauce dressing all work really well.
Storage tips
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- To freeze, let the dish cool completely, then transfer to airtight containers and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
Coconut Lime Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients
Chicken meatballs
- 1.1 pounds ground chicken
- ½ cup breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp avocado oil - or peanut oil, for searing
Coconut lime sauce
- 4 garlic cloves - minced
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp dried onion
- ½ lime - zested and juiced
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp sambal oelek - or chili flakes, more or less to taste
- 1 can (14 oz/400 ml) unsweetened coconut milk
- 2 tsp cornstarch - dissolved in 2 tbsp water
- 1 cup basil leaves
- chili flakes - for serving, optional
Instructions
- Add all of the meatball ingredients to a large bowl and mix with your hands until just combined. Roll into 2-tablespoon-sized meatballs.
- Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the meatballs and brown them on all sides. Transfer to a clean bowl. They do not need to be cooked through at this point, they will finish cooking in the sauce.
- Add the garlic, sugar, curry powder, dried onion, and lime zest to the same skillet. Cook for 1 minute. Stir in the fish sauce, sambal oelek, coconut milk, and cornstarch slurry. Bring to a gentle boil.
- Return the meatballs to the skillet and drizzle with lime juice. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through.
- Remove the lid, stir in the basil, and finish with chili flakes. Serve. Enjoy!
Video
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