Paleo Popcorn Meatballs, Asian style ! These Paleo Popcorn Meatballs are my latest meatball invention – perfect finger and party food for the holidays, game-day gatherings, or everyday indulgence !

Tips on making Paleo Popcorn Meatballs, Asian Style

Type of Meat

Use ground chicken thigh or at least 50% breast, and 50% thigh to keep the meatballs juicy.

If you can’t find ground chicken thigh, aside from grinding the meat yourself, mix ground chicken or turkey breast with veal, pork, or beef to add some good fat and moisture.

Flour/Starch choice

Sweet potatoes or arrowroot powder? Are they interchangeable?

Arrowroot powder gives the meatballs a bouncy texture when you bite into it whereas sweet potato starch powder gives a light and airy texture to the outer crust after pan frying.

If you can, use both types of flour separately – arrowroot for binding the ingredients and sweet potato for dusting. I found this combination makes the most juicy inside and crispy outside Paleo Popcorn meatballs.

Refrigeration

Refrigerate the meatballs 10-15 minutes before dusting as demonstrated in the 1-minute tutorial above.

Yes, it does add a bit to the total cooking time but the results are much much better. It will help the meatballs form better and reduce the need to add extra starch flour.

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Make Ahead Method

Since these Paleo Popcorn Meatballs are perfect for parties, if you want to make them ahead and save time (so you can hang out with your guests), I’d recommend that you finish the entire cooking process, let the meatballs cool down, and then freeze them. Just reheat in the oven at 420 ℉ /216 ℃ for 10 minutes total (flip them after 5 minutes for even baking).

Dipping Sauce

To make these Paleo Popcorn Meatballs taste authentic, salt and white pepper will do the trick. I, however, always love a bit of East meets west, and these Paleo friendly ketchup, mustard, and bbq sauce will go superbly well too!

If you give this popcorn chicken meatballs a try, leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you!

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5 from 6 votes

Paleo Popcorn Meatballs

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 25 meatballs
Author: ChihYu Smith
Paleo Popcorn Meatballs ! These meatballs are juicy inside and crispy outside. Perfect finger and party food for the holidays, game-day gatherings, or everyday indulgence !
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Video

Ingredients 

Meatballs:

Meatball dusting:

Other:

  • 1/4 cup oil of your choice to pan fry the meatballs

Instructions 

  • Combine all ingredients listed under “meatballs”. Mix well.
  • Dust a bit coconut flour over a large baking tray. Form 25  1-inch size meatballs. Refrigerate the meatballs for 10-15 minutes. 
  • Combine 2 tbsp sweet potato flour and 1 tbsp coconut flour. Lightly coat each meatball with the flour.
  • Heat ¼ cup oil in a dutch oven or large frying pan. When hot, lower the heat to medium and pan fry the meatballs in separate batches until they are golden brown and cooked through.  Drain over paper towel.
  • Serve hot with fine sea salt and white pepper or your favorite dipping sauce !

Notes

*Ground chicken thigh has higher water content than ground chicken breast.  If you use ground turkey/chicken breast, start with 1 tbsp arrowroot flour and 1 tbsp coconut flour (as opposed to 2 tbsp coconut flour) and see if more coconut flour is needed to form round meatball shape.
 
If you use ground beef or veal, you should be able to follow the same flour measurements but this recipe tastes best with chicken or turkey. 🙂
**If you’d like to pre-make these popcorn meatballs, I’d recommend that you finish the entire cooking process, let the meatballs cool down, and then freeze them. Just reheat in the oven at 420 ℉ /216 ℃ for 10 minutes total (flip them after 5 minutes for even baking).

Nutrition

Calories: 52kcal
Course: Appetizer, Party food, snacks
Cuisine: American, Asian American
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?Tag @iheartumami.ny on Instagram and hashtag it #iheartumami.