If you’ve always been a ground chicken skeptic like myself, consider these baked greek-style chicken meatballs as your official invitation to the other side. No boring ground chicken here, we’re talking salty crumbles of feta, fresh dill, and citrusy notes from lemon juice and zest, all packed into one juicy, golden bite. They are incredibly simple to prepare and even easier to devour. Just mix, roll and bake! Serve them with my tzatziki and you’ll have a perfect Mediterranean inspired dinner.

A bowl with Greek meatballs, sliced pita bread, tzatziki sauce, and a salad made of cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, feta cheese, and fresh dill, all arranged on a white plate over a yellow and white tablecloth.

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Transforming A Pound of Ground Chicken

I will admit: I think ground chicken is often bland and boring, and I tend to mostly cook with ground beef instead. In fact, my most loved meatball is my kofta style juicy baked meatballs. But time and again, my community kept pressuring me to deliver a ground chicken recipe, and I am a people pleaser at my core.

One of my first recipes using ground chicken was my chicken kofta; flavours I fall back on that just work. But I wanted a different flavour for these baked meatballs, especially since we know baking chicken can lead to dry results.

But my team and I nailed this one! Juicy, greek-style flavours, ready very quickly, and the true test was that I was popping them in my mouth one after the other. We were mainly testing for 1) texture, 2) juiciness, and 3) flavour.

Recipe Testing Notes:

  • Texture: I tested them with store-bought ground chicken as well as grinding my own chicken breast at home. As much as we (my testers and I) enjoyed the texture of grinding our own chicken, it was quite different from what you’d expect for a chicken meatball, and more akin to a chicken burger/nugget. Also, with recipe ease in mind, we ultimately decided these meatballs are meant to be easy and the store-bought ground chicken won.
  • Juiciness: The main ingredients that add moisture to the meatballs are the olive oil, the breadcrumbs and the feta cheese. We also tested them with mayonnaise to add even more moisture but there was no noticeable difference.
  • Flavour: The feta cheese in these meatballs takes them to another level! The lemon juice and zest really amp up the other flavours, and the dill works so well. If you don’t have fresh dill, you can use dry dill, and if you’re really not a fan, substitute more parsley instead.

How to Make these Moist Meatballs

Grab your ingredients. Store-bought ground chicken is what you need. You can use any type of feta for this recipe, and don’t skip the lemon zest.

A flat lay of labeled ingredients in bowls for a recipe, including feta cheese, olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, egg, spices, dill, lemon zest, garlic, ground chicken, and breadcrumbs on a light surface.

I strongly urge you to make a quick tzatziki and serve the meatballs with it. This is optional – I’ve also served them with my yogurt-based white sauce which was a great pairing.

Bowls arranged on a countertop containing labeled ingredients for tzatziki: lemon juice, salt, pepper, grated cucumber, mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, garlic, and dried dill.

Here are the simple steps:

A glass bowl with ground meat, an egg, breadcrumbs, chopped herbs, crumbled cheese, and seasonings arranged in sections on a white speckled countertop.
Add all the ingredients into a mixing bowl.
A clear glass bowl filled with a mixture of ground meat, herbs, and seasonings sits on a speckled white countertop.
Mix well with gloved hands.
A green baking sheet lined with brown parchment paper holds 20 evenly spaced, uncooked meatballs made with herbs. The sheet rests on a white, speckled countertop.
Shape into meatballs using 1-2 tablespoons per meatball. Use oiled hands for ease.
A green baking tray lined with brown parchment paper holds 20 evenly spaced, baked meatballs on a white speckled surface.
Bake for 18 minutes in a 400F pre-heated oven.

The bottoms will be very golden and I serve them with the bottom side up.

A glass bowl on a speckled countertop containing yogurt, shredded cucumber, mayonnaise, and ground black pepper, all not yet mixed together.
Mix all the ingredients to make the tzatziki.
A glass bowl filled with creamy tzatziki sauce, showing visible shreds of cucumber and specks of herbs, sits on a light-colored speckled countertop.
Serve immediately with the meatballs.
A green plate filled with baked meatballs alongside a small bowl of creamy white dipping sauce, possibly tzatziki.

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If you tried these recipes, please consider leaving a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page – I’d love to hear from you! You can also hop on over to Instagram and say hello!

A bowl with Greek meatballs, sliced pita bread, tzatziki sauce, and a salad made of cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, feta cheese, and fresh dill, all arranged on a white plate over a yellow and white tablecloth.
5 from 1 rating

Baked Greek Chicken Meatballs (with Feta)

Yield: 4 servings
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Total: 30 minutes
Author: Amina Al-Saigh
Juicy and full of classic Greek flavors these little meatballs pack a punch! Dill and feta take centre stage here and it's served with a creamy tzatziki sauce for the perfect meal.
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Ingredients
 

For the Meatballs:

  • 454 g ground chicken, see notes
  • 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, dry unseasoned (78 grams)
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped, or use 2 teaspoons dried dill
  • 1/2 lemon, zested
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano, dried
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

For the Tzatziki Sauce:

  • 3/4 cup English cucumber , grated, about 1/2 a large cucumber
  • 1 cup Full-fat Greek yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons mayonnaise , optional
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 garlic clove, large, minced (can be increased to 2 for a stronger garlic flavor)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped, or use 2 teaspoons dried dill
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt, to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions
 

For the Meatballs:

  • Preheat the oven to 400F. Place a piece of parchment on a large baking sheet and set aside.
  • In a medium sized bowl, combine the 454 g ground chicken, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, garlic cloves, parsley, fresh dill, zest of 1/2 a lemon, lemon juice, egg, extra virgin olive oil, feta cheese, onion powder, dried oregano, salt, and ground black pepper. Mix well.
  • Using lightly oiled or wet hands, shape the mixture into meatballs, about 2 tablespoons or 30 grams each. You should get 20 meatballs. Place them spaced apart on the parchment lined tray.
  • Bake for 18 minutes. The internal temperature should reach 165F using a meat thermometer. Broil for up to 3 minutes until the tops are lightly golden brown. The bottom of the meatballs will brown as well, so when serving I flip them upside down.

For the Tzatziki Sauce:

  • In a small bowl, combine the grated English cucumber, Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice, garlic clove, fresh dill, salt, and the ground black pepper. Mix well and adjust the seasoning as needed. Serve with the meatballs.

Notes

  • Oiled hands work better here as the additional oil allows for the chicken meatballs to get some more colour on them.
  • If you are up to it, grinding your own chicken can be worthwhile here. The recipe was also tested with ground boneless, skinless chicken breast. The texture is completely different from packaged ground chicken! Just place the chicken breast in a food processor and process until ground. The breadcrumbs need to be adjusted and reduced to ⅓ cup (52 grams), the olive oil is reduced to 1 tablespoon and 2 tablespoons mayonnaise (yes, mayonnaise) is added to increase moisture. The rest of the recipe and instructions will remain the same.
  • If you would like to use dark meat and grind your own chicken, you may process boneless, skinless chicken thighs until ground and proceed with the rest of the recipe as is.
  • If you do not have fresh dill, 2 teaspoons dried dill may be used.
  • The mayonnaise in the tzatziki is optional (and definitely not traditional). It does add another level of creaminess to the sauce.
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 436kcal, Carbohydrates: 16g, Protein: 31g, Fat: 28g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g, Monounsaturated Fat: 12g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 161mg, Sodium: 1188mg, Potassium: 809mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 353IU, Vitamin C: 15mg, Calcium: 205mg, Iron: 2mg
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