Baked chicken kofta or meatballs are a healthy kofta, seasoned with Indian spices. Serve it as an appetizer or as a meal with some veggies or throw it in a pasta or a curry.
Theme of the Week
This week’s theme is, is everything round a laddu? And as we saw in last two days, everything that is round is not a laddu. For the first day, it was edible chocolate chip cookie dough balls which is a fusion laddu and yesterday it was a savory snack, Mysore bonda. Today I have another savory round shaped food, baked chicken kofta.
Baked Chicken Kofta
Almost every cuisine has a version of meatball or kofta. Minced meat is seasoned with spices, rolled into a small ball and then, it is either deep fried or shallow fried. However, in today’s recipe, meatballs are seasoned with Indian spices and baked in the oven. Kofta are Indian version of meatballs, though usually prepared with goat or lamb mince.
Baked kofta require less oil and also cuts back on time spent near the cooking range. These baked chicken kofta is great as an appetizer and also make a great meal for those on low carb diet.
Serve meatballs or kofta with baked, steamed or sauteed vegetables to make a filling and complete meal. Other meal ideas are meatball sub sandwiches, meatball pasta and kofta curry.
How to make Baked Chicken Kofta – Chicken Meatballs
A healthy, baked chicken kofta are a great appetizers and a meal when served with some pasta or vegetables.
- 1 ½ - 2 tbsp Oil
- 1 medium sized Onion chopped (about ½ cup when chopped)
- 3 small Green Chilies chopped (approximately 2 - 2 ½ tsp, adjust to taste )
- 2 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
- 1 ½ tsp Chili Powder
- ¾ - 1 tsp Salt adjust to taste
- ¾ tsp Cumin Powder
- 1 tsp Coriander Powder
- 1 Egg
- ½ cup chopped Cilantro loosely packed
- 1 Scallion chopped, optional
- 1 lb Lean Ground Chicken
- ¼ cup Breadcrumbs
Heat about 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and saute onions until soft, for a minute.
Then add green chilies, ginger garlic paste and saute for a minute or two until raw smell of ginger dissipates.
- Let the mixture cool
- To this add all the spices, egg, cilantro, scallions and mix well.
Add ground chicken, breadcrumbs to the mixture and mix until well combined.
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Oil a large baking tray and keep aside.
Apply some oil to hand, take some chicken mixture, roll into a 1 ½ - 2” diameter ball and place in the baking sheet.
Make rest of the kofta (meatballs) similarly and it yields 22 - 24 meatballs.
- Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.
Switch to broil mode and broil for 3 minutes.
Turn off the oven and let the kofta sit in the oven for another couple of minutes.
Check if the kofta are cooked. When cut in half, juices should run clear or should read 150 - 165 F on a kitchen thermometer.
Remove from oven and serve hot as an appetizer, or with some grilled vegetables for a meal.
- Temperatures vary from oven to oven. Hence, when making the recipe for the first time, use the bake time as a guide to bake kofta.
- To grill vegetables, cut vegetables in to desired size, season with oil, salt, chili powder or pepper powder and garlic powder.
- Place it on the bottom rack, 5 minutes into baking the meatballs. Basically veggies will bake for last 15 minutes and then in broil mode.
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Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#86
Nice pictures. I am sure meat lovers will appreciate it better.
Another wonderful selection for the theme ..perfect kofta .. Loved all your round shaped dishes . I enkoyed doing this theme in the first week , your savory version ladoos are perfect 🙂
sorry for the typo i meant enjoyed 😀
Manju, I read it as enjoyed and didn’t even realize there was a typo until I read this comment. 🙂
Beautiful clicks and very well presented koftas . Interesting pick for the theme.
My chicken loving family will definitely enjoy these baked koftas, they are just prefect to enjoy with some spicy sauce.
Love this ,my fav,I usually prepare a biriyani with this or gravy.. One of our popular Sunday menu..
I guess that is a treat for all chicken lovers out there
Omg those pictures are awesome and I bet its a treat for chicken lovers. I can clearly say now that everything round is not laddo. 😉
Another great choice for ’round’ dishes.
Baked meatballs kofta sounds like a perfect treat for meat lovers and the fact these are baked makes them more interesting.
Baked chicken kofta look great Usha. Love the way you presented them with veggies — colorful plate of food.
3 very interesting ladoo recipes for this week — loved them all.
Looks like a perfect snack for meat lovers usha! can be enjoyed as an appetizer or as a side when served with sauce! love how beautifully you have plated them with veggies and greens!
Nice interpretation of the theme. The pics have come out very well.
Koftas look great. Lovely pics as usual Usha. Those Broccoli chunks are a good contrast with the Koftas.
love the fact that these are baked – I would definitely try these