Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

Instructions

1. 1

   Preheat a conventional oven to 200°C/400°F with a rack in the middle. Grease a 33 × 45 cm rimmed baking sheet with all the olive oil. While the oven heats, finely chop the green onion and finely dice the celery.

2. 2

   Beat the egg in a large bowl. Stir in the green onion, celery, almond flour, mayonnaise, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Add the ground chicken and mix gently just until combined.

3. 3

   Shape the mixture into 20 evenly sized meatballs, approximately 4–4.5 cm across, and space them apart on the baking sheet.

4. 4

   Bake the meatballs for 22–27 minutes, until lightly golden and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the centers of several meatballs reads at least 74°C/165°F.

5. 5

   Immediately after putting the meatballs in the oven, rinse and thoroughly drain the uncooked long-grain white rice. Put it in a 2-litre saucepan with the 500 ml water. Bring to a boil over high heat, about 3–5 minutes, then cover tightly and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes, then remove from the heat and leave covered for 10 minutes before fluffing.

6. 6

   During the final 5 minutes of baking, pour the buffalo wing sauce into a 28 cm sauté pan. Warm over low heat for 2–3 minutes without boiling vigorously.

7. 7

   Transfer the fully cooked meatballs to the warm sauce and turn gently over low heat for 1 minute to coat them. Divide the rice and meatballs among four plates, spooning over all the remaining sauce.