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Simple, cheesy, Baked French Onion Meatballs. For those cold fall and winter nights when you want a fancy slow-cooked french onion soup…but you want something hearty too! Made easily with oven-baked chicken meatballs, white wine, caramelized onions, herbs, and that classic cheesy french bread topping. This dish is warm, flavorful, comforting, and so delicious. Equally great for a simple family dinner or holiday entertaining.
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Happy November everyone! My original plan was to share our 2021 Thanksgiving menu today, but I need a couple more days to put the finishing touches on the post. Very excited to share, but honestly?
I’m equally excited to share these delicious french onion style meatballs. If I had to choose the recipe for you to all be making this week, tonight even, it would be these meatballs. Perfect dinner to welcome in the chilly month of November.
When I made these meatballs before heading to Los Angelas the other week, my oldest brother, Creighton, was in town. And while I feed him a lot of meals when he’s here, he declared these meatballs his favorite. He LOVED them, so I think it’s safe to say this is a very good recipe.
The process is simple, here are the steps
Start with the bread. I mentioned this last month, but when my grandma made meatloaf or meatballs, she used to wet the bread first. She’d then ring out the excess water and tear the bread into super fine pieces. This is the key to a juicy, non-dry meatball.
Add the bread to a large bowl along with ground chicken or ground beef, a large egg, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Stir the mixture together, and you’re ready to roll your meatballs.
Then bake! I love baking meatballs. It’s so much easier and cleaner, not to mention healthier, than frying them up in a skillet.
While the meatballs are cooking, caramelize the onions
Start with sweet onions, butter, and dry white wine.
I use a dry white wine, which is pretty traditional in most French onion soups. You’ll cook about half of the wine into the onions. Not only does this help the onions to caramelize quickly and evenly, it also infuses the onions with incredibly rich flavor.
It’s delish.
If you prefer not to cook with wine, I recommend using about half a cup of apple cider or apple juice to caramelize the onions. For the remaining amount of wine (another half cup), use chicken broth, beef broth, or vegetable broth.
When the onions are caramelized, add the mushrooms and let those cook a minute. Then add in the broth.
Now, grab the meatballs and add them to the sauce. Simmer a bit until cooked throughout.
Finish it up
When you’re ready, switch the oven to broil.
Top the skillet full of meatballs with crusty french bread, and a layer of cheese. Then place under the broiler to melt. Watch closely, the broiler works fast.
Then simply pull out of the oven and experience the bubbling cheese and the delicious flavors of a truly good bowl of French onion soup…with the addition of yummy meatballs.
This is truly one of those roll your eyes back, crave-worthy, fall-winter comfort foods.
My favorite way to serve these meatballs is with a side salad. You could add pasta or mashed potatoes, but they’re also not needed.
Perfect dinner, right? I’m excited t have this one in my back pocket for the upcoming holiday season. I already know it’s going to be a go-to recipe once my family arrives and the craziness begins in a few weeks! Thanksgiving is so soon!
Looking for other meatball recipes?? Here are my favorites:
30 Minute Coq au Vin Chicken Meatballs
Simple Baked Cheesy Italian Chicken Meatballs
Weeknight 30 Minute Coconut Curry Chicken Meatballs
Lastly, if you make these , be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Baked French Onion Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 pounds ground chicken
- 1 slice soft whole grain bread
- 1 egg, beaten
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 6 tablespoons salted butter
- 3-4 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
- 3/4 cup dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 cups cremini or wild mushrooms, sliced
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
- 2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 1/4 cup whole milk, cream, or canned coconut milk
- 6 slices french bread
- 1 cup shredded gruyere cheese
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 450° F. Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish with olive oil.2. Take the bread and run it under water until dampened but not soaked. Gently squeeze the excess water out of the bread and then crumble the dampened bread into pieces.3. In a bowl, combine the chicken, bread crumbles, egg, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Coat your hands with olive oil, then roll the meat into balls about the size of 2 tablespoons, and place them into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes or until the meatballs are crisp on the outside, but not yet cooked through on the inside.4. Meanwhile, melt together the butter and onions in a large oven safe skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally until softened, about 10 minutes. At this point, you'll want to slowly add 3/4 cup of the wine, 1/4 cup at a time, until the wine cooks into the onions. Continue to cook another 10-15 minutes until you've used all of the 3/4 cup of wine and the onions are deeply caramelized. 5. Add the garlic, mushrooms, thyme, and sage. Season with salt and pepper, cook another 3-4 minutes. Add the the broth and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Increase the heat to high and bring to a low boil. Add the meatballs and simmer 10 minutes, until cooked through. Stir in the cream.6. Arrange the bread on a baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes, until very dry. Switch the oven to broil. Place the bread on/around the meatballs. Top evenly with cheese. Broil until bubbly and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Top with fresh thyme. Eat!
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
I’m currently making this! Can’t wait to eat it!!
Hi there! Hope you love it! xTieghan
This was wonderful! My whole family ate it up and asked for more, they know the good stuff. I didn’t have Gruyere or time to stop by the store, I topped with parmigiana reggiano, and that was delicious. Next time we’ll try the Gruyere!
Hey Ashley! Thanks so much for trying out this recipe, so glad you enjoyed this recipe! xTieghan
Perfect combination of French Onion Soup and Meatballs! I used a combination of ground beef, pork and veal for meatballs, increased amount of herbs and added more chicken broth but still felt there was not enough broth.
Hey there! Thanks so much for trying out this recipe, so glad you enjoyed this recipe! xTieghan
Hi Tieghan. I love all of your recipes and am very excited to make this! I saw on your Instagram that when you made these you used breadcrumbs in the meatballs instead of the bread. How much breadcrumbs would be used?
Also, you used a gadget to scoop the meatballs which looked like such a great hack. Can you share what this was?
Thanks so much!
Hi there! I would use about 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs! That scoop was a cookie scoop! xTieghan
I really enjoyed the flavors. Was surprised how good the chicken meatballs turned out (never had them before). Easy to make. Also a good meal that can be prepared as a family (my adult son was the chef).
Hi there! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, thanks so much for giving it a try! ? xTieghan
Really delicious and simple to make. Perfect for fall! Followed recipe pretty much as is besides the addition of a leek- otherwise followed closely. Another winner!
Hi there! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, thanks so much for giving it a try! ? xTieghan
I made this tonight and it was amazing! I didn’t have 1 1/4 lbs of ground chicken, only 1lb but I had ground pork chops in my meat grinder earlier today do I added a little of that. Otherwise I made no other adjustments. Absolutely delicious Teighan! Thank you ❤️
Hi there! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, thanks so much for giving it a try! ? xTieghan
SO tasty! Added additional seasoning to the meat, wilted kale, skipped the bread and cheese part and served over mashed potatoes. Made it with the broth and apple cider rather than the wine. Will be making again!!
Hi there! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, thanks so much for giving it a try! ? xTieghan
The bread situation was confusing to me. You said to soak the bread, drain and crumble with the chicken. So I used all the bread in the recipe. It was still OUTSTANDING. Luckily I bought a gourmet loaf of French bread so it sliced smaller and apparently didn’t make a big difference but it would be great if you specified to soak only the Whole grain bread for the chicken and save the French bread. I got to the end of the recipe and saw that I was suppose to toast the bread and I panicked because I had already used it all. In the end it worked out and this is one of my absolute fav dishes yet!
Hi Julie, I’m so sorry about the confusion! Yes, some of the bread is meant to be soaked for the meatballs, and the rest of it is to be toasted with the meatballs! xTieghan
Made this for dinner tonight and Tieghan, once again, you didn’t disappoint. This was delicious!! The only change was I used ground beef instead of chicken and left out the cream.
I came to the comments to see if anyone had used beef, it was a good choice? I have ground beef I need to use tonight and was trying to decide if this recipe was the best one or if I should wait until I have ground poultry.
Hi there! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, thanks so much for giving it a try! ? xTieghan
My family absolutely loved them! Can’t wait to make them again.
Hi Melissa! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, thanks so much for giving it a try! ? xTieghan
I printed out the recipe and saw that it called for milk but I read the instructions 3 times and could find where to add the
Milk. It was good without.
The ingredients say milk, cream or coconut milk but the directions only refer to cream. Hope that helps.
Hi Gayle! Sorry for the confusion! That gets added in at the end of Step 5! xTieghan
Oh my! The French onion dish was spectacular! This is a keeper! Love love love it!
Hi there! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, thanks so much for giving it a try! ? xTieghan
What can you use instead of wine? I wish all recipes would offer this info
You can always use beef or chicken stock
Chicken or Veggie Broth! xTieghan
Could these be made with ground beef?
Hey Melanie, definitely! xTieghan