Italian Chicken Sausage Meatball Skillet
This dish is my way of creating something inspired by Italian ingredients and flavors, without sauce, that comes together in one skillet for a new take on dinner.
Ingredients
- 1-1 1/2 pounds of ground mild Italian chicken sausage
- 1 large zucchini diced
- 1 small red onion cut in half and sliced
- 2 large garlic cloves minced
- 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
- 12 oz of chopped kale
- 12 oz bag of frozen artichoke hearts
- 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
- 1/4 cup Dry white wine /or broth
- Dried Italian herb seasoning
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
Instructions
Prepare meatballs
- Take your ground Italian chicken sausage and and roll into meatballs, about 1.5 to 2 inches in size. Should make roughly 20 little meatballs.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat
- Add 2 tablespoons of oil and the meatballs to the pan.
- Brown meatballs on one side 3-4 minutes and then turn using tongs and brown on second side for another 3-4 minutes.
- Remove meatballs from pan and set aside. Don't worry if they're not fully cooked at this point.
Cook the vegetables
- In the same skillet still over medium heat, add in one more tablespoon of oil and add in onions, zucchini, artichokes, and a large pinch of salt and pepper.
- Cook 5-8 minutes until soften, stirring occasionally
- Add in minced garlic and 1 tablespoon of dried Italian seasoning and stir frequently for 1-2 minutes until garlic is fragrant.
- Add wine or broth to the pan stirring and scrapping any brown bits and let simmer for 2 minutes.
- Add in the meatballs, diced tomatoes, quinoa to pan and stir well to combine. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium low.
- Place chopped kale on top of all ingredients and cover skillet with lid to help wilt kale.
- Once kale starts to wilt, about 2-3 minutes, stir well and recover. Simmer for another 8-10 minutes
- Taste and adjust seasoning if needed
- Once seasoning is adjusted, top with reserved cup of grated Parmesan cheese and let melt covered for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and serve!
Notes
When making the meatballs, you may run into the problem of them not binding or rolling well because it's just meat. Chicken doesn't hold a shape as well as pork or beef without help sometimes. You can add 1 large egg and a 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs to help bind if you prefer. I just wanted to keep this recipe as simple as possible so I didn't do this step. I went with free formed meatballs that weren't perfectly round. Either method will work just fine!