Starting The Year With A Ball…Meatballs That Is!

Happy New Year, friends!!

Welcome to the first review of the New Year! I sincerely hope that you all had a great holiday season and are able to start the year off well-rested. We certainly had our fix of rest and celebration and are ready to jump into the new year.

Now, I’m not one to make resolutions, but I do like to make plans, especially when it comes to this blog :). So, as a preview of what’s next:

• Mid-February 2023 – The website will be going through some maintenance to move to a new hosting provider (Bluehost has just been disappointing for WAY too long).
• January – March 2023 – We’ll be reviewing a new subscription service over the course of 3 months. Including videos and a full written post.
• The remainder of the year will focus as always on recipes (a mix of all meal types), and some new subscription boxes I’ll spend multiple months on for further analysis.

So, with these things to look forward to, I think it’s time to get started, right?

The first review of 2023 is of Cilantro Chicken Meatballs in a Mango Coconut Sauce!

The recipe is by Ambitious Kitchen and the recipe can be found right -> here!

The Sauce For the Cilantro Meatballs…

When I came across this recipe, I had to do a double-take. Cilantro meatballs? Mango? Coconut? Now separately all of these ingredients sound DELICIOUS! But together? Would it actually work. Hence, why I actually decided to make and review this.

The sauce itself is extremely simple to make. Combine coconut milk with mango and soy sauce and blend. That’s it.

The flavor of the sauce is pretty mild. It’s not too sweet, not too salty, and certainly not too creamy. It’s just the right type of base for this recipe to complement the meatballs. Now, don’t get me wrong it’s certainly different in the sense that it’s a salty/sweet combination. It’s just not overwhelmingly sweet or salty, which is a good thing–I promise.

Cilantro Meatballs Are Simple To Make And Even Better To Eat…

Yeah, just as the header reads here. These meatballs are the super simple to make and they absolutely pack a punch of flavor. Now, the recipe does recommend using chicken of turkey. For this attempt I used turkey and they turned out delicious! With how delicate the sauce is, I knew that the meatballs would be behind the real punch of flavor.

For gluten-free notes, it does ask for coconut flour, but I did a 1:1 substitute and used gluten-free panko. They turned our perfectly fine. 🙂 If you do not have gluten-free panko, then go ahead and follow the recipe exactly.

The spices…let’s talk about the SPICES!

While there aren’t too many to list, the combination of cumin, turmeric, and cayenne is perfect. Not too spicy and absolutely anything but bland. The delicious flavor absolutely also comes from the mixture of onions, cilantro, garlic and ginger. Normally I’d skip out on cilantro as I used to have some reaction to it, but so far so good. We’ll keep enjoying it!

So would I change anything about these meatballs? Only one thing–I’d remake these using ground chicken instead of ground turkey, just to see the difference. Regardless, these are going to turn out awesome.

What To Serve These Cilantro Meatballs With?

I like to treat this as I would treat a Thai curry. Normally I would serve this with rice, to really soak up that saucy goodness, but I ended up switching it up just a little bit by using rice vermicelli noodles. I had considered pasta, but I just don’t think the flavors would work quite as well. Rice and rice noodles do not have that strong of a flavor which are perfect for absorbing all the flavor from the sauce and meatballs. Yum!

One recommendation I will make–do follow the garnish recommendations. I absolutely love a bit of crunch in dishes like this, so the addition of peanuts is just…fantastic! Not my husband’s favorite, but don’t knock it till you try it ;).

Grey’s Grade: 5/5

Nothing makes me happier than to share a 5/5 review for my first post this year. I admit I had my doubts just about the sauce, but I found that it worked incredibly well. We also ended up adding a bit of hot sauce to tie everything together, as recommended. If you like a bit of spice, then go for it. Does it need it? Not necessarily. I find this dish is delicious on its own.

So if you’re in the mood for some delicious flavors of turmeric, ginger, garlic, cilantro, with just a touch of sweetness…ding ding ding! It’s time to give this recipe a try!

Ambitious Kitchen, thank you for sharing such a delicious recipe! I look forward to making it again!

How have you kicked off this New Year? Do you have any cooking goals for yourself this year? Let me know in the comments and keep sending in ideas for reviews! 😀

Check Out My Reviews!

• Spicy Korean-Inspired Chicken Ramen
• Weeknight Chicken Enchiladas
• Delicious Gluten-Free Chicken Parmesan

If you enjoyed my review, don’t forget to like the post and leave a comment. Want more content, check out my socials!

And if you’d like to support my reviews and future subscription box reviews, consider checking out my Ko-Fi page!

Want to work together? Contact me!