Chicken Cheese Balls

 

Presenting.... CHICKEN BALLS...

I'll admit, I take pretty crappy food pictures. Well, deal with it. I also fucked up this recipe of sorts. I was trying to adapt a non-Keto recipe to a Keto and was so concentrated on that that POOF, I forgot an important component. Getting down to business...

Ingredients

Balls:

(4) oz cream cheese

(2) tbsp blue cheese crumbles

(1/4) cup of shredded cheese

(8) oz shredded rotisserie chicken

Breading:

(2) Egg

(1) oz pork rinds

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Dip:

(1/4) cup sour cream

(2) tbsp ranch dip mix

(2) tbsp favorite wing sauce

Stuff: Mixing bowl, mini-muffin pan (I prefer silicone base, easier to get out), two dishes for breading balls

Directions: Preheat oven to 350. 

Mix in dish cream cheese, blue cheese, cheddar cheese, and chicken. 

Form (1) oz balls - or balls that will fit in a mini muffin pan! 

Smash (or grind, preference decided by stress level) pork rinds and put aside for the breading. In another bowl mix eggs thoroughly for the breading. 

Take balls, dredge in eggs and then roll in pork rind grinds...step and repeat. This made a bakes dozen for me, depends on your ball size (teehee).

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

While the balls are baking, mix ranch dressing powder, sour cream, and buffalo wing sauce together to make a dipping sauce or "aioli" of sorts to top them with. Fridge until baking is complete.

After 15 minutes I took the balls out, let them cool down for a bit and then removed them to parchment paper (some were a bit oily from the rinds and I didn't want to deal with that. Below is the finished product garnished with air fried rotisserie chicken skin (OMG SO GOOD), the "aioli", and some chives - just because. 

YUM-O

*The crazy part that I left out was that the buffalo sauce was supposed to go into the mixture. I'm actually kind of glad I did because now they can be dressed up with different stuff to make them more versatile (think cheese sauce with bacon or ham)

The original recipe called for it to be dredge in flour and bread crumbs; going keto - the egg dredge and pork rinds were just fine and very crispy. 

I have left overs and am going to try to attempt to put them in the air fryer to see if it will keep their crunch or crunch them up a bit more so they are more "pop-able" then fork using. 

Basil Pesto Chicken Che-iche

A keto diet makes you get REAL creative. And of course these creative light bulbs go off late at night. 🤦‍♀️ Sooooooo I give you...

Basil Pesto Chicken Che-iche

1 - parmesan folio 

.5 cup - shredded cheddar

.5 cup - shredded mozz

.25 cup - parmesan powder

1 - egg

2 tsp - garlic powder

.5 cup - ricotta

4 oz - basil pesto boneless chicken thigh (chopped)

Preheat Oven 350

Line spring 8" spring foam pan with parchment paper and place parmesan folio on top.

Mix cheddar, mozz, parmesan, egg, and garlic. Layer cheese mixture on top of folio, making. Layer on ricotta cheese, top with chicken. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until there is a crisp around the edge. Release spring form but do not remove, let cool until cheese sets a bit. (5-7 mins)

6 servings, and according to my recipe maker - 3g net carbs, 15g fat, 17g protein, per serving... but that's on you to confirm!

The cheese quiche base gives it some substantial base for the ricotta and chicken, so its important to let it set before taking off the spring form. Chicken thighs were leftovers from 2 nights prior, but it was still moist. 

This recipe was inspired by Keto Cheesy Garlic Bread - Lilly from Intrupix (thank you!) @instrupix