Indian spiced meatballs are made with ground chicken and pork, then simmered in a yellow curry sauce and served over basmati rice in these delicious Meatball Curry Bowls!
This recipe is gluten free, great for meal prep and made in under an hour!
What you'll need to make Indian Meatball Curry Bowls
- Coconut Cream or Coconut Milk - coconut cream is made from simmering four parts shredded coconut in one part water. Coconut milk is made from simmering one part shredded coconut in one part water. For this reason, coconut cream is much thicker and richer, which makes it my preferred choice for a super creamy coconut curry!
- Note: the extra coconut in coconut cream, also means more fat and calories. If you're looking for a lighter sauce, I would recommend using coconut milk instead of cream. This will save 70 calories per bowl, 7 grams of fat and 12 grams of saturated fat.
- Yellow Curry Paste - Mae Ploy is my favorite brand of curry paste. It's easy to find on Amazon and at most Asian grocery stores.
- Basmati Rice - a type of white rice, typically grown in the Himalayas and India, this rice variety is what you'll find at almost all Indian restaurants.
- Fresh Ingredients - cilantro, onion and garlic
- Ground Meats - I use a combination of ground pork and ground chicken to make these meatballs. I recommend the same, but ground lamb can be substituted for the ground pork, if you'd like!
- Olive Oil
- Eggs
- Spices - ground coriander, cumin, curry powder, turmeric powder, black pepper and kosher salt
- Gluten Free Breadcrumbs - gluten-free breadcrumbs can usually be found at the grocery store. If you're having trouble, you can always purchase these Gluten-Free Breadcrumbs found on Amazon. And of course, if you're not on a gluten free diet, you can use traditional breadcrumbs.
How to make Indian Meatball Curry Bowls
- Prepare the basmati rice ahead of time. This can easily be done on the stove, in a rice cooker or in an Instant Pot.
- Make the meatballs.
- Start by sautéing the onions and garlic in olive oil in a large skillet on the stove. This is a step that you should never skip when making meatballs. Because, let's be honest, no one wants to bite into a piece of raw onion or garlic in their meatball!
- In a large bowl, combine the ground meats with the gluten free breadcrumbs, spices, eggs, cooked onions and garlic.
- Mix all of the meatball ingredients together until well combined, but do not over mix or the meatballs can become tough.
- Once the ingredients are combined, form the meat mixture into approximately 24 golf-ball sized meatballs.
- Remember that skillet you sautéed the onions and garlic in? Time to bust it back out to cook the meatballs. No need to dirty another skillet, just add a little more olive oil to the skillet and heat it back up on the stove. Add the meatballs and sear them on each side over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes.
- Once the meatballs are browned on the outside, add yellow curry paste and coconut cream to the skillet. Stir to combine the paste with the cream.
- Cover the skillet, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Divide the cooked basmati rice between four bowls, then top each bowl with six meatballs, a nice spoonful of the curry sauce and fresh cilantro.
Easy Indian Meatball Curry Bowl Modifications
Make It Vegan
- For a similar vegan recipe, try this Indian Cauliflower Bowl. Cauliflower is seasoned with the same spices as the meatballs in this recipe and it's covered in the same delicious yellow curry sauce!
Make It Low Carb
- Breadcrumbs: instead of gluten free breadcrumbs, use Pork Panko, which contains zero carbs per serving.
- Rice: instead of basmati rice, serve the meatballs over cauliflower rice.
- Carb Savings: These two substitutions will reduce the carbs per bowl from 46 grams to 17 grams.
Meal Prep It
- For storage: prepare the rice and meatballs as directed in the recipe. Store each separately, if possible, to prevent the rice from getting soggy.
- To reheat and eat: reheat the rice in the microwave for 90 seconds, then set aside. Reheat the meatballs in the microwave for 2 minutes, then place the meatballs and curry sauce on top of the heated rice. Fresh cilantro can be stored in a ziplock bag and added to the bowl after it's heated or can be left off when meal-prepping.
Add A Protein
- The meatballs already provide a significant amount of protein. Each bowl contains 50 grams of protein, therefore additional protein is not needed in this bowl.
Looking for more meatball bowls to try? Check out these 5 recipes!
- Italian Bowls with Vegan Meatballs
- Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Turkey Meatball Bowls from WhitneyBond.com
- Glazed Hoisin Meatball Bowls from The Creative Bite
- Sweet & Spicy Chicken Meatball Bowls from The Bettered Blondie
- Whole 30 Greek Lamb Meatball Bowls from Eat The Gains
Indian Meatball Curry Bowls
Indian spiced meatballs are made with ground chicken and pork, then simmered in a yellow curry sauce and served over basmati rice in these delicious Meatball Curry Bowls!
Servings 4 bowls
Calories 1093kcal
Ingredients
Indian Spiced Meatballs
- 2 tbsp olive oil divided
- 1 cup diced onions
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1 lb ground pork
- ½ cup gluten free breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp curry powder
- 2 tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 2 large eggs
Yellow Curry Sauce
- 3 tbsp yellow curry paste
- 15 oz coconut cream or coconut milk
Bowls
- 2 cups cooked basmati rice
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a large skillet or dutch oven on the stove over medium high heat.
- Add the onions, cook 3-4 minutes.
- Add the garlic, cook for an additional minute.
- Remove from the heat and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the ground chicken, ground pork and gluten free breadcrumbs.
- Add the ground coriander, cumin, curry powder, turmeric, black pepper and salt.
- Add the eggs and cooked onion and garlic.
- Stir everything until combined without overmixing.
- Form into 24 golf ball sized meatballs.
- Place the skillet that you cooked the onions and garlic in back on the stove over medium high heat.
- Add the remaining tablespoon olive oil to the skillet.
- Once the oil is hot, add the meatballs to the skillet and sear for 2-3 minutes per side.
- Add the yellow curry paste and coconut cream to the skillet, stir to combine.
- Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Divide the cooked rice between four bowls.
- Top each bowl with 6 meatballs and curry sauce.
- Garnish with fresh cilantro.
Notes
- To reduce the calories and fat in this recipe, use coconut milk instead of coconut cream.
- To reduce the carbs in this recipe, serve the meatballs over cauliflower rice, instead of basmati rice.
Nutrition
Calories: 1093kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 50g | Fat: 81g | Saturated Fat: 46g | Cholesterol: 261mg | Sodium: 463mg | Potassium: 1443mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1958mg | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 98mg | Iron: 6mg
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