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Vietnamese Chicken Meatballs

These little Asian flavoured chicken meatballs are rolled in sugar so that they form a nice, sweet, sticky glaze. They are similar to Vietnamese BBQ pork but they are much healthier and easier to make.

By tastykitchen · From Open Recipes · 11 ingredients
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Vietnamese Chicken Meatballs

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Vietnamese Chicken Meatballs

Serves 6
Prep30 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

738Calories
47 gProtein
5 gFat
122 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 12 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chicken100g cooked165
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Lemongrass1 tbsp (6g)5
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Peppermintnot in our table0
Meatballnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By tastykitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Chicken + garlictop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,850 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  4. Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, fish sauce, onion, clove, garlic, pepper, sugar):

  1. Gingerfits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, fish sauce, onion, clove, garlic, pepper, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.