You’ve heard of Banters, vegans and grazers. Well now get acquainted with the flexitarian – that’s someone who follows a balanced diet of fruits and vegetables with lean meats and fish. Your average healthy Jane or Joe, I’d say. Fresh mushrooms make the whole process of getting in more fruit and veg while limiting meat so much easier – all you have to do is combine chopped mushrooms with a smaller amount of meat for a full-flavoured but kilojoule reduced version of your favourite foods, like these Bacon Honey Bourbon Chicken Meatballs https://bit.ly/2fuLlOQ! Ways to be more of a flexitarian? Go meatless once a week and make sure your plate is always at least half fruit and veg – not forgetting the mushrooms, of course! #TheBlendTrend #blendability #meatandmushrooms #fruitandveg #healthyappetite
Bacon Honey Bourbon Chicken Meatballs
Makes 48 meatballs
Ingredients
MEATBALLS
6 strips of bacon
225g button mushrooms, washed and dried
450g ground chicken
1 hot Italian sausage link, casing removed
½tsp salt
¼tsp pepper
1tsp chilli powder
3 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
3 fresh basil leaves, chopped
½ cup breadcrumbs
HONEY BOURBON BARBECUE SAUCE
½ cup water
1 cup barbecue sauce
3tbsp bourbon
1tbsp honey
fresh chopped parsley, to garnish (optional)
Method
1 Meatballs: preheat oven to 200°C. Line a baking sheet with aluminum and spray with non-stick cooking spray or grease a large skillet. Set aside. Pulse together the bacon and button mushrooms until blended. Place the mushroom and bacon mixture, ground chicken, and hot Italian sausage, salt, pepper, chilli powder, garlic, herbs and breadcrumbs into a medium mixing bowl and mix until combined.
2 Scoop the meat mixture using a medium cookie scoop and place onto the baking sheet or in the skillet. Repeat until all of the meat has been used. Bake for 20 minutes.
3 Honey Bourbon Barbecue Sauce: whisk together the water, barbecue sauce, bourbon, and honey in a large skillet. Simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes, add the cooked meatballs to the sauce, coat each meatball, and simmer over low-to-medium heat for 15 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve.