Healthy Ground Chicken Meatballs in Creamy Sauce

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (218 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Grease it if using foil.

In a high-power blender or food processor, pulse the sunflower seeds until they are a fine "meal" consistency. Be careful not to over-process, or you'll make seed butter.

Transfer the sunflower seed meal to a bowl. Whisk in the egg. Stir in the rosemary, garlic, sea salt, and black pepper.

Add the ground chicken. Use your hands to mix until just incorporated. Do not over-mix.

Form 1-inch (2.5 cm) balls and place onto the lined baking sheet. (A small cookie scoop works well for this.) 

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until barely cooked through. Switch to broil and broil for 3 more minutes.

While the meatballs are baking, make the sauce. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a medium saucepan. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until thick and reduced in volume by half. The sauce should easily coat the back of a spoon. If it becomes too thick, you can thin it out with more cream. Adjust salt to taste.

When the meatballs are done, skewer with appetizer forks and drizzle the sauce over them. It comes out to about 3/4 tsp (4 mL) of sauce per meatball. Alternatively, toss the meatballs in the sauce for a meal.