Nashville Hot Chicken Meatballs

INGREDIENTS

Chicken Meatballs

• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil, plus more for your hands
• 2 teaspoons salt
• ⅓ cup plain breadcrumbs
• ½ teaspoon granulated garlic
• ⅓ teaspoon paprika
• ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ⅞ teaspoon cayenne

Hot Chicken Oil

• 1 cup neutral oil
• ¼ cup cayenne
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1½ teaspoons salt

To Finish

• 4 slices white bread
• 15 slices bread and butter pickles

DIRECTIONS

Make Those Balls

1. PREHEAT the oven to 450°F. Set a baking sheet (maybe even lined with parchment paper if you want to get fancy) on the counter.
2. PUT the chicken, egg, oil, salt, breadcrumbs, granulated garlic, paprika, oregano, black pepper, and cayenne in a big old bowl and mix them all up.
3. GET a little oil on your hands and start shaping your meat into balls about the size of golf balls and place them on the baking sheet.
4. ONCE you've made all 15 balls, roast them for about 7 minutes.
5. FLIP your balls and continue roasting for another 8 minutes or so to get the other side nice and browned.

Make Hot Chicken Oil

1. HEAT the oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Keep on heating the oil until it is just simmering — about 250°F.
2. MIX together the cayenne, brown sugar, paprika, granulated garlic, and salt.
3. ONCE the oil hits the correct temperature, stir in the seasonings and remove it from the heat. Ta-da! Your oil is now hot chicken-flavored!

Put It Together

1. CUT OFF the crusts from your bread like you're feeding a toddler, then cut each slice of bread into quarters (the perfect size for a golf ball-sized meatball). Place them on a serving platter.
2. STIR up your hot chicken oil to recombine and spoon it over each meatball. (If your oil got too cold, just heat it back up again — it should be hot enough to sizzle when it gets spooned over each ball.)
3. ONCE you have spooned your balls, place one on top of each square of bread, top with a pickle, and then spear with a toothpick.