Chicken Bola Bola is a Filipino meatball made from ground chicken mixed with spring onion, celery, carrots, and garlic. It is seasoned with oyster sauce and soy sauce, then deep-fried before being served with rice.

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Recipe Ingredient
Step by Step Instruction
What to do with the leftover ground chicken?
Storing and Freezing Tips
Troubleshooting Questions
Related Filipino Recipes to try
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Bola Bola is basically our Filipino meatball variation, which is similar to the American meatball. The only difference lies in how we cook and serve it. Of course, in the Philippines, we always serve it with rice rather than pasta or as a meat sub sandwich.

This bola bola is extremely flavorful and moist because the ground chicken I am using is mixed with fats. It is one of the most popular dishes that we serve during fiestas or parties. This is because it is easy to make, and both children and young adults love meatballs.

In our previous post, we shared a recipe for beef bola bola. But here, I will be showing you how to make a delicious Chicken Bola Bola. The combination of celery leaves, spring onion leaves, soy sauce, and oyster sauce gives it a delicious umami flavor.

Recipe Ingredient

These are the ingredients I used to make chicken bola bola recipe:

Ground Chicken: In order for the meatball not to be dry, I am using ground chicken that is mixed with fats since this what makes the chicken moist. Also, you can use boneless chicken thigh to make your own ground chicken.
Vegetables: There are 4 vegetables I am using for this recipe: Celery Leaves, Spring Onion leaves, Garlic and Carrots. Aside from adding vibrant colors, they do add a nice aromatic flavor to my Filipino meatball which makes it very tasty.
Condiments: I am using Oyster Sauce and Soy Sauce which they both give an umami flavor. You cannot make a delicious bola bola without these two condiments.
Egg: The egg will provide moisture and serve as a binding agent which will help hold the meatball mixture together.
Cornstarch: Along with the egg, the cornstarch also provides a binding function which will thicken the ground chicken mixture.
Other Ingredient: The rest I use salt & black pepper for seasoning, and vegetable canola oil for frying the meatball.

Step by Step Instruction

Firstly, I placed the ground chicken into the food processor. After that, I added chopped celery leaves and spring onion, shredded carrots, grated garlic, poured the soy sauce and oyster sauce, and added the egg and cornstarch for binding the ingredients together. Of course, I added salt and black pepper for seasoning, since sometimes the soy sauce isn't enough.

Once I combined them together, I turned ON the food processor for less than a minute until it is completely mixed together. To make sure it is distributed properly, I mixed it one more using the spoon.

To make each of them into a ball shape, I added 1.5 to 2 tablespoons of ground chicken mixture into my hand, and then I use my another hand to shape into a ball. After that, I repeated the rest and transferred them into the plate.

To prepare for cooking the meatballs, I heated the oil in the cooking pot over low heat. Once the oil was hot, I added each uncooked meatball to the pot and let them fry for less than 5 minutes or until they turned light brown. Finally, I transferred them to a plate lined with a kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil, and you're done. This is best served with white rice or any fried rice like chao fan.

What to do with the leftover ground chicken?

When I still have the remaining seasoned ground chicken mixture, I use the leftover to make my chicken lumpia. With this ingredient, you can definitely use it for making lumpia recipes which turns out delicious.

In addition to that, I sometime made a variation dish which for example I made my own meatballs in tomato sauce based on the picture above. You can actually use that to make your own meatball sub-sandwich or pasta dish like my Filipino Spaghetti.

Storing and Freezing Tips

UNCOOKED:
- Refrigerating: If you plan to fry the bola bola on another day, you can place the ground chicken mixture in an airtight container and store it in the fridge. This will last for up to 4 days before it starts to spoil.
- Freezing: If you prefer to store it for longer periods, such as 1-2 months, it's best to keep it in the freezer using the same airtight container. The only downside is that it may release too much water when you try to thaw it.
COOKED:
- Refrigerating: If they are already fried, and you want to store them for other days, place it in the air-tight container as well and keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Freezing: The instruction is the basically the same as the Uncooked Technique. But because they were already fried, it will be releasing any juices which will be easy to reheat upon serving.

Troubleshooting Questions

Why is my Chicken Bola Bola too dry?
If the chicken meatball has a dry texture, it could be because you are using lean meat like boneless chicken breast before mincing the meat. I personally prefer chicken thigh since they are moist, or any ground chicken that contain fats- specifically 80% meat and 20% fats.
Why does my meatball fall apart during frying?
There are several reasons why that happened. Firstly, it could be you don't add enough binding agent like egg or cornstarch since they help retain the moisture of the ground meat mixture. Secondly, frying in high temperature might overcook the meatball which might break apart. Lastly, you haven't shape the meatball properly.
How to reheat the leftover meatball?
I use microwave which I set it in medium-high setting for up to 2 minutes. You can also use air-fryer which I set in 180 C or 350 F for less than 5 minutes.

Here are other Filipino chicken recipes that you want to try:

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