Ingredients Notes

These notes are here to help make this recipe a success; they cover some but not all ingredients. For a complete ingredient list, with quantities, check out the recipe card below.

Ground Chicken/Chicken Mince: I like to buy ground chicken that combines thigh and breast meat, as I feel this gives you a juicer meatball. But not all grocery stores sell it or label it as such. So use what your local store has.

Garlic: As with every recipe on my site, please measure garlic with your heart. You can add more or less to suit your family.

Chinese Cooking Wine: This is also known as Chinese Rice Wine, Shaoxing Cooking Rice Wine, Shaoxing Wine or Shoaoxing Cooking Wine. You can find it in most grocery stores in the Asian section, on Amazon, or in your local Asian grocery store. Use dry sherry or sake if you don’t have Chinese cooking wine.

Panko Breadcrumbs: You can find these easily in grocery stores. They have a great crispy texture, which, when mixed with the ground chicken, makes the meatballs easier to form. You can substitute with regular unseasoned breadcrumbs.

White Pepper: White pepper adds a more authentic flavor, but you can substitute with black pepper.

Onion: I use a regular brown onion, but you can use a red, yellow or white onion.

Bell Peppers: We like to do a mixture of colors. Red and green look pretty but yellow would also be great. Or use two red peppers if that is what you have.

Ketchup: The regular kind that might have with your French fries. (Called tomato sauce in Australia.)

Canned Pineapple Chunks: Buy the canned pineapple chunks that come in juice, not syrup. The juice is used in the sauce. You want to buy chunks as they are the biggest; don’t go for tidbits (USA) or pieces (AU), as they are smaller and are more prone to fall apart. As a can of pineapple differs from country to country, go for a can that is between 17oz-20oz/435g-550g.

Brown Sugar: You can substitute it with white sugar if you prefer.