Sweet And Sour Meatballs | Quick and Easy Recipe! - Fun Cheap or Free (2024)

Oct 11, 2021 | Food, Recipes, Shelf Cooking

This easy sweet and sour meatballs recipe is sure to be a family favorite! We'll show you how to use the ingredients you already have to make this delicious meal.

Sweet And Sour Meatballs | Quick and Easy Recipe! - Fun Cheap or Free (1)

Hey Freebs! Our friend Melissa from Beautiful Life and Home shared the world's most amazing sweet and sour meatballs recipe with us, so now we're passing it along to you! Spoiler alert: this dish is a shelf cooking dream.

*Note: When you click the links in this post, we may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

We love this sweet and sour meatball recipe because you can mix and match and swap out ingredients left and right! The best part is, no matter what you do, these meatballs always turn out super delicious. Let’s get started!

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HOW TO MODIFY THIS SWEET AND SOUR MEATBALLS RECIPE

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These meatballs are great because you basically need three types of ingredients that you can usually find in your pantry, refrigerator, or freezer. Here's how to make some swaps if you need to:

  • Ground Meat – For the ground meat, you can use hamburger, ground turkey, ground pork, or ground chicken. Don’t have any ground meat on hand? No worries! Quickly make your own! Just toss some chicken breasts, thighs, or pork chops into a food processor and pulse until everything is chopped to your liking.
  • Binding Agent – For a binding agent, you can use eggs, bread crumbs, or oatmeal. Or a combo!
  • Sauce – For the sauce, the sky's the limit! Just go to your fridge and see what you’ve got! We like to use a combination of ketchup with teriyaki sauce, hoisin sauce, barbecue sauce, or any other type of Asian sauce.

Play around with the ingredients until you find a combination that you like best. But even if you don't have everything on hand, you can always improvise!

WHAT TO SERVE WITH YOUR MEATBALLS

These meatballs will go with pretty much anything! Here are our favorite pairings:

  • Rice – Rice is the traditional pairing with these meatballs. You can use brown rice, Minute rice, Jasmine rice, Basmati rice–whatever is in your pantry!
  • Ramen – Another option is to use ramen! Cook up the ramen (without the flavor packet) and top the noodles with the meatballs and sauce.
  • Mashed Veggies – These meatballs would also be great over some riced or mashed cauliflower or mashed potatoes!

Basically, these sweet and sour meatballs taste good with anything. 🙂

HOW TO FREEZE LEFTOVER MEATBALLS

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If you don't want to bake all of them, you can easily freeze some for later. Simply place them on a small foil-linedcookie sheetand put them in your freezer, uncovered, for several hours to flash freeze.

Once they're frozen, transfer them to afreezer bag. You can easily bake them from frozen, too! When you're ready to bake, make the sauce, pour it over, and bake for ten extra minutes.

HOW TO MAKE SWEET AND SOUR MEATBALLS

Sweet and sour meatballs are so easy to make! You can whip up the meatballs and sauce and have them baking in no time. But, before we start, one quick note! It's easiest to make these if you have afood processor. One benefit of using a food processor is that you can get those onions chopped small and mixed in thoroughly so that your kids don't notice! 🙂 But, you can mix the ingredients in a bowl with a fork or your hands if you need to.

Alright, here's what you're here for! 😉

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Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Mix and match ingredients you already have in your pantry and fridge to make these sweet and sour meatballs! Use beef, chicken, turkey, or pork and any kind of Asian sauce for these best-loved meatballs!

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

For the Meatballs

  • 1 lb lean ground beef
  • ½ cup rolled oats
  • 1 egg, slightly beaten (optional)
  • ¼ cup onion, finely chopped
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)

For the Sauce

  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tsp mustard
  • ¼ cup ketchup
  • ¼ cup teriyaki sauce (or other Asian sauce, like hoisin, or barbecue)
  • 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)
  • ½ cup vinegar

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350°F.

  • Mix the ground beef, oats, egg, onion, salt, pepper, and 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce together.

  • Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out the meat mixture to make meatballs. Place into a 9×13 baking dish.

  • In a small mixing bowl, stir together the brown sugar, mustard, ketchup, teriyaki sauce, and 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce. Once smooth, add the ½ cup of vinegar and stir until well-blended.

  • Pour over the top of the meatballs. Bake for 25 minutes or until a thermometer reads 160°F.

Notes

Note: The sauce does not thicken up in the oven. If you want your sauce to be thicker, add 2 teaspoons of cornstarch to it before pouring over your meatballs. Mix it in with the sugar before you add any other ingredients for the sauce.

Keyword easy, freezer, make-ahead

There you have it, guys! Super easy, right? We're so excited for you to try these. No matter what you serve with your meatballs, we bet your family is going to love this meal!

Tell us what you think, okay! Please leave us a comment below.

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Have you checked outShelfCooking.comyet? Our sister site is dedicated to helping you cook delicious, homemade, down-home-cooked meals for your family without spending all your time in the kitchen!

Basically every parent's dream, right? Join theShelf Cooking Communitytoday!

Want more dinner ideas?

  • This four-ingredient garlic brown sugar chicken is a dream!
  • You'll love these easy chicken tacos.
  • Give this curried sweet potato soup a try. It's a family fave!

Go have a ball!

Sweet And Sour Meatballs | Quick and Easy Recipe! - Fun Cheap or Free (2024)

FAQs

Sweet And Sour Meatballs | Quick and Easy Recipe! - Fun Cheap or Free? ›

Sweet And Sour Meatballs Ingredients

To make this recipe, you will need ground beef, eggs, breadcrumbs, onion, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, chili sauce, grape jelly and parsley.

What are sweet and sour meatballs made of? ›

Sweet And Sour Meatballs Ingredients

To make this recipe, you will need ground beef, eggs, breadcrumbs, onion, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, chili sauce, grape jelly and parsley.

What is the trick to keeping meatballs together? ›

How to make meatballs that won't fall apart
  1. Massage your meat. True story. ...
  2. Add breadcrumbs. Add breadcrumbs to the mixture, but not too many breadcrumbs. ...
  3. Add egg. ...
  4. Don't add much apart from meat. ...
  5. Roll your meatballs in flour. ...
  6. Give your meatballs space. ...
  7. Shake your meatballs. ...
  8. Brown your meatballs first.
Mar 3, 2022

How to make meatballs that don t fall apart in sauce? ›

You can do a few things while preparing the meatballs to ensure they don't fall apart once they go into the tomato sauce.
  1. Don't add too much moisture: ...
  2. Keep the meat as cold as possible: ...
  3. Don't overwork the meat: ...
  4. Add meatballs to a simmering sauce, and don't over-stir:
Mar 15, 2019

Is it better to bake meatballs at 350 or 400? ›

For 1-2 inches of beef, pork, or turkey meatballs without any pre-cooking, use these guidelines for your wall oven:
  • 350°F wall oven:
  • 8–14 minutes for 1-inch meatballs.
  • 14–18 minutes for 2-inch meatballs.
  • 400°F wall oven:
  • 6–10 minutes for 1-inch meatballs.
  • 10–14 minutes for 2-inch meatballs.
  • 425°F wall oven:
Aug 16, 2023

How to thicken sweet and sour sauce? ›

Stir in cornstarch slurry and cook until thickened, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and use immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

What is sweet and sour sauce made of? ›

Place sugar, water, vinegar, soy sauce, cornstarch, and ketchup in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir continuously until mixture has thickened. Enjoy!

What not to do when making meatballs? ›

5 Mistakes to Avoid When Making Meatballs
  1. Not seasoning the meat.
  2. Not adding any moisture to the meat.
  3. Over-mixing the meat.
  4. Not shaping the meatballs correctly.
  5. Not forming evenly-sized meatballs.
May 1, 2019

What does adding milk to meatballs do? ›

Italian Meatball Ingredients

Bread crumbs: Use store-bought bread crumbs or make your own at home. Milk: Milk adds moisture, ensuring the meatballs don't dry out during the cooking process. Onion: An onion lends bold flavor. Meat: You'll need a pound of ground beef and a pound of ground pork.

Why do my homemade meatballs fall apart? ›

Because meat shrinks when cooked, mince proteins are likely to separate and crumble unless bound together. Whether it's breadcrumbs or egg (or both), or simply salt, binding the mince is a crucial step in maintaining the softness of your meatballs while preventing them from falling apart.

What happens if you put too much breadcrumbs in meatballs? ›

Using the wrong amount of bread crumbs (or flour)

Bread crumbs are another popular binder for meatballs that can become problematic if used incorrectly. Adding too many bread crumbs to the mix will cause your meatballs to become loose and fall apart. The same applies to flour.

Is it better to cook meatballs before adding to sauce? ›

Adding raw meatballs to the sauce and gently simmering till cooked yields ultra-tender results, and infuses the sauce with meaty flavor—a slow cooker gives great results.

Can I use mayo instead of eggs in meatballs? ›

Yes. There are recipes that call for plain yogurt and mayonnaise instead of eggs.

Is it better to pan fry meatballs or bake them in the oven? ›

Baking will result in meatballs with a crunchy exterior, though the caramelisation achieved from frying will be superior. Baked meatballs take the least amount of effort, as you'll only need to turn them once or twice throughout the cook and you can make a larger batch at once.

Should eggs be beaten for meatballs? ›

Moisten them with milk or water and let them stand until they absorb all the liquid. 3) beat the eggs separately before adding them to your meat mixture so it combines better. 6) If you prefer to bake instead of fry them, chill the meatballs for at least an hour before baking.

Do meatballs get more tender the longer they cook in sauce? ›

The longer the simmer, the more tender and succulent the meatballs become. 3. Concentration of Flavors: Simmering at a low temperature for an extended period also encourages the sauce to reduce and thicken.

What are authentic meatballs made of? ›

Ground beef, pork and veal are the most common choices in Italy when making meatballs. Some prefer just one, others a mix. It's really up to you. We definitely recommend staying away from chicken or turkey, though.

What are most meatballs made of? ›

Meatballs. Meatballs consist of finely minced meat, vegetables, seasonings, and binders like eggs and breadcrumbs to help keep them together. They are then cooked and served in a myriad of ways. These can be made from chicken, fish, beef, or pork.

What is a substitute for grape jelly? ›

Replace the Grape Jelly with apricot preserves, orange marmalade, canned cranberry sauce, raspberry preserves, or hot pepper jelly. Replace the Ketchup with Heinz chili sauce or barbecue sauce. If swapping the ketchup for chili sauce, it is not a spicy sauce.

What is the binding ingredient in meatballs? ›

For this reason, many recipes will include a binding ingredient like egg, and a filler like breadcrumbs. You only need a small amount of egg – it's there only to help the cooked meatball retain its shape, and shouldn't detract from the meat's flavour or texture.

References

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