Sweet and Sour Meatballs
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If you are in the mood for something amazing, try this Sweet and Sour Meatballs Recipe! These savory and sweet meatballs pique the interest of your taste buds, so you keep going back for more.
They are made with ground beef and ground pork to give you a variety of flavors. Plus, they have a sweet homemade sauce that will rock your world. Take them to all your summer events, potlucks, and parties year-round for a divine dish everyone goes wild for.
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Sweet and Sour Meatballs Recipe
These meatballs are a football tailgate staple and incredibly delicious. One of the best parts of this recipe is that you can make the meatballs and sauce ahead of time and freeze them for up to a month! That is always a bonus when it comes to getting ready for a party! Place cooked meatballs and sauce in two separate zip-top plastic freezer bags and freeze. When it’s time to serve, simply reheat the sauce, dump in the frozen meatballs, and you’re done. Score big with these fan-pleasing sweet and sour meatballs! 😀
I don’t just make these sweet and sour meatballs during football season, though! We eat them on busy weeknights when we are taking a dish to a friend’s house or for potlucks. I promise if you show up with a batch of these flavorful meatballs, everyone is going to be cheering for you! They can’t resist the incredible flavor combination, and they aren’t hard for you to make either.
Can I Use Ready-Made Meatballs Instead?
Yes, if you would rather use ready-made meatballs instead of homemade meatballs, that’s fine. I will warn you that making homemade meatballs isn’t hard, and they taste so much better than anything you can buy in a bag. They are juicy, soft, and packed with flavor and nutrients too. So much healthier than processed meatballs. However, if you love the sauce and just don’t have the time, I get it. Use frozen meatballs, and you are sure to like them too.
Can These be Made with Ground Turkey?
Yes, using ground turkey is going to give you similar results to ground beef. You can switch out the ground beef and pork if you want for turkey or use a mixture of any. Sometimes you can find a ground turkey for much less expensive than ground beef, and no one really even knows the difference when they are eating them. It’s a huge win for my pocketbook, and you won’t be lacking texture or flavor.
Actually, you could even use ground chicken if you wanted. They are easy to adjust, and whatever you go with is bound to taste great. Just follow the directions, and you’ll be in good shape.
Ingredients
There is a separate set of ingredients for the meatballs and for the sauce too. Nothing is too extravagant, or anything and you may even have many of them on hand. Let’s take a closer look.
For the Meatballs:
- Hearty white sandwich bread, torn into pieces
- Whole milk
- Large egg yolks
- Ground pork
- Finely chopped fresh parsley
- Garlic cloves, minced
- Salt
- Pepper
- Lean ground beef
For the Sauce:
- Vegetable oil
- Onion, minced
- Tomato sauce
- Apricot preserves
- Packed dark brown sugar
- Worcestershire sauce
How to Make Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Meatballs are so simple to make and are even good on those nights when you dread cooking. They take little effort but are worth what they do take. Have a peek of these four steps and head on into the kitchen to whip up a batch.
First Step: Place the oven racks, so they are located in the upper-middle and lower-middle positions—Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Second Step: Mash the slices of bread, milk, and egg yolks with a fork until smooth in a medium-sized bowl. Mix in the pork, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper until combined. Then mix in the ground beef until mixed well.
Third Step: Roll the meat mixture into 1¼-inch meatballs. Put the meatballs on a rimmed baking sheet. Using two rimmed baking sheets, bake them until they are cooked through and beginning to brown, 12 to 15 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through cooking.
Fourth Step: During the time the meatballs are baking, warm the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add in the onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Pour in the tomato sauce, apricot preserves, sugar, Worcestershire, mustard, and pepper flakes and bring to boil. Turn the heat to medium-low and allow it to simmer until the sauce has thickened about 15 minutes. Put the cooked in the pan and simmer until 5-10 minutes.
Enjoy!
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Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
- 4 slices hearty white sandwich bread, torn into pieces
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1/2 pound ground pork
- 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons pepper
- 2 1/2 pounds 85% lean ground beef
For the Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 onion, minced
- 1 28-ounce can tomato sauce
- 2 1/2 cups apricot preserves
- 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
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Instructions
- Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 450 degrees F.
- In large bowl mash bread, milk, and egg yolks with a fork until smooth. Add pork, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper and mix until combined. Add beef and mix until combined.
- Using a tablespoon, roll meat mixture into 1¼-inch meatballs and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake meatballs on 2 rimmed baking sheets until cooked through and beginning to brown, 12 to 15 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through cooking.
- While the meatballs are baking, heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Cook onion until softened, about 5 minutes. Mix in tomato sauce, preserves, sugar, Worcestershire, mustard, and pepper flakes and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until sauce is thickened, about 15 minutes. Add meatballs and simmer until 5-10 minutes.
Notes
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If you love these sweet and sour meatballs, I can’t wait for you to taste these meatball recipes. There is a lot of variety in flavors, so you should try all of them. Let’s take a peek:
- Meatballs And Potatoes Soup – Warm up to a hot bowl of this meatballs and potatoes soup, and you will feel great. It’s comforting, flavorful, and pretty simple to make too. We love this in the winter but actually eat it all year long too.
- Garlic Butter Meatballs With Lemon Zucchini Noodles Recipe – If you are looking for something that’s healthy and incredibly delightful to eat, this is the meal for you. It’s insane how great it is and makes incredible leftovers too.
- Cheesy Stuffed Turkey Meatballs With Cauliflower Rice – I will never turn down these cheesy stuffed turkey meatballs. The flavor is unlike anything I have had before and is nutritious too. Yummy!
- Lamb Meatball Recipe With Ragout – I don’t know if you have cooked with lamb a whole lot, but if not, you are in for a treat. These lamb meatballs are fantastic and are pleasing too.
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