Warm and delicious Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I have a delicious recipe for you guys today: Sweet and Sour Meatballs. This recipe comes from the new cookbook: Our Sweet Basil Kitchen from my friend Carrian of the blog: Oh Sweet Basil. Their new book just came out and it’s filled with so many great recipes. With permission, I’m excited to share one recipe from the new book: Sweet and Sour Meatballs.

Ingredients needed for Sweet and Sour Meatballs:

ground beef
panko bread crumbs
minced onion
egg
coconut milk
ground ginger
salt
pepper
canola oil
green, yellow, red and orange bell pepper
garlic
onion powder
rice vinegar
ketchup
low sodium soy sauce
mandarin oranges
cornstarch
cold water
sesame seeds
green onions
steamed rice

How to make Sweet and Sour Meatballs:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cover a sheet pan with foil for baking (and easy cleanup).
In a large bowl add ground beef, bread crumbs, dried onion, egg, coconut milk, ginger, salt and pepper. Mix with your hands until just combined. Rub a little oil on your hands and then roll the meat mixture into 1 inch balls.
Place meatballs on prepared sheet pan.
Bake 20 minutes in the oven.
To make the sauce: In a large wide sauce pan over medium heat add the oil, chopped peppers and garlic. Sauté until tender about 3 minutes. Add onion powder, vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil. Stir to combine and then add the oranges and juice. Bring to a boil.
Meanwhile stir the cornstarch and water together and then whisk into the sauce. Bring back to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes.
Toss the meatballs into the sauce. Garnish with sesame seeds and green onions.
Serve over steamed rice.

How to store Sweet and Sour Meatballs:

Store Sweet and Sour Meatballs in the fridge for 3-5 days. They taste just as good the next day!

Make Ahead and Freeze:

Just like easy meatballs you’d pick up at the store from the freezer section, we love to bake a bunch at once and freeze them individually for a quick grab and go protein that you can warm up when needed. The difference is that these meatballs are so tender and juicy, way better than the meatballs you buy at the store. These make a great freezer meal for the future or a great meal idea to bring family or friends in need.

Double the recipe: enjoy these sweet and sour meatballs right away, and freeze some for later.

Why bake meatballs?

In this recipe, we bake all of the meatballs together on a sheet pan. The main reason to bake vs. cooking in a pan on your cooktop, is because you can cook more meatballs at one time. You can space them out on the pan so they don’t crowd each other. This process is so simple, these meatballs are baked at a high temp (400 F) and they don’t bake for a very long time. They come out so juicy and delicious!

Using the slow cooker for Sweet and Sour Meatballs:

These meatballs can be baked as directed, or you can cook them in the slow cooker for 3-4 hours. If you need to prepare these ahead of time, this is a great option.

Using ground turkey for Sweet and Sour Meatballs:

If you want to lighten up these meatballs, swap out the ground beef for ground turkey. Still so tasty, but a bit more lean!

What to serve with Sweet and Sour Meatballs:

These meatballs are the perfect party appetizer, or side dish. Some great things to pair with them are:

Fluffy Mashed Potatoes
Broccoli and Cheese Twice Baked Potatoes
Parsley Potatoes
Roasted Carrots
Crunchy Ramen Cabbage Salad
Steamed rice

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Warm and mouthwatering Sweet and Sour Meatballs. These are so easy and delicious!

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Asian

Keyword Meatballs

Author Kami | NoBiggie.net

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef
2/3 cup panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons dry minced onion
1 large egg
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/3 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/3 cup chopped orange bell pepper
1 clove garlic minced
1 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 can mandarin oranges smashed with their juices
2 to 3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
Sesame seeds for garnish
green onions for garnish
steamed rice for serving

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cover a sheet pan with foil for baking (and easy cleanup).
In a large bowl add ground beef, bread crumbs, dried onion, egg, coconut milk, ginger, salt and pepper. Mix with your hands until just combined. Rub a little oil on your hands and then roll the meat mixture into 1 inch balls.
Place meatballs on prepared sheet pan.
Bake 20 minutes in the oven.
To make the sauce: In a large wide sauce pan over medium heat add the oil, chopped peppers and garlic. Saute until tender about 3 minutes. Add onion powder, vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil. Stir to combine and then add the oranges and juice. Bring to a boil.
Meanwhile stir the cornstarch and water together and then whisk into the sauce. Bring back to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes.
Toss the meatballs into the sauce. Garnish with sesame seeds and green onions.
Serve over steamed rice.

Making This Recipe? Tag us on Instagram: @NoBiggie using the hashtag #NoBiggieRecipes, so we can see what you are making in the kitchen!

More tasty meatball recipes that we LOVE:

This recipe comes from the cookbook: Our Sweet Basil Kitchen from my friend Carrian of the blog: Oh Sweet Basil. With permission, I’m happy to share this recipe from the cookbook.