saucy asian meatballs
Anyone looking for a fun new appetizer (or even main course!) for the big game this week?
These saucy Asian meatballs are some of my favorites!!!
I first made them a few months ago when I was experimenting with multiple meatball recipes to serve for a fundraiser. And when my friends graciously “helped me out” with some taste testing, these little guys were the clear winner! My friend’s 1-yr-old son was even crazy about them as well. ;)
Definitely easy, quick, and bursting with yummy flavor. And everyone commented on how they’re a nice twist from traditional marinara meatballs. Give them a try!
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. ground pork or ground beef
- 2 tsp. sesame oil
- 1 cup Panko or breadcrumbs
- 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- 2 eggs
- 3 tsp. minced garlic
- 1/2 cup thinly-sliced green onions
- optional garnish: toasted sesame seeds, sliced scallions
- 2/3 cup hoisin sauce
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 tsp. sesame oil
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
Method
Preheat oven to 400.
In a large bowl, mix together meatball ingredients until well-combined. Shape into balls (I made mine about 1.5 inches, which yielded about 35 meatballs, but 1 inch is probably standard), and place on a greased baking sheet or in a 9x13-inch baking dish. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until meatballs are golden on the outside and no longer pink on the inside.
While the meatballs are baking, whisk together all of the sauce ingredients until blended. Once meatballs have finished cooking, you can either dip each meatball individually (using a toothpick) in the sauce mixture. Or you can pour the sauce over the meatballs and gently stir them until covered.
Serve warm, and sprinkle with additional garnish if desired. (I served mine on these cocktail forks.)
http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/saucy-asian-meatballs/Ali’s Tip:
You can also keep these warm (after cooking) in the crockpot on a low setting!
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I made these this past weekend for our Euchre card party night. They were a huge hit!! I used my pampered chef small scoop so the meatballs were uniform in size. I cooked them ahead of time in the oven, then at party tim I kept them warm in the crock pot.
Loved this recipe. Will definitely make them again.
Thanks these were fast and transportable. So many times the hors d’oeuvres are soggy when they are make ahead of time.
oh my gosh, these look amazing. now i need to figure out an excuse to make them, do you usually eat them as a side/appetizer? or maybe with rice for dinner? yum!
These sound great. Any idea of the serving size?
These would make a great dinner with rice and a veggie!
To a point, I followed the recipe as it’s posted. However, once the ingredients for the sauce were mixed together, I thought it was lacking something, so I added the juice of one lime and about 1/4-1/3 cup of orange juice. What a huge difference! The citrus really breaks through the heavy taste of the original sauce and adds more dimension. When I cook the sauce and meatballs, I plan on adding pineapple chunks.
Made these last night, New Year’s Eve. I think the recipe should include salt in the meatball mixture. The sauce was overpowering. Hoisin sauce has vinegar and think the additional rice vinegar is the reason for the strong taste. Think it needs more sweetness and spice. However, the meatballs were good and will give the recipe another try.
I made these as a Christmas appetizer and they were incredibly delicious and easy. I served them plain with a choice of sauces including a sweet and zesty bbq and General Tso’s sauce. I plan to try the Asian souce next time though. I just discovered your blog and I am really enjoying it so thank you very much!!!
has anyone made the meatballs ahead of time and frozen them with good results?
I’m making these tomorrow for a party! Just want I was looking for.
Just made these. After reading comments I decided to use less hoisin saue. But the flavor for my taste was still a bit strong and tangy. I decided to add about 1/4 C Kikoman Teriaki glaze. Still a bit strong – not sweet enough- I added about 1/4 C brown sugar. Was very happy with the outcome. Wll definitely make again with a few tweaks :). Thank you for the receipe
Ali, you’re the best—thank you!
Ali, I made these for dinner tonight. The sauce was pretty strong-tasting and I might use a little less hoisin-sauce next time, but the overall flavour was very lovely . Thank you!!!
I made these for dinner tonight and they were delicious! I made them with ground turkey and ground beef and added a little brown sugar for a touch of sweetness. My family loved them and I think they’ll make great sandwiches for lunch tomorrow. Definitely a winner! I’ll make these again! Thanks for the recipe!
Going to try these soon. They look fabulous. Where can I get the fancy toothpicks?
Thought I would comment since these were so sooo GOOD. I made these today with ground turkey and they were amazing!!!! The sauce is REALLY REALLY good!!! I made them in little muffin cups though as a meal and poured the sauce over, I’m pressed for time! Thanks for the recipe!! :)
Muffin pans are a great time saver idea, thanks!
Did you use fresh ginger, or the kind on the spice aisle at the store? Thanks.
Made these tonight and I think they were delicious. Great for appetizers for a party or can even create an entire little asian inspired dinner. Extremely easy to prepare too!!!
These were delicious. I subbed the breadcrumbs with gluten free bread crumbs from Ener-G and they still came out awesome. Thanks for posting.
Saucy meatballs are one of my fav apps! I will have to try this :)
I can’t wait to try these ! I noticed that no sodium in meatball recipe, is it because sauce has enough sodium?
I can’t wait to try this recipe. It’s making me salivate just reading it.
Making these right now and they are pretty good. I think I would prefer a sweeter sauce though. This is a very savory sauce..
These turned out so good!
Sauce takes a little getting used to, but it is good.
Will definitely do again.
Can I make these and freeze
These are amazing and so easy!
I think they look wonderful but the sesame is a little overpowering and the sauce could use a little sweetness. Good recipe but will tweak a little next time.
Wow!! I made these today and everyone loved them! They were so yummy! Can’t wait to have a reason to make them again.
I’ve been looking everywhere for those forks and finally found them at World Market
Where can you get hoisin sauce?
Fabulous. Really easy to make and the sauce is really zingy and fresh. Good one!
DELICIOUS! I cut back on the garlic in the sauce since my husband isn’t a fan, but the hoisin sauce is so flavorful that the extra clove wasn’t missed. I also added an extra egg to the meatballs… makes them a little more forgiving in the “overcooking” department (learned this from my Italian meatballs and sauce). FYI: I made the meatballs with a 1Tbsp. scoop and the meatballs came out 1″ in diameter. They were done and golden after 11 minutes in my oven. I will be making these for my Hawaiian Luau this summer. Thanks for this great recipe!
Those look so yummy! Cant wait to try them..
Do you use fresh ginger or powdered?
OMG…I think I have to try these!!! I can just tell by reading the ingredients that it’s delicious!!!
Best. Meatballs. Ever!
Looks yummy!
That looks sooooo good! We may have to try this with venison!
I just made these for my boys & their girlfriends, and everyone raved about them!! They all wanted the recipe….So, thanks for sharing it!!
There were wonderful!!! Everyone loved them.
OMGosh!! I made these tonight and they were by FAR the BEST meatballs EVER!! I served it with a 5 Spice Scallion Rice and Broccoli. FYI…10-15 minutes was NOT long enough to cook through to get nice edges–more like 25-30 minutes. I also used a 50% ground beef with 50% bulk pork. At the end of the cooking process, I then poured some of the sauce over the meatballs and let them cook for another 5 minutes, and they got so amazingly caramelized. Then I tossed them in the rest of the sauce when I took them out of the oven. This is now on my “favorites” rotation menu!!
Made these tonight- very yummy! Rated an A+ from my husband! After reading the other posts I cut the sesame oil to less than half in each of the parts of the recipe.
Thanks!
I made these today for a birthday party. They were quick, easy and delicious! I used 2lbs of beef and 1lb of pork, mixed. Extra ginger and garlic in the meat mixture and the sauce. I can’t wait to get feedback from the party guests! Thanks for the recipe!!
These look delicious! I can’t wait to make them! Where did you find those cute little forks to serve them with?
These look so pretty! I made these for my family tonight. I will have to say it was either the sesame oil or the hoisin sauce that was a bit over powering. I added brown sugar to my sauce and they turned out great! Thank you for this recipe, I would have never thought to put these ingredients in a meat ball! I seem to be always searching for some new way to make meat balls besides the usual, thanks again!
PS……DONT OVERBAKE! They will dry out! At 400 degrees, they will brown quickly on the middle rack. (I got busy & ALMOST left mine in too long)
Tried em this evening! LOVVVVE EM!!! I used a large cookie sheet…..it filled up the cookie sheet with the meatballs….I made my meatballs a bit smaller….about an inch in diameter. Loved the smell of the (fresh) ginger & sesame oil while baking! These were SO EASY & FAST.
5 STARS!
I’m making these right now, I’m super excited to try them they look absolutely delicious! I preheated my oven to 400 and after 15 minutes my meatballs were still completely raw. Hopefully they won’t take longer than another 30 minutes or so to cook. I made mine the same size as the recipe stated.
Hi! I’ve started a section for pinterest recipe reviews on my blog and I wanted you to know that I just included these amazing meatballs! You can check it out if you want: http://mfamrecipes.blogspot.com/2012/03/asian-meat-balls.html
I promise I gave all the credit to you. Thanks for such a great dinner!
Just tried this recipe and it is amazing! Thanks for posting!!
Going to make these tonight for a party tomorrow!!! They look yummy!!!! Excited to be the hit!!!
Thx!
can you tell me where you got the cute appitizer forks. I guess that is what is sticking in the meatballs. Such a cute way to serve them at a party.
2/26/12
I made these this evening,They rocked!WONDERFUL!! Thank you!I cooked mine longer but mine were awesome!
Next time I am using chicken and veggies with the sauce.
Making these tonight for my Oscar food!
looks so easy and delicious!
I made these tonight for the family. The hubby loved them. I made stir-fried veggies and brown rice on the side. Great Recipe. It’s now going into the rotation!
Will try very soon
I made these tonight for dinner and really liked them. I added some Agave to the sauce to make it a little sweater. Good recipe.
These looked so delicious I had to make them for dinner tonight. I cut the recipe in half though. They were pretty good, but I think next time I would use less sesame oil and hoisin sauce and add in some sweet and sour sauce. I also poured the sauce over the meatballs and cooked it together in the oven. I will for sure try them again. Thanks for the idea! OH and PS they were only 1 weight watchers points plus per meatball.
Saucy is amazing. My family loved them. A keeper :)
These were awesome! I made them today – super yummy. This recipe is definitely a keeper in my entertaining book!
Chicken wings should be delish too!
Made these tonight for the Super Bowl. Oh my goodness they were delicious! I made them with ground turkey and they came out great! Thank you for the inspiration, your measurements were perfect!
Yum!
Making these right now in the crock pot. My oven is dead, so its my only option. Most meatballs turn out dry in the oven, anyway. These are looking nice and moist, the sauce is getting better the more they cook :) Going to serve over brown rice.
These look wonderful!
Yummy!
I am gonna try these on Superbowl Sunday…Yum-o. Thanks for sharing.
I sure hope the plate on your pictures is holding a single serving as I would just pop them all into my mouth one after another! So glad I discovered you via Foodgawker! I am such a sucker for hoisin sauce and these just look amazing!
Cheers,
Tobias
Where did you get those cute forks???
These look AMAZING! I made them for lunch today, but my sauce wasn’t as thick as your’s looks, and I found the sesame oil to be a bit overpowering even though I didn’t put the full 2 tsp in my ground beef. Regardless, thank you so much for this recipe! I think that with a little adjustment, this will be a new favorite in the house. Thanks!!
Do you think these could be done with ground turkey or chicken?
I always substitute anything with ground beef with ground turkey or chicken and never have had a problem :)
These look so mouthwatering. I love these flavors!
WOW! Your photos are amazing.
These look amazing! So need to try them out – yum! :)
How many meatballs does this recipe make? :)
Looks yummy!
I got about 32 :)
Beautiful photography!! and I love how delicious these meatballs look!
Oh yum! these look insanely good!