Gimme Some Oven

Saucy Sesame Meatballs

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Anyone looking for a fun new appetizer (or even main course!) for the big game this week?

These saucy sesame 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!

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Saucy Sesame Meatballs

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.9 from 39 reviews
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 30-35 meatballs 1x

Description

You will love this delicious saucy sesame meatballs recipe! It’s so flavorful, saucy, and perfect for game day or as an appetizer for special occasions.


Ingredients

Scale

Meatball 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

Sesame Sauce Ingredients:

  • 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

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400.
  2. 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 9×13-inch baking dish. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until meatballs are golden on the outside and no longer pink on the inside.
  3. 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.
  4. Serve warm, and sprinkle with additional garnish if desired. (I served mine on these cocktail forks.)

Notes

You can also keep these warm (after cooking) in the crockpot on a low setting!

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220 comments on “Saucy Sesame Meatballs”

  1. I’ve tried making these 3 times now, using beef, and they never fully cook! The meat is always pink on the inside! I tried adjusting the time, temperature, etc… but nothing works

    I’ve made them in 3 different ovens too, so I know it’s not the oven. Haven’t tried it with pork yet, so that might be it, otherwise is there something I’m missing?

  2. I’m a bit confused by the “Yield: 12-18 meatballs” contrasted with your comment within the recipe that you got 35 1 1/2″ meatballs. Help?

  3. We just made this for dinner- it was so delicious we couldn’t stop eating the meatballs until the rice was cooked (we put them over rice). So easy my husband made it, and we devoured it!!

  4. Is there any nutrition facts to this recipe?

    • Hey Christine, I’m sorry but but we currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site. The nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. But many of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. Hope this helps, thanks!

  5. these were so good!  thanks for sharing

  6. I love your blog. I discovered it only a few weeks ago and have tried at least 4-5 different recipes. My daughter loves hoisin sauce, so I gave it a shot. Minimal prep, done in a ridiculously short amount of time including the kale fried rice I had made to accompany it with for a wholesome dinner. I thought I had all ingredients, but no scallions so I subbed for yellow onion. Then the worst part I think I only had about less than half a cup of hoisin. So a little water in the bottle to shake out whatever little hoisin I had left + 1tsp cornstarch and 1tbsp honey. I know it’s not the way the recipe was written, but good thing hoisin is such a strong flavor, even with my makeshift this recipe was awesome!  Thank you, my kids thank you, their most favorite meatball dinner yet. Take that aidelis meatballs (cheaper too)!

  7. hi, just made these tonight and served over rice. The recipe was ridiculously quick and easy and although I might have made my meatballs a tad bigger, they cooked beautifully in 15 minutes. Thanks for a new go-to for my rotation

  8. I don’t have any hoisin sauce, have the rest of the ingredients,  what can I substitute for the hoisin?

    • Hi Janet, you could try a combination of these ingredients as a good substitute!

  9. These look very tasty but would like to make as a main dish with pasta or spaghetti squash? Any suggestions on a sauce for noodles?

    • We think that’s an excellent idea Nikki! We would actually suggest just making extra of the sauce in this recipe, because any other sauce might clash too much. Or were you wanting to just make the meatballs and not the sauce? If that’s the case, we think this Thai peanut sauce would be really yummy! We hope this is helpful!

  10. Does the sauce has to be cold or cold

  11. It sounds good, but would also work well with ground chicken or maybe even turkey.

  12. Did you use plain or seasoned rice vinegar in the recipe?

  13. Can you cook these in the crockpot? Want for a party tonight!  They look awesome!!!!!

    • Hi Heidi! You sure could, you just still need to bake them like the recipe instructs. Then mix the sauce and add the sauce and meatballs to your crockpot. Cook on low for about two hours. We hope you enjoy!

  14. I am wondering if you could use 1lb of pork and 1lb of ground beef and get a good flavor.  If not, which tastes better the pork or the beef?

    • Hi Lisa! Yes, we think you could totally use half and half and get awesome results! If you just do one meat, we’d recommend using the pork, but we think you should totally go for a mixture of the beef and pork! We hope you enjoy! :)

  15. You mention sesame oil.  Or could it be toasted sesame oil? The sesame oil has no flavor compared to the toasted. Thanks

  16. Hey,

    Can I use Italian breadcrumbs ?

    thank you. 

    John

  17. I made these for a party as apps, and they were good! I wasn’t sure if you said to use dried ground ginger spice, or fresh ground ginger. I used fresh since I ran out of dried, and it was little extra gingery, but no one complained. My 13 month old daughter loved them!

    • We’re so glad you and your daughter liked them Suzanne, thanks for giving them a try! :)

  18. can these be made in a crockpot?

    • Hi Mary! Yes, they can. You just still need to bake them like the recipe instructs. Then mix the sauce and add the sauce and meatballs to your crockpot. Cook on low for about two hours. We hope you enjoy!

  19. Can you bake these ahead of time, refridge for two days then heat in slow cooker with sauce? Or bake then freeze and heat in a slow cooker with sauce a couple days later? I’d love to make these for Super Bowl Sunday, and am traveling this weekend. Would be able to whip together tomorrow but won’t have much time to prep day of—just curious, thanks!

    • Hi Kate! Yes, we think either of those things would work fine (we would just make sure you thaw your meatballs before putting them in the slow cooker, if you go the freezer route). We hope you enjoy these! :)

    • Gonna try the make ahead way for a party this weekend!

  20. These look beautiful and are easy to prepare.  They lacked salt in the meatball itself.  An easy fix for a delicious, easy, beautiful appetizer.  Thanks for the recipe.  

  21. am a fifth former living in Jamaica, currently attending Wolmers Girls.I am doing my food and nutrition sba and I would like to know if the person who made these meat balls have any other recipes for fried meat balls. thank you

    • Hi Shanese! Good for you, that is very cool! Ali does have one other meatball recipe: We hope you enjoy! :)

  22. I tried these tonight….and they are awesome. My son, who doesn’t really care for Asian flavors very much, loved it.
    Great find…and so easy.

    • Thanks for sharing Jay — we’re happy you and your son enjoyed these!

  23. I made these last night for a Halloween party and they were a hit and they were all gobbled up !!! This recipe is a keeper Thank you

    • Thanks for giving them a try, Pamela — we’re so glad to hear they were a hit! :)

  24. These look delicious.  Do you use fresh minced garlic for both the meatballs and sauce, or dried?

  25. These were not our favorite. Sauce was too strong and salty. The actual meatball was good.

    • We’re sorry you didn’t care for the sauce, Joanna!

    • Try a different soy sauce if you felt it was too salty. I use a Chinese brand, not Kikkoman. I felt the rice vinegar was too strong, so I added extra sesame oil and it fixed the problem. I made them today as part of our football munchie menu as we watch UGA play UMass. Go Dawgs!!

  26. Hi ! 
    Great sounding recipe am going to try them tonight. Was wondering if this sauce ends up really liquidy? Was thinking of adding a slurry to thicken it. Do you think that’s unnecessary?

    • Hi Savannah! We don’t think it’s too liquidy but if do, definitely feel free to add a slurry to it if you want! :)

  27. Hi! Can I use cooked meatballs from Costco, make the sauce, and combine the two?

  28. Hi can i make this with mince chicken

    • Hi Radhika! That’s a good question. We haven’t tried these with ground chicken, but we think that should probably work okay. We hope you enjoy these!

  29. Ok so i made this tonight!!
    Complete with potstickers and a sauteed asian slaw.
    Not only did my house smell amazing my belly was full also. Very full because i went back for more !
    Husband enjoyed also and will be envied (or bullied)lol when he heats it up at work tomorrow .
    Best part ..these are leftovers sure to be eaten up!!
    Thanks for recipe and inspiration :)






    • Thank you for sharing, Tracy, we’re so happy you and your husband enjoyed these! :)

  30. I have made this recipe countless times for my family, and they never tire of it. It was an instant family favorite! I have also shared it with numerous people as both a dinner recipe and an appetizer recipe. I have yet to find an indifferent taste bud. The recipe is a keeper!






    • Thanks for sharing, Colleen, we’re so happy you and your family enjoy these!

  31. This looks very delicious. This meatball can be cooked in short time, this recipe will be very helpful for our family because of everybody always in hurry for their daily task. Thanks for the awesome share.

  32. I made these and they were awesome! I’m making them tomorrow to bring to a family members house!!






  33. These were so easy to make and a big hit in our house.






  34. I catered a fundraiser and these were a huge hit! I’m making them again for a New Year’s party. Delish!






  35. I made these for my work party, everyone loved them, not one was left and I made a double batch. I baked them the night before and reheated with the sauce in a crockpot, awesome!






  36. Yes Made this many times and it is absolutely crazy delicious






  37. I love this recipe! I’ve made it exactly as printed and it’s perfect. Super easy and fast and my husband and daughter are wowed by it. Thanks so much for a new recipe to add to my favorites.






  38. I made these for a pot luck and everyone loved them! They are so full of flavor, are a great size and make a tantelizing presentation.
    Thanks for sharing!






  39. I made these tonight and they were wonderful. I cooked the sauce a little bit because raw garlic bothers me sometimes. And, I used a pound of pork and a pound of beef. Thank you so much for this recipe.






  40. I made these for Sunday night dinner. Of course I had to test taste them to make sure they were good ?! I love the flavor profile in these. So easy to make and I like that you bake them. I was conflicted on trying to decide if I want to do all pork or all ground beef or a combination. I ended up doing all pork. I baked mine for 12 minutes and got 40! Thanks for the great recipe, I’ll definitely be keeping this in my rotation.






  41. Delicious @#gimmesomeoven I added some honey to the sauce. Was a winner.






  42. I made these for my holiday party last night and they were great! Everyone raved about them and went back for more!






  43. My husband is a picky eater, and on a good night he thinks some of my favorite recipes are “Ok”. This is hands down the first and only recipe I have made that he told me three different times he liked and kept going back for more. I did make a few slight adjustments; I used 1.5 pounds pork and 1 pound beef, and adjusted the rest of the ingredients accordingly. Also, I used fish sauce instead of soy sauce. To really give the sauce a nice thick, aromatic quality, I gently sauteed the garlic for the sauce in some sesame oil and add the rest of the sauce ingredients after I turned off the burner. Delicious!!






  44. These were easy to make and I had great reviews on them! Definitely will make again!






  45. These were delicious + easy to make – thanks for the great recipe! :-)






  46. Made these tonight and they were delicious! I made extra sauce and served them over stirfry veggies and rice. Absolutely yummy!






  47. Delicious! My husband and I loved it!






  48. OMG…seriously awesome!! I have forwarded recipe to all my friends!!!






  49. Everyone LOVES this recipe. Huge hit with the family! What a find!!






  50. Love this recipe. To save time I make it as a meatloaf as and entree.