Sweet And Sour Meatballs Recipe
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This sweet and sour meatballs recipe is just waiting for you to make it. Made with either ground turkey or beef, these meatballs are glazed with a sweet and savory apricot or raspberry glaze that’s bound to be a hit for any meal.
Meatballs are a classic party food. Put a tray out with some toothpicks, and your guests will be happy to nosh.
FAQs
Can I Make These Sweet And Sour Meatballs Ahead Of Time?
You can! In fact, you can make them and then freeze them. The glaze can be made at another time when you are ready to serve this. It’s a great meal to prep on the weekend for stocking your freezer.
Can I Use Another Type Of Meat?
You can! Ground chicken or pork will work just as well as turkey or beef. the choice is yours.
What If My Glaze Turns Out Too Thin?
This can happen with different brands of fruit spread. Some don’t thicken as much as others once they are heated, mixed, and cooled again. So if it doesn’t gel enough to cling to your meatballs, you can add a starch slurry, which I give directions for below.
Can I Double The Recipe?
You can! In fact, you can triple or quadruple it if needed. Depending on how you serve these, you can count on a quarter pound per person for an appetizer and half a pound of meat per person for a meal.
Recipe Tips For Sweet And Sour Meatballs
- Keep the meatballs on the smaller side. About the size of a walnut is what you want.
- When it comes to the glaze, you can treat it as a separate recipe when it comes to how much glaze you want. If you are serving this with something like rice and you want to have extra sauce for that, you can double the glaze ingredients to have plenty of leftover glaze.
- If you cannot find apricot fruit spread, pick any flavor you’d like, so long as it’s 100% fruit. It will still be really tasty. Raspberry is a great second choice and is what I used in the photos posted here. Either flavor works perfectly.
About The Ingredients For Sweet And Sour Meatballs
Meatball Ingredients
Ground turkey – Or ground beef.
Onion powder – Or onion granules.
Garlic powder – Or garlic granules.
Salt
Ground black pepper
Glaze ingredients
Apricot 100% fruit spread – No sugar added.
Low sodium soy sauce – Or coconut aminos.
Arrowroot powder – Or cornstarch. – This is optional. Only add the starch slurry if you feel your glaze is not thick enough. Note that this must be added while the glaze is warm. So if you add it, you may need to reheat the glaze just a bit before whisking in the slurry.
Water
How To Make Sweet And Sour Meatballs
The Meatballs
Preheat oven to 350℉.
Spray one cookie sheet with a light coat of oil.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the turkey, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Mix well.
Using your hands, roll small, walnut-sized meatballs and place them on a cookie sheet.
Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through. A meat thermometer should read at least 165℉. Below that is not safe to eat.
The Glaze
While the meatballs are in the oven, put the glaze ingredients into a small pot and warm over low to medium heat. Whisk constantly until you have a smooth liquid. Set aside to cool, but do not put it in the fridge.
If your glaze is too thin, make a slurry with the starch and water, stirring it until it’s a smooth liquid. Then pour it into the glaze. Whisk the glaze and set aside until the meatballs come out of the oven. If it thickens too much, you can whisk in another tablespoon of water at a time until you have a consistency you enjoy. Just remember, the glaze has to actually stick to the meatballs. So don’t make it too thin. You want a thick glaze.
Putting It All Together
When the meatballs are done, put them into a large mixing bowl (please don’t burn yourself!) and pour the glaze over them. Mix gently to coat the meatballs.
Serve as a main course or on toothpicks as appetizers.
Storing Sweet And Sour Meatballs
Store leftovers in an airtight container and store them in the fridge for up to three days.
Freezing
These freeze well in an airtight container for up to six months, with or without the glaze.
Reheating
Reheat in a microwave or in the oven if the meatballs are unglazed. If they are glazed, it’s better to heat them on the stovetop in a pot. You can add a splash of water to get the sauce to loosen up again if needed.
More Meatball Recipes
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Recipe updated on 8/8/24.
Sweet And Sour Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatball Ingredients:
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- 1 tbsp. onion powder
- 1 tbsp. garlic powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. ground black pepper
Glaze ingredients:
- 5 oz. jar apricot 100% fruit spread (no sugar added)
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos (or soy sauce)
- 1 tsp. arrowroot powder (or cornstarch. This is optional. Only add the starch slurry if you feel your glaze is not thick enough. Note that this must be added while the glaze is warm. So if you add it, you may need to reheat the glaze just a bit before whisking in the slurry.)
- ½ tbsp. water (For the slurry)
Instructions
The Meatballs
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spray one cookie sheet with a light coat of oil.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the turkey, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Mix well.1 lb. ground turkey, 1 tbsp. onion powder, 1 tbsp. garlic powder, ½ tsp. salt, ½ tsp. ground black pepper
- Using your hands, roll small, walnut sized meatballs and place on a cookie sheet.
- Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through. A meat thermometer should read at least 165℉. Below that is not safe to eat.
The Glaze
- While they are in the oven, put all the glaze ingredients into a small pot and warm over low-medium heat. whisk constantly until you have a smooth liquid. Set aside to cool, but do not put it in the fridge.5 oz. jar apricot 100% fruit spread, 2 tbsp coconut aminos
- If your glaze is too thin, make a slurry with the starch and water, stirring it until it's a smooth liquid. Then pour it into the glaze. Whisk the glaze and set aside until the meatballs come out of the oven. If it thickens too much, you can whisk in another tablespoon of water at a time until you have a consistency you enjoy. Just remember, the glaze has to actually stick to the meatballs. So don't make it too thin. You want a thick glaze.1 tsp. arrowroot powder, ½ tbsp. water
Putting It All Together
- When the meatballs are done, put them into a large mixing bowl (please don't burn yourself!) and pour the glaze over them. Mix gently to coat the meatballs.
- Serve as a main course or with toothpicks as an appetizer.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe from the Gracious Pantry® archives, originally posted on 6/6/2011.
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Linda – Thanks so much! I learned a lot of cooking on my own. It’s a wonderful creative process if you can truly learn to enjoy it. You can do it! Go girl!!
These definitely sound yummy! I have found so many recipes I want to try from your site. Slowly trying to get my family to eat cleaner 75% of the time.
Stephanie – You can do it! Just take it one step at a time!
These look delish! Could probably serve over some brown rice with veggies to make it a meal!
SFK – Yes! That would be yummy! 🙂
Tiffany, I’m really enjoying your recipes. We eat quiet clean but it’s always nice to get new ideas. My girls claim to hate ground turkey but I’ll bet they’d love it with a sweet fruit jam on top.
Michelle – I bet they would! Finger/party foods like these are usually pretty kid friendly.
Made these for dinner tonight! They were awesome and soooo easy to make!
Kelly – Fabulous!!! I’m so happy you enjoyed them!
These are perfect! I didnt have apricot fruit spread so I used orange. So GOOD! Not to mention easy. I had planned on making Cod tonight but realized it was still mostly frozen, so I looked to see what I could make. This was so easy to make and i had everything on hand : )
Anyone who is considering making these little balls of goodness….. DO IT!! So yummy, so fun and so quick and easy! I had no onion powder or garlic powder, so I just used an onion and a few cloves of garlic grated into the meat. YUMMY!
Charlie – LOL!!! Little balls of goodness, love it! LOL!! Glad you enjoyed them! 😉
Would this also work with grassfed ground beef?
I don’t see why not!
So one of our favorite meals used to be baked sweet and sour chicken. Think the glaze would work on chicken? I wonder about the spices though.. (Or do you have a clean sweet/sour chicken recipe?) 🙂
I’m sure it could be tweaked to work. I don’t have a recipe for that yet, but it’s in the works. 🙂
Sweet!! Maybe ill just wait til you post it. 😉
Do you think this would work in the crock pot?
Heather – You could cook the meatballs in the slow cooker and then stir in the glaze at the last minute, yes.
so I just made this (they are cooking as we speak) and theres a lot of leftovers, what is the best way to store them? and how long you think they would be good for? thanks!
Kristen – For any cooked meat, it’s okay in the fridge for up to 3 days. After that, discard or freeze. These will freeze just fine for up to 6 months.
Okay so these look delish and I just made them and they weren’t so good
Nichole – I’m sorry you didn’t care for them! What didn’t you like about them?
I’m sorry it all didn’t post. The glaze was great! The actual meat balls were dry I cooked to internal heat 165. Just wondering if there’s something I could do next time to soften them. I’m new to eating healthy so I’m unclear. Thanks!!
Nichole – No problem! You could try mixing an egg into the meatballs. That will help. Different meats have different amounts of water. So some variances like this will happen. My turkey probably had more water in it than yours. At least that’s my guess…
This looks like a great recipe! Is it possible to make this crockpot friendly? I have gluten-free and organic meatballs in my freezer and didn’t know if I could use them…I think they’re already cooked? Thanks!
Amanda – I’m not sure I understand the question. Are you asking about this particular recipe, or about making different meatballs in a slow cooker? I would have no idea if your meatballs are cooked. You would have to check the package.