Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Looking for the perfect meatball recipe? Look no further! These sweet and sour meatballs are tender, perfectly seasoned, and amazingly delicious!
This is a favorite meal of ours that I have been making for years.
On Sunday evenings when I am planning our weekly menu, I’ll ask Brian to give me at least one meal suggestion.
No fail, he either comes up with this dish or his other fave, Sweet and Sour Chicken.
By the way, I usually veto his suggestions, though, because I have so many recipes to try that I don’t like eating the same thing week after week.
Rude, I know, but how will I ever try all these recipes before I die if I am making Sweet and Sour Meatballs or Chicken every week?
These meatballs are also a huge winner with my kidlets.
The meatballs are tender and perfectly seasoned, especially after baking in the simple sweet and sour sauce.
For me, this is definitely a perfect weeknight meal – and we enjoy it often (but clearly not as often as Brian would like)!
Update Nov. 2014: After five or so years living on the blog, this recipe needed an update (mostly the photos). I also gave a few additional tips and instructions in the recipe.
I cut the milk down to 1/4 cup to make the meatballs sturdier (the original was 1/2 cup if you want to stick with that) and I usually scale back the sugar to 1/4 cup as well (1/2 cup in the original).
And of course, I always double the sauce since we like it on the saucy side.
Read the notes below the recipe title for another cooking variation that is speedy and oven-free.
What to Serve With This:
Baked Brown Rice
Fresh, seasonal fruit
Spinach Strawberry Salad with Homemade Creamy Poppyseed Dressing
Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 1 ½ pounds lean ground meat, see note
- ¾ cup quick oats or old-fashioned oats that have been lightly pulsed in a blender
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- ½ cup finely chopped onion
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Sauce:
- ¼ – ½ cup brown sugar, depending on how sweet you want the sauce
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- ¼ cup barbecue sauce
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- Hot cooked rice for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- For the meatballs, combine all of the ingredients and mix well. Form into about 12 meatballs (right around 2-inches each). Place in a lightly greased 9X13-inch pan.
- For the sauce, whisk together the ingredients until well-combined.
- Pour the sauce over the meatballs and bake for 30 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through and the sauce is slightly thickened.
- Serve over hot, cooked rice, if desired.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from Lion House Recipes
These were a hit. Definitely double the sauce.
My husband has a gluten issue, so I used almond flour instead of oats. Not that oats are gluten, but grains in general bother him. All of my condiments- mustard, ketchup, etc etc were gluten free. (Vinegar can be an issue for gluten, and vinegar is in ketchup, mustard, etc etc.)
Thanks, Mel!
This recipe is fantastic. I have made it several times. The amount of sauce in this recipe is perfect, imho. It is my go-to recipe for meatballs and, on occasion, I have also used different sauces. The only consistent difference I find necessary from the written instructions for me though is that I prefer to cook the meatballs for an hour at 350, not 30 minutes. Maybe it is the way that I put them side by side in the casserole dish, but I leave them there for an hour.
The meatballs are great but we didn’t like the sweet and sour sauce but I think thats mainly because we prefer gravy or tomato sauce with meatballs
Hi Mel,
These are sooooooo good! I used dry mustard by accident and they were still delicious. If you haven’t yet you should do this recipe on the “recipes the world forgot” series.
What kind of bbq do you use
do you think they would be just as good without the worstershire?
Susan – you’ll have to experiment; I think they should be fine – you might want to add a dash of hot sauce or something else to kick it up a bit.
Absolutely love this recipe. Thse meatballs look wonderful!
My kids love pineapple, can I add a can and when?
Lynda – I have a recipe for pineapple meatballs here:
http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2008/06/pineapple-meatballs.html
Made these for dinner tonight-oh my!! My most favorite meatball ever!! Super easy and sooo delicious; my husband really loved the sauce and wished that there was more, even though I had doubled the sauce prion of the recie, as suggested.
We also ready enjoyed your slow cooker Greek chicken recie this weekend; another repeater, for sure!!
WOW! So delicious!!!! Thank you!
I tried this recipe recently and it was delicious and so easy. Pretty much foolproof. I’ll double the sauce next time, but other than that it was perfect! Thank you so much for this site.
I made the sweet and sour sauce last night to go on meatballs we have. It was really easy to put together and we’ll definitely make it again. Thanks!
I have tried this recipe and just wanted to tell you how much we loved it!!!the meatballs have a great taste and texture and the sauce is easy-peasy and oh so good. and the leftovers (if any) make really yummy sandwiches. Thank you for this recipe
Awesome recipe! I have a recipe from a friend I got years ago that has the same ingredients, just a few in different amounts. I am a big fan of these….so filling.
Joy – I’ve never baked them on a rack inside of a baking sheet but it’s worth a try!
I use lean ground beef and there is not too much fat pooling on the bottom of the dish. You could try the rack and see. My kids don’t like sauce, so I make the meatballs plain and they’re good (they dip them in ketchup). The texture is okay after cooking without sauce.
Could you bake these on a cooling rack on top of a rimmed cookie sheet without the sauce to eliminate that grease factor? Then add them to the sauce? I haven’t made them yet and am wondering if cooking them like that would ruin the texture.
I made these meatballs last night without the sauce. I tucked a cube of cheddar inside each meatball and baked them as the recipe directed. Delicious and both kids ate one! Thank you for all the recipes!
So I have had a bag of frozen meatballs from costco sitting in my freezer and didn’t know what to do with them (besides something obvious like spaghetti..) – and since we love the sweet and sour chicken I figured I’d give this a try. SO good and SO easy! Seriously this was great and the fact that I didn’t have to make the meatballs made it that much easier. Thanks!
My family really enjoyed – but even though I bought lean beef it wasn’t lean enough because there was lots of fat in the bottom of the dish. Ick !
HI,
LOVED THEM!!!
I was stuck for a yummy dinner idea and too lazy to go shopping. All the ingredients I had on hand, and the kids (5 and 7) loved helping me make them.
The flavors were sensational, and everything came together so quick.
I came across your recipe when I search Pinterest for sweet and sour meatball recipes. Pinterest is next in line as my Google 🙂
Lynn – do you mean serving them as an appetizer? These are very soft, tender meatballs and probably won’t fare too well if you want to serve them on a toothpick or something like that. I’d suggest using a sturdier meatball if you want to serve them like that.
How would you modify this recipe to serve them as cocktail meatballs (besides doubling the sauce)?
Trina – I use a 9X13 pan to cook them in. The meatballs aren’t touching but aren’t super spread out – probably half an inch to an inch apart. I just loosely set them in there and pour the sauce over the top.
Hi Mel, can you confirm what type of dish you cook these in? They didn’t fit in a single layer in a corning dish I have (without being tight together) so I cooked them in a 9″ X 13″ pan. Are your meatballs spread out or are they close together? They were very good but think I need a different pan for cooking them. I used a bbq sauce that has very little sugar and think the sauce could have been a tad sweeter. I’ll use another sauce or add more sugar next time. Thanks! I’m working my way through many of your recipes.
Holy smokes…these were good! My husband exclaimed, “We have a winner!” My kids couldn’t have agreed more. I doubled the sauce, glad I did, and transferred the meatballs to another dish after baking to get rid of the leftover fat. I used the leanest beef at my store (not to exceed 7%), but there was still gunk on the bottom of the pan when I took them out of the oven. These are fantastic, and I’ve been thinking of them all morning. Can’t wait to have leftovers for lunch today. They’re SOOO good! Thanks for the EASY recipe! We’ll be eating these often. It’s my favorite recipe so far from your site.
I made these tonight with ground turkey and they didn’t look so great but they taste awesome! There was a cloudy pool of fat around each meat ball but that didn’t scare my husband! I think next time I’ll set aside a little bit of the sauce to add before serving… I just really like sauce! 🙂 Thanks so much for your website!
Your recipes never fail me. Thank you so much! I made these tonight with frozen meatballs and they were yummy! I’m sure they would have been much better had I made the meatballs from scratch but I was in a time crunch.
We all loved these! Some of us had them on rice, some of us had them on a bun. Perfect and easy. Thanks.
I have to tell you — I made these the other night and EVERYONE in the family ate them. Happily, even. My so-picky-I-usually-cry kids gobbled them up. THANK YOU!
I love you!!! You saved me tonight when I went to make tacos and had no taco seasoning and instead made this yummy recipe!=) Now, please tell me some tricks for photographing food. I love cooking and would love to try a food website, but not sure where to start. Any tips you had would be great.=)
These were so good! The kids ate them right up. Thanks for another Fabulous recipe!!!
Thanks, Jennifer!
The sauce was a bit to strong for my husband’s taste, but I thought these were fabulous! Then again, I also grew up drinking warm water with apple cider vinegar and honey when the weather got cold and my throat got dry, so I’m used to that strong vinegar taste. I’ve also been looking for a plain meatball recipe and these meatballs (by themselves) are just what I’ve been looking for! Thanks!
Kat – glad you found a good all-purpose meatball. Sorry your husband wasn’t a fan of the sauce but at least the meatballs saved the day!
These were a huge hit. I’ve been on a bit of a meatless kick lately, and my husband was hankerin’ for some meat. These were perfect. BTW between these and your grilled pork chops, you may be solely responsible for getting some protein into my ever-picky 3-year-old! That puts you right up there with Mother Teresa in my book!
Danielle – glad these meatballs helped everyone out of the meatless route and I’m happy your three-year old is ingesting a little protein in the process!
These were delicious! Another no fail go to recipe from you…everything I make of yours is wonderful. Thanks for going through the trial and error process for your readers!
Stephanie – I’m glad that you had great success with this recipe! My husband is reading over my shoulder and saying he is jealous we didn’t eat that tonight. Oh well….maybe tomorrow!
Thanks, Nicole – now I’ll be curious to know how many others cook with elk meat!
This one works with elk meat too just like the teriyaki ones. I thought elk meat would be crumbly and not hold together with meatballs, but not so- they turned out great! I make these a few times a month, so I wanted to add my 2 cents in- I never have cooked my sauce beforehand, so if anybody is short on time, just mix the sauce ingredients together, pour over meatballs and bake. I also use a baster and baste the meatballs with the sauce about 10 minutes before I take them out just to get them nice and covered.
Helen – the mustard in this recipe is plain old yellow mustard, not dry. Like the mustard you would put on a sandwich.
question about the sauce – is it dry mustard or something else? thanks.
The Three Amigos – glad to see your comments on here and I’m really glad that these meatballs were a hit! Thanks for letting me know (now go fill your pregnancy craving and eat your heart out!).
Wow. That’s all I can say. I am a huge meatball fan, and am even more that I’m pregnant. I just made these and I’m seriously about to eat the entire pan. BUT, I won’t, because I have self control… Anyway, yet again I’m blown away by the flavor and how EASY this was. They are juicy… and oh so amazing. Thanks!
Hi Diane – thanks for your comment! As for the mustard, I use plain old French’s yellow mustard in the bright yellow plastic bottle. Hope that helps!!
First let me say how much I enjoy – and trust! – your recipes. You and Aunt Marilyn have never let me down. Thanks so much!
My question is, what type of mustard do you use? Is it dry, like Coleman’s in the yellow tin, or is it prepared, like Dijon or ballpark yellow?
Thanks again for your terrific blog!
Diane
Hey Allison – thanks for letting me know you liked these!
Okay, these are soooo delicious! I made them earlier in the week and I can’t stop thinking about them! THANK YOU!!! I’ll have to make them again!
Jenni and Christian – I’m thrilled that your in-laws are so impressed with your cooking skills! That’s awesome. Thanks for letting me know you liked this recipe – it is a favorite of my husband’s as well.
I’m really just learning how to cook and my in-laws happened to drop in the night I cooked this and they think I’m a master chef now! they turned out so good, and were delicious for lunch the next day too! These are now one of my husbands favs too!!! And we love sauce on our rice as well so I deifnitly doubled the sauce and it turned out perfect! 🙂
Anonymous – wow, with liquid smoke and BBQ sauce, Cowboy Meatballs is an appropriate name. Interesting combo! I’m glad they still turned out alright for you. Thanks for letting me know.
I used liquid smoke instead of worstershire, totally by accident! They were pretty good. I used BBQ sauce instead of the sweet and sour and called them Cowboy meatballs.
These are so yummy! I made these tonight, and they were a BIG hit with everyone, especially my 17 month old daughter, who had refused food all day! Thanks so much, they are very easy, and taste great.