My Asian Meatballs make for a great party appetizer and crowd pleaser.
Cooked meatballs are coated in a sticky sweet and sour sauce and served with cocktail picks or toothpicks.
Global Food Recipes
with Spices and Herbs
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If you love Asian flavors and meatballs, then these bite-sized appetizers should be on your bucket list.
The Asian meatballs make for a welcoming change and create an interesting flavor experience.
Ingredients
The Asian meatballs consist of meatballs and a homemade Asian sticky sauce.
The sauce is prepared by melting and mixing a selection of ingredients together to create a complex Asian flavored sticky meatball sauce.
- Meatballs
- Ginger Garlic — balances the flavors.
- Honey — sweetens the sauce and lends a floral note.
- Brown Sugar — bridges the sour and spicy flavors.
- Tamarind — adds a lovely fruity sour touch to the sauce.
- Chili Paste — because we need some heat as well.
- Soy Sauce — to add depth to the sauce and a salty flavor dimension.
- Sriracha — because this ingredient will give it a Thai touch.
- Rice Vinegar — For a slightly pungent taste experience.
- Onion Powder — adds a savory taste to the sauce.
- Sesame Seeds — For the garnishing looks and additional flavor
How to make them?
I prepare my meatballs from scratch, but you are welcome to use frozen meatballs.
Step 1
Combine all the sauce ingredients in a pan and heat until sticky.
Step 2
Add your cooked meatballs to the sticky sauce.
Toss them around so that the meatballs are coated with the sticky sauce.
Step 3
Poke with a toothpick or cocktail pick into the coated meatballs and serve them on a plate as a party appetizer.
📖 Recipe
Sticky Asian Meatball Appetizers
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Honey
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic paste or grated
- 1 Tablespoon Tamarind Paste
- 1 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper Ground
- 1 ½ Tablespoon Soy Sauce basic Kikkoman style
- 1 Teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1 Tablespoons Sriracha Sauce
- 2 Teaspoon Rice Vinegar or any other light vinegar
- 12 Cooked Meatballs
- Sesame Seeds to sprinkle over as a topping
Instructions
- In a pan add the brown sugar, honey, ginger garlic paste, tamarind paste, chili paste or cayenne pepper powder, soy sauce, onion powder, sriracha sauce, and rice vinegar.
- Heat up and mix all the sauce ingredients well.
- Keep on stirring the sauce while it's reducing a bit. You can keep the sauce more liquid if you prefer. The more you reduce the sauce the more sticky it gets.
- Add your meatballs to the pan and cover the meatballs generously with the sauce.
- Take out all the meatballs and place on a serving tray.
- Sprinkle sesame seeds over the meatballs as a garnish and serve at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Tips
I like to use beef and pork ground meat mixed for my homemade meatballs.
Pork tends to be fatty and lends juiciness to your meatball. Meatballs made of pork alone tend to taste a bit boring.
Ground Beef in a meatball, on the other hand, dries out quickly when cooked. Besides, beef and pork simply go hand in hand in terms of flavor, and I generally recommend ground beef and pork recipes.
You can always use either pork or beef ground to prepare your meatballs. However, keep in mind that using both together is the ultimate recipe for perfect homemade meatballs!
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