Honey Garlic Meatballs are a sweet and savory new way to enjoy a classic dinner recipe. Just coat tender meatballs in a honey garlic glaze and garnish with scallions for a delicious 15-minute meal.
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Why this Honey Garlic Meatballs Recipe is a Keeper
These sticky honey garlic meatballs can be served as an appetizer or as a weeknight dinner. Instead of making meatballs in the oven, put them in the crockpot instead for a sweet and spicy meal. Coat the meatballs in a delicious sticky sauce, serve the meatballs over steamed rice and garnish with green onions and sesame seeds, and enjoy!
- 15 Minute Meal: It only takes 15 minutes to make these juicy meatballs coated in garlic honey sauce.
- Easy Ingredients: All of the ingredients for crockpot honey garlic meatballs on a bed of white rice can easily be found in your kitchen or local grocery store.
- Family Friendly: If your family loves meatballs, this is a great recipe for them! Great for parties too!
If you’re looking for more meatball recipes, try these: Veal Piccata Meatballs, Instant Pot Hawaiian Meatballs, and Air Fryer Turkey Meatballs.
How Do I Get the Meatballs to Stick Together?
If your meatballs aren’t sticking together, they need a binder. Use eggs and breadcrumbs to make sure they stick.
Ingredient Notes for Garlic Honey Crock Pot Meatballs
I can’t wait to make these for parties as they are so popular, and everyone can’t wait to eat them. Meatballs are always a hit.
- Frozen Meatballs: Use a bag of frozen meatballs to easily make this recipe or make homemade meatballs from scratch if you don’t have frozen meatballs on hand.
- Clove Garlic: Mince the garlic before you make the meatballs. The minced garlic will go into the sauce, along with ginger. Once you’ve followed the recipe and the sauce is made, add the meatballs to the instant pot with the honey garlic sauce and enjoy!
- Honey: While some meatballs use ketchup in the sauce, these meatballs are coated in a honey garlic sauce instead. Just prepare the ingredients for the sauce and toss the meatballs into it. You can also double the sauce by increasing the ingredients proportionally.
See the recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements and nutritional information.
Variations and Substitutions for Weeknight Honey Garlic Crockpot Meatballs
- Different Meats: Try making these meatballs with ground beef, ground chicken, or ground turkey meat. You can even use veal or tofu.
Special Equipment Needed
- Crock Pot: Make these meatballs in the crock pot, slow cooker, instant pot, or Dutch oven. You can even bake the meatballs in the oven instead.
Pro Tip
Make sure to keep your meatball ingredients cold before you form them into balls. If you’re using frozen meatballs, thaw them in the refrigerator.
How to Make Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Meatballs
If you haven’t tried this recipe for honey garlic meatballs and sauce, you’ll certainly want to! This savory variant on Italian meatballs are perfect for an easy and efficient slow cooker meal, and you can double the recipe by increasing the ingredients proportionally.
These are the basic steps for making honey garlic meatballs. Refer to the full, printable recipe card below for detailed instructions.
1. Add the Frozen Meatballs to the Slow Cooker and Make the Sauce
Place frozen meatballs in the slow cooker. Place meatballs in a single layer and prepare according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a medium-sized saucepan, combine the beef broth, soy sauce, honey and brown sugar and cook on low or medium heat. Cook the meatballs and stir occasionally for 5 minutes.
2. Thicken the Sauce
Add the garlic and ginger and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, thicken the sauce in a small bowl by whisking together 1/2 cup water, plus 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, to form a slurry. Whisk the slurry into the honey garlic sauce and then increase heat to high.
3. Pour Sauce Over the Meatballs
Bring the honey garlic sauce to a boil for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, then reduce to medium to continue simmering for 5 minutes. Add sauce and cook. Cover meatballs and stir to coat in the honey garlic sauce and serve.
Honey Garlic Ground Beef Meatballs FAQs
Expert Tips for Sticky Honey Garlic Meatballs Appetizer
- Top: Garnish the meatballs with green onions, sesame seeds or fresh parsley.
- Substitution for Soy Sauce: Instead of soy sauce, these meatballs are delicious with fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce, or Tamari.
- Brown Sugar: Add some brown sugar to the homemade meatball sauce for some extra sweetness, then pour the sauce and enjoy.
What to Serve with Honey Garlic Meatballs
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Honey Garlic Meatballs
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Ingredients
- 2 pounds Meatballs
- 2 cups Beef Broth
- ¼ cup Soy Sauce
- ½ cup Honey
- ¼ cup Brown Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Minced Ginger
- 4 cloves Garlic, minced
- 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
- ½ cup Water
Instructions
- Prepare meatballs according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat, combine the beef broth, soy sauce, honey and brown sugar. Cook together for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the garlic and ginger and continue to cook for 2 minutes.
- In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup water, plus 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to form a slurry.
- Whisk the slurry into the honey garlic sauce and increase heat to high.
- Bring the honey garlic sauce to a boil for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, then reduce to medium to continue simmering for 5 minutes.
- Coat the meatballs in the honey garlic sauce.
Christina’s Notes
- Top: Garnish the meatballs with green onions, sesame seeds or fresh parsley.
- Substitution for Soy Sauce: Instead of soy sauce, these meatballs are delicious with fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce, or Tamari.
- Brown Sugar: Add some brown sugar to the homemade meatball sauce for some extra sweetness, then pour the sauce and enjoy.
- Scale the recipe: Simply adjust the serving size in the recipe card and the ingredients will update automatically.
- Make your own All Purpose Seasoning: When a recipe calls for All Purpose Seasoning, you can use my homemade All Purpose Seasoning recipe or substitute salt and pepper to taste.
- Meat doneness: I always use a meat thermometer to test for doneness when cooking meat.
- Use unsalted butter: I use unsalted butter so I can control the salt level in the recipe.
- Preheat the oven: Unless otherwise noted, always preheat your oven before baking.
For more helpful information about this recipe, such as variations, substitutions and other pro-tips, check out the blog post.
The honey garlic sauce was the best! Making these again for a super bowl party!
Honey garlic meatballs looks delicious, perfect meal with bowl of rice.
I loved this almost Asian twist on meatballs! It was such a refreshing change from the same old tomato-based sauces that usually end up in my meal plan. My family absolutely loved these!