These sweet & sour cocktail meatballs are easy to make and so delicious!
Tender juicy meatballs are simmered in a quick two ingredient sauce for the perfect sweet and sour cocktail meatball!
These will be the first thing gone, and nobody will ever believe what is in them!
Perfect Party Appetizer
- Cocktail meatballs are a party recipe! Serve them at every party or gathering, and watch them disappear!
- They’re so easy to make with just three ingredients!
- Serve these sweet and sour meatballs as an appetizer or even served over rice for a weeknight meal that your family will love!
Ingredients for Sweet & Sour Meatballs
I often make grape jelly meatballs, but did you know that you can basically choose any sweet ingredient and any tangy ingredient for a great cocktail meatball sauce?
Meatballs – You can use the recipe below for homemade meatballs, or use a bag of frozen fully cooked meatballs for an easy appetizer with almost no prep needed! You can also use the same sauce for cocktail smokies.
Sauce – The easy sauce for these sweet and sour meatballs needs just two ingredients: one sweet and one tangy.
- Choose one sweet – apricot preserves, strawberry jam, grape jelly, or cranberry sauce.
- Choose one tangy – ketchup, chilli sauce, bbq sauce.
How to Make Cocktail Meatballs
What could be easier than this three-ingredient recipe?
- Make the meatballs (as per the recipe below) or use frozen meatballs.
- Mix the sauce ingredients together and heat on low in a saucepan.
- Add the cooked meatballs to the sauce, bring to a boil, then simmer until thickened.
Crockpot Version
These work perfectly in the Crockpot too!
- Just bake the meatballs as directed (or just add them frozen if you’re not making homemade)
- Place the sauce ingredients in the slow cooker.
- Add meatballs to the sauce and let heat through on high for at least 1-2 hours before serving (a bit longer if using frozen).
Once heated through meatballs can be left on low for serving.
Storing Meatballs
- Cocktail meatballs can be made ahead and refrigerated or frozen for future use.
- They will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days and will retain their flavor in the freezer for 2-3 months.
- Be sure to cook and reheat to a temperature of 165ºF.
More Easy Appetizers You'll Love
Did your family love these Sweet and Sour Meatballs? If so, leave a rating and comment below!
Sweet and Sour Cocktail Meatballs
Equipment
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 2 pounds frozen meatballs
OR
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- ½ small onion very finely diced
- ½ cup bread crumbs
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon pepper
Sauce (see notes)
- 10 ounces apricot preserves
- ⅔ cup barbecue sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
- If making homemade meatballs, combine ground beef, diced onion, bread crumbs, eggs, and pepper in a medium bowl. Divide the mixture into 1-inch meatballs.
- Bake homemade meatballs for 18-20 minutes or bake frozen meatballs according to package directions.
- In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, combine apricot preserves and barbecue sauce. Stir until the preserves start to melt.
- Add in meatballs and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the sauce is slightly thickened.
Notes
- 10 ounces strawberry preserves & ⅔ cup ketchup
- 14 ounces jellied cranberry sauce & 12 ounces chili sauce
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Appetizer
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Like our recipes?
Follow us on Pinterest!
Yummy! My cousins two daughters love these so when I make them I know they are going to disappear quickly! I’ve been making this recipe since the early 70’s and it s still a hit. Everyone loves them! I made them with Grape Jelly and Chili Sauce but I had extra meatballs (3 pounds) so I threw in extra ketchup and more grape jelly and it still came out excellent as usual. I think it’s a very forgiving recipe.
What to serve these with?
I love to serve these over rice if serving as a main dish with a side of steamed green veggies like broccoli! Enjoy Fredrik!
Grape jelly and chili sauce is good, too! It adds a bit more of a kick.
Made the sauce with blackberry jam and ketchup was so yummy.
I made this with the grape jelly/ketchup sauce and frozen turkey meatballs, to take to a last minute party, and it was wicked good and so freaking easy. Also – I didn’t have a way to keep them hot so they were room temp by the time people ate and you know what? Still totally yummy. xoxo
These are soooooo good with jalapeño pepper jelly!!!!
I remember I tried this at a party once and they were so good! I was wondering if I could use strawberry jelly instead of grape though?
I have not tried this recipe with strawberry but it sounds like an interesting flavor combo! I would love to hear how it turns out for you, Seevahn.
I made the grape jelly meatballs which were excellent by the way…and had left over so I froze them in the grape sauce. Will it still be good if I just add more sauce to the meatballs ?
Absolutely, I freeze them often.
I’m wanting to cook these in a crockpot. How long should I cook them?
Hi Jen, Add meatballs to the sauce and let heat through on high for at least 1-2 hours before serving (a bit longer if using frozen). Once heated through meatballs can be left on low for serving.
The sauce sounds so weird, but can’t wait to try it!!
Thanks
We hope you love it, John! The sauce is so simple to make but so delicious.
These turned out great and were not overly sweet.
Easy and yummy!
These sound wonderful – can you substitute ground beef for one of the meats or just use all 3??
Hi Debi, for this recipe we used either frozen premade meatballs or we make homemade meatballs using ground beef. Whichever you prefer!
Can these be made ahead of time and if so how do I store them?
Hi Loreta, depending on how far in advance you can pre-cook and freeze the meatballs or store them in the fridge and then top with the sauce when ready to serve.
Sweet and sour meatballs were excellent. I added a little Chinese sweet and sour sauce, green onion and sesame seeds!!
Like the recipes
I would bet that this sauce would be great for chicken wings also !!!
Sounds fantastic!! Just wanted to know if I should add salt to the meatball mixture before baking?
You can if you prefer Sindia, but we didn’t and found it delicious!
I’m going to try the recipe made with jellied cranberry sauce with frozen meatballs stuffed with cranberries. Thanke
That sounds so yummy Mary Lou, enjoy!
Another great combination for sauce is 1 jar currant jelly and an equal amount of yellow mustard.
absolutely delicious!
Ooooh! Great idea Kathy, thanks for sharing.