My boys like when I make these sweet and sour meatballs. They are so simple to make and they never last long. I made the recipe below in the Crock-Pot® Hook Up™ Connectable Entertaining System that Crock-Pot sent me to try out.
To make the meatballs, combine the following in a large bowl:
- Two pounds of ground meat
- One and 1/2 cups of bread crumbs
- Two eggs
- 1/4 cup of ketchup (I use Heinz)
Once mixed well, roll into meatballs. I always precook my meatballs in the microwave for 10 minutes in this cool strainer from Tupperware. The meatballs sit on top and the grease drains into the bottom. A vegetable steamer should do the same trick; you basically just need a container that sits inside of another one with holes that will drain the grease.
Recently I tried out these cool slow cooker liners by Reynolds. They are very simple to use. Just place the bag in the slow cooker and wrap around the sides. You place everything directly into the liner. When you are finished cooking you remove the food and the liner goes right into the trash. The slow cooker is nice and clean and doesn’t need a excellent scrubbing. (I still wipe mine out , but it does save on the caked on food.) You can see it in the background of the photo below.
Now it’s time to make the sauce. You only need two ingredients:
- One bottle of barbecue sauce (any brand, I usually use Kraft)
- One bottle of grape jelly (any brand, I usually use whatever is cheapest)
Turn the slow cooker on low. Pour the barbecue sauce and grape jelly into the slow cooker and using a nylon or wire whisk, mix them together until blended well. (Trust me it tastes better than it looks in this picture lol)
Once the sauce is blended well, add the meatballs. Stir the meatballs gently into the sauce making sure that they are all well covered. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook for eight hours.
You can serve the meatballs over rice, on a sandwich or by themselves. My boys like to use toothpicks to pluck them out of the sauce. This makes a fantastic appetizer to take to picnics, bridal showers etc.
Substitions/Additions:
Meatballs: Usually I buy frozen meatballs but found it was much cheaper to make my own. If you would like, you can buy a 40 oz package of Italian meatballs (any brand will do) and add to the sauce. The cooking time is still the same.
Jelly: You can substitute any flavor of jelly.
Pineapple: You can also add pineapple to the mixture. I use crushed pineapple and it gives it a nice flavor.
Stay tuned for tomorrow when I will be sharing another favorite slow cooker recipe on my blog.
Watch this video for an simple way to make Swedish meatballs in your crock pot:
Here’s another video with swedish meatballs using a crock pot:
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