Made with simple ingredients, these sweet and sour meatballs are so easy to whip up for dinner! Juicy pork meatballs, veggies, and pineapple coated in a tangy sweet and sour sauce, this will be your new favorite recipe!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Served over rice or your favorite card, these sweet and sour meatballs are super easy to make and reheat wonderfully, so they double as a meal prep recipe if you want to make a double batch!
- In a rush, you can make this recipe with frozen meatballs! I love to meal prep meatballs for the freezer and pull them out as needed but you can also buy pre-made frozen meatballs.
- It might seem like a long list of ingredients, but most of it will probably already be in your kitchen!
Ingredients You’ll Need
For the Sweet and Sour Sauce — you’ll need soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, chicken broth, pineapple juice, ketchup, and cornstarch. I usually use low-sodium soy sauce. If you have low-sodium chicken broth, that’s great as well, but you can use regular chicken broth. If you don’t have chicken broth, you can also use vegetable broth.
For the Pork Meatballs — you’ll need ground pork, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, egg, panko breadcrumbs, and milk. You can use any type of ground pork, but a fattier option will keep the meatballs juicier as they bake in the oven. I try to use panko breadcrumbs over traditional breadcrumbs whenever possible. I find that panko breadcrumbs lead to lighter and less dense meatballs than traditional breadcrumbs. Milk will also add to the tenderness of the meatballs, so make sure you don’t skip that!
For Everything Else — you’ll need olive oil (or any neutral oil of your choice), onion, red bell pepper, and pineapple. I prefer red bell pepper as they’re sweeter, but you can use your favorite bell pepper color. Orange and yellow bell peppers are great as well, but I usually steer clear of green as they’re more bitter than I like.
How to Make Sweet and Sour Meatballs
- Heat the oven to 400F.
- Add the cornstarch, soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, chicken broth, pineapple juice, and ketchup to a mixing bowl and combine. Set aside. I usually like to add the cornstarch first, along with a bit of liquid, to make it easier to dissolve the cornstarch.
- To a large mixing bowl, add the ground pork, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, egg, panko breadcrumbs, and milk.
- Combine the meatball mixture but make sure you do not over-mix as it’ll lead to dense meatballs.
- Shape the meatballs (I used my little cookie scooper to portion out my meatballs so they’re the same size to make sure they cook evenly) and place them on a lined sheet pan, sprayed with non-stick.
- Bake the meatballs for 15 minutes or until the internal temperature of the meatballs has reached 160°F (71°C).
- Meanwhile, in a skillet over medium heat, heat the oil and add the onions and bell peppers. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add the sauce to the skillet and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add the pineapple and allow the mixture to simmer for another 2 to 3 minutes or until the mixture has thickened to your liking.
- Add the cooked meatballs to the sauce and toss well to combine.
- Serve with rice, noodles, mashed potatoes, or a side of your choice!
Recipe Tips and Notes
- As your meatballs will get denser as they cook, avoid overpacking/over-rolling the ground meat.
- My cookie scoop holds around 2 tablespoons.
- I like to garnish the meatballs with some green onions and toasted sesame seeds, but it’s not mandatory.
- Before shaping the meatballs, you can slightly wet your hands to prevent the meat mixture from sticking to them.
- I recommend using a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of the meatballs. You don’t want to overcook them as they’ll end up dry.
Make Ahead Tips
- Meal prep: once cooled, store in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the fridge.
- Freezer: I recommend freezing just the meatballs first and then making the sauce and veggies fresh. Allow the baked meatballs to cool before transferring them into an airtight container and storing them in the freezer. They can last for up to 3 months. Thaw before adding them to the sauce.
Sweet and Sour Meatballs Recipe
Ingredients
For the Sweet and Sour Sauce
- 2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce, low sodium
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- ¼ cup brown sugar, dark or regular
- ½ cup chicken broth
- ½ cup pineapple juice
- ½ cup ketchup
For the Pork Meatballs
- 1½ pounds ground pork
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ tablespoon garlic powder
- ½ tablespoon onion powder
- ½ tablespoon paprika
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup panko
- ¼ cup milk
For Everything Else
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, roughly quartered
- 1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped into 1" pieces
- 1 cup diced pineapple
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 400F.
- Add the cornstarch, soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, chicken broth, pineapple juice, and ketchup to a mixing bowl and combine. Set aside.
- To a large mixing bowl, add the ground pork, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, egg, panko breadcrumbs, and milk and gently combine. Do not over-mix.
- Shape the meatballs and place them on a lined sheet pan, sprayed with non-stick.
- Bake the meatballs for 15 minutes or until the internal temperature of the meatballs has reached 160°F (71°C).
- Meanwhile, in a skillet over medium heat, heat the oil and add the onions and bell peppers. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add the sauce to the skillet and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Then add the pineapple and allow the mixture to simmer for another 2 to 3 minutes or until the mixture has thickened to your liking.
- Add the cooked meatballs to the sauce and toss well to combine. Serve with your side of choice.
Notes
- This recipe makes 30 meatballs.
Nutrition Per Serving
More Meatball Recipes to Try
- Teriyaki Turkey Meatballs
- Firecracker Chicken Meatballs
- Yakitori Inspired Meatballs
- Hoisin Sriracha Glazed Meatballs
- Turkey Swedish Meatballs
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