This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Asian pork meatballs are on the menu this week! When I was making these, I was thinking of a dish I had at a Vietnamese restaurant. These asian pork meatballs remind me of a dry rice noodle dish with a spicy sweet and tangy fish sauce drizzled throughout. Kind of like a banh mi or similar. They’re also really versatile in how they can be eaten or they can be made in bulk and you can save them in the freezer for a busy night! Or quick and easy meatball appetizers for a party!
Can I use another ground meat?
I highly recommend ground pork. It’s just more flavorful.
It’s slightly fattier than ground chicken and less fattier than ground beef (depending on the type you get).
It’s just a good in-between and the flavors go better with ground pork.
What if I can’t find mijiu or shaoxing?
The best substitutes are dry sherry, mirin, or cooking sake.
I can’t have alcohol
I understand and you can definitely omit it, but since this is a key ingredient in this dish, I can’t guarantee results without it.
Can I bake the Asian pork meatballs on a baking sheet instead of a cast iron skillet?
Yes, definitely!
Can I make this ahead time?
You can. I like putting them on a large baking sheet and wax paper then cover the baking sheet and putting it in the fridge.
I would really only do this overnight; nothing more.
How do these reheat?
Not that great. They can get tough.
Can you freeze these?
Yes! I’ve made extra before.
Rolled them into ball shapes and put them into freezer bags (raw, not cooked).
Can you use Asian pork meatballs for filling inside potstickers?
I suppose you could, just don’t make them into meatballs.
My meatballs are really tough
You overworked the meat.
How do I make my meatballs into even sizes?
Use a cookie scoop that you designate as your “meat” scoop.
Or just use the same measuring spoon size, i.e. two tablespoons.
What can you eat with these?
You could make a noodle bowl with the Asian pork meatballs, like how I envisioned them initially!
I imagine them on a bed of rice noodles and some cabbage or bok choy or mushrooms or all of the above!
White rice would be good too.
Could you make these for lettuce wraps?
Yes! I would maybe smash them up a bit since meatballs are kind of big for bib lettuce.
Asian Pork Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 pound (454 g) ground pork
- 1 ½ tablespoons mijiu or shaoxing wine
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 ½ teaspoon chili sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
- 1 stalk of scallion, diced
For the dipping sauce:
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon chili sauce
- Splash fish sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 °F (191 °C) and line a large baking sheet with wax paper.
- In a large bowl, add all the ingredients of the meatballs then using your hands, gently combine everything together, being careful to not overmix.
- Using a medium cookie scoop (or two tablespoons), form into balls and place onto wax paper.
- In a large cast iron skillet, heat up 1 tablespoon of avocado oil over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs to the skillet and brown two sides, making sure you don’t cook the meatball entirely.
- Once browned, place in oven to finish cooking through, about 10-13 minutes.
- Once done, remove from oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.
these were delicious! Very flavourful;)
I used it as a filling in wonton wrappers and steamed them. Delicious!
This is brilliant!
Okay so I didn’t quite follow the recipe, but I followed the FLAVOR, and I liked it! What I did was took all the meatball ingredients (except corn starch), threw it in a pan, and sautéed it. I doubled everything except the pork. Then I added broccoli slaw, as well as some scraps of shredded Brussels sprouts and cabbage from my fridge. I made up some quinoa to throw in there, too. So it kinda came out more like an egg roll bowl, but it was delish!
Haha, so glad you loved the flavor and worked the recipe to fit your needs!
I 100% agree, the FAQs are a big reason this has become my go-to food blog. Taking the guess work out is much appreciated!
Thanks for the feedback!! I’m so glad this helps!
I see in your recipe you have a dipping sauce. Can you email me the ingredients?
Just answered this in the comments section! :) I’ll add it to the recipe.
Asian Pork Meatballs. That’s my jazz!
I often make some sweet soy sauce pork meatballs, recipe which I found in a Japanese recipes book, and it’s been a huge success for years. Everybody loves them!
So this one seems like the sort of thing we would love as well, worth trying for sure.
Thanks for sharing!
These look delicious! I’m picturing them on the table at my next cocktail party, with a colorful, pretty party pick standing in the middle of each one. Hey, just wondering Julie, how’s Winston doing? We’re due for a Winston post :).
Thanks for asking, Cyndi! You can follow me on Instagram for all things regarding Winston: https://www.instagram.com/tablefortwo/ – I post videos and photos of him daily!
These look AMAZING!! What did you use as your dipping sauce? How did you present them?
Thanks! I just threw together a quick dipping sauce of soy sauce, chili sauce, and a splash of fish sauce.
I just wanted to quickly say that I LOVE your style of adding an FAQ-type section to your recipes. They are very helpful!
Thank you! I try to anticipate what readers will ask but sometimes they don’t even read the whole post so my FAQ-type style doesn’t even help, haha…I appreciate you writing and letting me know they are helpful though! I’ll keep doing it!
So would you recommend mixing them up as a batch then freezing them uncooked?
Yes, mix everything together and create the meatballs then freeze them uncooked.