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Get your appetizer picks ready, because when you make these one-pot sticky Asian meatballs, people will be fighting over them!
I’m serious when I say that of all my meatball recipes, these usually fly from the serving dish the fastest.
I’m not sure if it’s the perfectly cooked texture or sweet, yet savory Asian-inspired sauce, but these sticky meatballs are pretty irresistible.
When I’m not making a batch of these sticky Asian meatballs for a get together or event, I’m making a batch just for myself!
These make a perfect easy weeknight dinner when served over freshly cooked white rice.
So, what makes them an easy dinner? Well, the ingredients are simple and inexpensive, and the whole recipe only takes about 30 minutes from start to finish!
Oh – and did I mention it’s a ONE-POT recipe?! That means it’s an easy recipe to whip up and even easier to clean up afterwards. I mean, really, who doesn’t love that?
Ingredients for one-pot sticky Asian meatballs
- Ground beef
- Panko breadcrumbs
- Green onions
- All-purpose flour
- Egg
- Garlic paste
- Ginger paste
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Olive oil
- Light brown sugar
- Sesame oil
- Rice vinegar
- Hoisin sauce
- Low sodium soy sauce
- Cornstarch
In place of the garlic paste and ginger paste, you can also finely mince garlic and ginger as a substitute. The end result should be the same either way – flavorful and delicious!
Do I have to use beef meatballs?
Definitely not! Ground pork, turkey or chicken all work well with this recipe.
Just make sure to use a meat thermometer to make sure whatever meat you choose cooks through all the way!
Also, there are plenty of vegetarian meatball options out there that would pair perfectly with this sauce, too.
My sauce is too thin. How do I fix it?
Try adding more cornstarch or flour to the sauce mixture to thicken it up!
Cornstarch usually does the trick all by itself, but sometimes a little extra flour is needed too. Just add the dry ingredients little by little until you reach the desired consistency.
How long will these sticky Asian meatballs stay fresh?
In an airtight container in the fridge, these meatballs will stay fresh for up to 5 days.
To reheat, just pop them in the microwave, or heat them in a skillet over low heat and stir often. Enjoy – they make perfect leftovers!
Here are some of my other favorite meatball recipes:
Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Stuffed Cheesy Chicken Apple and Sage Meatballs
Slow Cooker Teriyaki Meatballs
One-Pot Sticky Asian Meatballs
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound (454 g) ground beef
- ½ cup (30 g) Panko breadcrumbs
- ½ cup (50 g) freshly chopped green onions
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon garlic paste or finely minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste or finely minced ginger
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ⅓ cup (73 g) packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon hoisin sauce
- ½ cup (118 ml) low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Add the ground beef, breadcrumbs, green onions, flour, egg, garlic paste, ginger paste, salt and black pepper to a large bowl and stir to combine. Don’t squish or over-stir too much or the meatballs will be tough once cooked.
- Form the meat mixture into 1-2-inch balls. (The size doesn’t matter just as long as they are all roughly the same size.)
- Heat a large skillet over low-medium heat then add the olive oil and cook half of the meatballs in the pan, turning often to prevent burning for about 4 minutes on each side, or until cooked through.
- Once cooked, remove the meatballs from the pan and place them on a large plate.
- Cook the remaining meatballs in the skillet until cooked through then remove them from the pan and set aside on the plate with the other cooked meatballs.
- Reduce the skillet heat to low and add the brown sugar, sesame oil, rice vinegar and hoisin sauce and stir to combine.
- In a small bowl whisk the soy sauce and cornstarch together until well combined and add it to the pan.
- Stir and cook for about 2 minutes, or until well incorporated.
- Remove the pan from the heat and let the sauce thicken a bit before adding the meatballs back to the pan and stirring gently to coat them in the sauce.
- Serve over white rice and garnish with freshly chopped chives or green onions and a dash of sesame seeds.
this was delicious!! I put it over udon noodles and then realized I just made asain spaghetti and meatballs. 😂 I would totally make this again! If you have an air fryer, cook your meatballs in there! they came out perfect. I also used ground pork instead of hamburger.
Great recipe! Made with black bear meat and couldn’t believe how good this turned out! Whole family agrees this is the best meatball recipe to date.
Easy and tasty! I used ground turkey. Will definitely make again.
These were insanely amazing!!!