Sweet and Sour Meatballs
These Sweet and Sour Meatballs are made with homemade meatballs in a sweet and tangy sauce with pineapples and peppers! Serve over rice to soak up all of that delicious sauce!
Servings: 6 yield(s)
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 27 mins
Total Time: 42 mins
Ingredients
  • 1 slice soft bread
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 1/2 lb ground beef
  • 1/2 lb ground pork
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp Italian seasoning
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
    • Sweet and Sour Meatballs
  • 1 tbsp canola oil
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 green bell pepper
  • 398 ml canned pineapple chunks with juice (about 2 cups with pineapple and juice)
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 tsp minced ginger
  • 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup white vinegar
  • 1/2 cup tomato ketchup
  • 3 tbsp corn starch
  • 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
    Meatballs
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and line a baking sheet with tin foil — optional but helps with clean up! (OPTIONAL: instead of baking, you can also brown on all sides and then simmer in the sauce. I make a big batch at once, which is why I bake them).
  2. Tear bread into small pieces and place in a food processor. Process until the bread is in fine crumbs and combine with water. Stir and let sit for a few minutes.
  3. In a large bowl, combine beef, pork, egg, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and soaked bread until just combined — don't overmix!
  4. Shape into 1.5-2″ balls (I get about 20 this way, but you can get up to 30 if you shape them into 1″ balls) and place 1″ apart on the baking sheet.
  5. Bake for 10-15 minutes (longer for 2″ rounds, shorter for 1″ rounds), until a meat thermometer reads at least 160 degrees F in the largest meatballs (a meat thermometer is your best chance at having perfectly cooked meatballs!)
  6. Remove from the oven.
    7. Sweet and Sour Sauce
  7. In a large skillet, saute peppers on oil until crisp-tender.
  8. Add garlic and ginger and cook 1 minute.
  9. Stir in the pineapple chunks with juice.
  10. In a large glass measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the sugar, vinegar, ketchup, corn starch and soy sauce. Add to the pan with the peppers and pineapple.
  11. Add the meatballs, and simmer for 5-10 minutes until thickened and meatballs are heated through.
  12. Taste and adjust salt and pepper if necessary. If desired for a milder sauce, stir in ¼ cup of water or broth.