Name: Honey Garlic Meatballs
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Asian Inspired
Ingredients: 2 lbs coarsely ground lean pork, or beef or half & half of both; 1 cup bread crumbs, lightly packed; ¼ cup milk; 1 egg; 1 tsp kosher salt; 1 tsp black pepper; 1 tsp ground dry thyme; ½ tsp ground cumin; 4 tbsp finely chopped green onion; 2 tbsp freshly grated ginger, substitute 2 tsp powdered ginger if necessary; 2 cloves minced garlic; 4 cloves minced garlic; 2 tbsp olive oil; 1 cup water; 1 cup honey; 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce; 1/2 tsp Chinese 5 Spice Powder; 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper; 2 tbsp corn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup water, as a thickening slurry

Jump to recipe if you like, but be sure to read the whole post for instructional photos & other tips.

Honey Garlic Meatballs with an easy Honey Garlic Sauce recipe. Make beef or pork meatballs with the easiest, most delicious Honey Garlic Sauce you’ll find.

Honey Garlic Meatballs

Originally published March 2016.

Honey Garlic Meatballs used to be a bit of a go-to recipe at our house. It actually surprised me that I hadn’t posted this recipe yet.

With about 1500 recipes on site now, it gets hard to keep track sometimes. Still, as pot luck favourites or quick dinner ideas go, you can’t beat a simple meal of honey garlic meatballs.

A background of bulbs of fresh garlic for sale at a market

Can you ever get enough garlic?

It’s a great dish to double or triple when you are feeding a crowd. I’ve even served them as as party finger food.

I sometimes glaze them in the oven and serve with tooth picks for the latter purpose. Whenever I make meatballs, I rarely, if ever, make a single batch. I always make enough for at least two meals.

I then freeze half on a recycled styrofoam meat tray for next time. Then it’s only to pull them from the freezer to thaw during the day.

Then, it’s just a few minutes to finish the preparation and sauce before dinner.

Honey Garlic Meatballs

Grinding your own meat makes all the difference.

One of the reasons I’ve been making more meatballs lately, is that I’m more and more taking the little extra time to grind my own pork and beef.

That’s accomplished using my meat grinder attachment on my KitchenAid Mixer. The difference it makes is quite substantial.

As you can see from the photo below, the end product of grinding your own meat looks like nothing you would find. in the supermarket.

Coarse Ground Beef Chuck/Blade Roast.

First, is the ability to be able to control the fat content of the ground meat. Plus, I love the ability to control the coarseness of the grind.

I tend to use the coarse grinding plate for a meatier meatball. I find it makes for a less spongy, more pleasing meatball.

The meatier, less spongy texture that coarsely ground pork or beef makes in meatballs is what I really love.

If you’ve never ground your own chuck roast for burgers, you are really missing out there too. The flavour is just so much better than any regular ground beef that I’ve tried.

Honey in a glass pot with a solid white background.

We generally use organic honey in our recipes.

My kids loved these meatballs and poured the sauce over the simple steamed rice that we served with them. A couple of simple steamed veggies for a complete meal is all that we needed in addition.

Stay tuned for a couple more great meatball meal recipe ideas that I have planned soon.

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Honey Garlic Meatballs

Yield: 6 6 servings

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Honey Garlic Meatballs with an easy Honey Garlic Sauce recipe - make beef or pork meatballs with the easiest, most delicious Honey Garlic Sauce you'll find.

Ingredients

For the sauce

4 cloves minced garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup water
1 cup honey
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp Chinese 5 Spice Powder
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
2 tbsp corn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup water, as a thickening slurry

For the meatballs

2 lbs coarsely ground lean pork, or beef or half & half of both
1 cup bread crumbs, lightly packed
¼ cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground dry thyme
½ tsp ground cumin
4 tbsp finely chopped green onion
2 tbsp freshly grated ginger, substitute 2 tsp powdered ginger if necessary
2 cloves minced garlic

Instructions

To prepare the sauce

Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat.
Add the minced garlic and sauté for only a minute or so until it softens but does not brown.
Add the water, honey, soy sauce, 5 spice powder and pepper. (Do not add salt, there is plenty on the soy sauce.)
Let this mixture simmer for a few minutes then thicken with the slurry of cornstarch and water. Stir constantly as you add the slurry to the sauce. cook for an additional minute before taking the sauce off the heat.

To prepare the meatballs

Pour the milk over the breadcrumbs to soak while you gather the rest of the ingredients.
Put all ingredients in a large bowl and mix together well.
Form into 2 inch balls. Keeping your hands wet with cold water prevents the mixture from sticking to your hands.
Brown the meatballs on all sides in a non stick frying pan for about 10 minutes. You want to get some good colour on them.
Add the meatballs to a small covered casserole dish and pour the sauce over them. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 30-40 minutes; the sauce should be bubbling well at this point. Serve over steamed rice or thin Chinese noodles.

Honey Garlic Meatballs – with an easy Honey Garlic Sauce recipe

Honey Garlic Meatballs with an easy Honey Garlic Sauce recipe. Make beef or pork meatballs with the easiest, most delicious Honey Garlic Sauce you’ll find.