Slow-cooked in a raspberry ginger hoisin sauce, these sweet and spicy Crockpot Asian Meatballs are incredibly easy to make! Transform your frozen meatballs into a flavorful appetizer that everyone will rave about.
Love a good party meatball? These you need to try my Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Meatballs or my Crockpot Cranberry BBQ Meatballs!
The Best Crockpot Meatballs Recipe
If you’re looking for a crowd-favorite appetizer that comes together effortlessly, these slow cooker meatballs are an amazing option. Because of how juicy, tender and flavorful they are, everyone will think you made the meatballs from scratch. In reality, they started out as store-bought frozen meatballs!
If you’d like to make homemade meatballs and freeze them to be used for this recipe, you can totally do that instead. Either way, this appetizer will have everyone camped out around the Crockpot with a toothpick in hand. When I made these for a game night with family friends, all the other appetizers were ignored until the meatballs were gone.
The sauce is sweet, salty and little spicy, thanks to a pinch of red pepper flakes. It really makes this dish, infusing your meatballs with flavor and keeping them extra tender and juicy. You’ll be trying to get as much sauce as you can on those meatballs!
What You’ll Need
A truly easy recipe comes with a short and simple roster of ingredients. That’s exactly the case for these Crockpot meatballs!
- Frozen Meatballs: You can use beef or turkey meatballs – whichever you prefer!
- Hoisin Sauce: This sweet and salty sauce is a staple in Cantonese cuisine.
- Raspberry Jam: With preserves.
- Rice Wine Vinegar: Made from fermented rice, this vinegar has a mildly sweet taste.
- Garlic Cloves: Freshly minced.
- Ground Ginger: This warm, peppery spice has subtle notes of citrus.
- Red Pepper Flakes: For a touch of spice.
- Sesame Seeds & Chopped Chives: Optional, to garnish the meatballs.
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How to Make Crockpot Asian Meatballs
I love the fact that this recipe doesn’t require any thawing. That way, when you want to start cooking your meatballs, you can toss them right into the Crockpot!
Add Meatballs to Crockpot: Add the frozen meatballs to the Crockpot.
Make Sauce: Add the hoisin sauce, raspberry jam, rice wine vinegar, garlic cloves, ginger and red pepper flakes to a small bowl. Use a whisk to stir everything together.
Add to Meatballs: Pour the sauce over your meatballs. Use a wooden spoon to gently toss the meatballs, covering them in the sauce.
Cook: Cook on LOW for 2 hours.
Enjoy! Garnish your meatballs with sesame seeds and chopped chives, If desired.
Tips for Success
Take a second to review these quick tips and tricks. Flawless Asian meatballs are right around the corner!
- Use Fresh Garlic: Don’t try to substitute the freshly minced garlic for garlic powder or garlic salt. You won’t get that same robust flavor.
- Make the Sauce in Advance: If you really want to jump right into this recipe when it comes time to slow cook, you can make the sauce a day or two ahead of time. Simply combine all the ingredients and chill it in an airtight container until you’re ready to go. Give it a good stir before tossing it with the meatballs.
- Coat the Meatballs Completely: Be sure to toss your sauce with the meatballs thoroughly. You want them all covered so they cook nice and evenly and the flavor is well distributed.
Serving Suggestions
Whether you serve your meatballs over rice or have everyone grab them from the Crockpot with toothpicks, they’re sure to be a big hit. Here are some tasty serving and pairing ideas!
- Serve over Lo Mein: Asian meatballs are commonly served over a plate of lo mein noodles. This turns them into a delicious main dish!
- Pair with Roasted Broccoli: Want another healthy appetizer with minimal ingredients and tons of flavor? My Lemon Butter Roasted Broccoli goes great with Asian meatballs!
- Serve over Quinoa: If you’d like a more nutritious base for your meatballs than the classic bed of white rice, just use quinoa! It has that same rice-like texture with tons more vitamins, fiber and protein.
- Pair with a Stir Fry: This easy Veggie Stir Fry is made with carrots, broccoli, mushrooms and so much more! It’s a light and healthy appetizer that tastes awesome alongside these sweet and spicy meatballs.
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
Leftover meatballs can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days. Be sure to keep them in an airtight container. You can reheat small portions in the microwave for about 15 seconds at a time. Otherwise, they should be reheated on low in the Crockpot until warm.
Can I Freeze These?
You can – unless the meatballs have been sitting at room temperature for 2 hours or longer. Since they’ve previously been frozen, leaving them at room temperature for too long and then re-freezing them causes a buildup of bacteria.
So as soon as those Crockpot meatballs have cooled to room temperature, pop them into a freezer-safe container and freeze them for up to 2 months. You can also store them in a freezer bag with all the air squeezed out. Thaw frozen meatballs in the fridge before reheating them.
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PinDescription
Slow-cooked in a scrumptious raspberry ginger hoisin sauce, these sweet and spicy Crockpot Asian Meatballs are incredibly easy to make! Transform your frozen meatballs into a flavorful appetizer that everyone will rave about.
Ingredients
- 2.2 lbs. frozen meatballs
- 1 cup hoisin sauce
- 1/3 cup raspberry jam with preserves
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Optional: sesame seeds, chopped chives
Instructions
- Add frozen meatballs to the crockpot.
- In a small bowl, add hoisin sauce, raspberry jam, rice wine vinegar, garlic cloves, ginger, red pepper flakes. Using a whisk, stir everything together.
- Pour sauce over the meatballs. Using a wooden spoon, gently toss the meatballs to cover them in the sauce.
- Cook on LOW for 2 hours.
- Garnish with sesame seeds and chopped chives.
Notes
Makes 30-40 meatballs
Keywords: asian meatballs, slow cooker meatballs, thanksgiving appetizers, christmas appetizers
More Asian-Inspired Dishes to Try
The flavors of Asian cuisine are always so irresistible – especially regarding the recipes below!
- Easy Instant Pot Korean Beef Bowl
- Thai Vegetable Curry
- Asian Chicken Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing
30 Min
Paleo
Gluten Free
Low Carb
Vegetarian
Vegan
Whole30
These were delicious! I made them for an appetizer – wine pairing competition and tied for best pairing! I paired with a pinot noir (by The Pinot Project).
The only thing I changed was to use 1/2 tsp ginger paste + 1/4 tsp ground ginger powder (because I originally thought it called for paste, but then realized I messed up, so I added some powder too).
They were not too sweet, and the seeds from the raspberry preserves were barely noticeable. They cooked in 2 hours from frozen; this recipe was so easy! Thanks!!
★★★★★
Congrats on the win!! So glad everyone loved them!
Has anyone ever substituted grape jelly for the rasberry preserves and do you think it would work?
Making these tonight! I am curious though, so these really cook in 2 hours on LOW? I’ve made frozen meatballs in the crockpot before and the recipe usually says 6+ hours on LOW.
Yup.. that’s all these needed. 🙂 Hope you like them!
I made this for a party last night and it was a huge success. The only change I made was to swap the raspberry jelly with pepper jelly because that’s what I had on hand, which gave it a nice not-too-hot spiciness. Thanks for a new favorite recipe! 🙂
★★★★★
ohhh sounds awesome! The spicy flavor has me drooling!
Hi Krista,
Thanks for the recipe for the crockpot Asian meatballs.
Question….Will the recipe create enough sauce/juice to cover the meatballs, once its done? Do I need to double the sauce recipe to have enough sauce to dip bread in?
Thanks
Mickey
Hey Mickey,
no it will not have enough sauce to cover the meatballs, the sauce soaks into the meatballs and it’s amazing! However if you want more sauce, double the recipe it will come close. Hope you enjoy!