This recipe for Slow Cooker Sweet & Sour Meatballs is easy and delicious and does double duty as either a meal or as an appetizer!
Slow Cooker Sweet & Sour Meatballs are tender, bite sized, and wrapped in a deliciously sweet sauce.
Served on a toothpick or a bed of rice, these little bites are delicious and super easy to make. The slow cooker literally does all the work and who doesn’t love a recipe like that?
All about the meatballs
I have all sorts of appreciation for frozen meatballs. Available at most grocery stores and at Costco (in a gigantic bag), they are one of the most versatile ingredients that you can have in your freezer!
The meal idea possibilities are infinite and making your own make ahead meatballs is a budget friendly alternative to buying the premade, more expensive ones.
For this recipe, you can use premade meatballs, homemade meatballs, thaw them out, or keep them frozen. Whatever works for you!
The slow cooker does the majority of the work and dinner is delicious. These also make a great appetizer. My favorite kind of recipe!
About the Ingredients
- Meatballs – Fresh, frozen, ground beef or turkey… whatever you want to do here is fine. I keep a bunch of make ahead meatballs in the freezer so this comes together quick and easy.
- Peppers – This recipe is pretty with multicolored peppers but there is no need to make them with any specific color. I always like to cut up a few pieces into smaller pieces and save them to stir into the finished product. The pepper chunks in the slow cooker will cook down so adding a few small pieces of uncooked peppers at the end adds a nice crunch.
- Vinegar – This recipe calls for rice wine vinegar (rice vinegar) or apple cider vinegar. I almost always have the seasoned rice vinegar available in my pantry but if you don’t have either of those, you could also substitute plain white vinegar.
- Soy Sauce – It doesn’t matter if you use low sodium soy sauce or regular soy sauce to make this. Also, I often substitute coco aminos here because the flavor is the same and the product is allergy friendly, contains less salt and is a lot less expensive than soy sauce!
- What to Serve With – As an appetizer, serve with toothpicks. As a dinner, serve over any kind of rice (absorbs the sauce) or over egg noodles (weirdly good).
How to Make Slow Cooker Sweet & Sour Meatballs
The convenience of the slow cooker is something that we are often thankful for. It makes feeding the family on busy weeknights so much easier, especially when everyone is coming and going.
This recipe for Slow Cooker Sweet & Sour Meatballs served over cooked rice makes a whole meal but can also be served as a great sharable party appetizer. Delicious and bite sized meatballs in a sweet, sticky sauce. Delicious and easy!
Set the slow cooker to low heat and place a single layer of frozen meatballs evenly on the bottom.
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the chopped peppers and minced garlic. Saute until tender, about 3-5 minutes until peppers are softened, stirring frequently.
Add onion powder, vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, brown sugar and sesame oil and stir to combine.
Drain the mandarin oranges, reserving 1/4 cup of the juice. Add the drained mandarin oranges to the saucepan. Increase the heat to medium-high and heat the sauce to a boil.
In a small bowl combine the reserved 1/4 cup juice from the mandarin oranges with the cornstarch and mix until the cornstarch is completely dissolved.
Add the cornstarch mixture into the sauce and stir.
It will begin thickening immediately.
Remove from heat and pour over the frozen meatballs in the slow cooker. Cover and cook for 5-6 hours on low (or 2-3 hours on high) stirring occasionally.
Serve with toothpicks as an appetizer or over rice as a meal. Enjoy!
Other Slow Cooker Recipes You May Enjoy
Hearty Slow Cooker Beef Stew – Bite sized chunks of beef, tender potatoes, and all of your favorite vegetables slow simmered in a delicious beef gravy.
Crockpot French Onion Soup – Overnight French Onion Soup made easy!
Crockpot Taco Chili – Delicious dump, stir and walk away recipe. Dinner is ready.
Slow Cooker Sweet & Sour Ribs – fall-off-the-bone delicious!
Mississippi Pot Roast Sandwiches – Flavorful slow cooked shredded beef, tender and tangy with just a hint of heat.
Slow Cooker Sweet & Sour Meatballs
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 18-24 frozen meatballs or 1 recipe Make Ahead Meatballs
- 1 tbsp oil
- 3 large bell peppers any color, cut into bite sized chunks
- 1 tsp minced garlic 2-3 cloves
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp sesame oil
- 1 can mandarin oranges 11 ounce drained with 1/4 cup juice reserved.
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Set the slow cooker to low heat and place a single layer of frozen meatballs evenly on the bottom.
- Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the chopped peppers and minced garlic. Saute until tender, about 3-5 minutes until peppers are softened, stirring frequently.
- Add the onion powder, vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, brown sugar and sesame oil and stir to combine.
- Drain the mandarin oranges, reserving 1/4 cup of the juice. Add the drained mandarin oranges to the saucepan. Increase the heat to medium-high and heat the sauce to a boil.
- In a small bowl combine the reserved 1/4 cup juice from the mandarin oranges with the cornstarch and mix until the cornstarch is completely dissolved.
- Add the cornstarch mixture into the sauce and stir. It will begin thickening immediately.
- Remove from heat and pour over the frozen meatballs in the slow cooker. Cover and cook for 5-6 hours on low (or 2-3 hours on high) stirring occasionally.
- Serve over any type of cooked rice or over egg noodles for dinner, or serve with toothpicks if serving as an appetizer. Enjoy!
Nutrition *
* The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator.
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