Description
These sweet and sour meatballs are always a hit at parties. My mom sometimes takes shortcuts and uses pre-made meatballs from a bag, which, after spending a few hours in the slow cooker, taste fine. I like these best when they are made completely from scratch! Ground turkey works too, but doesn’t hold its shape as well. To turn into a meal, heat rice to serve with the dish. The serving size refers to this dish as a main meal, but when served as an hors d’oeuvre, easily can feed 10 to 13 people. Sometimes I do not add the cornstarch into the sauce, and just allow it to boil for a bit longer, but the cornstarch really does yield the best result.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds ground beef
- ⅔ cup plain breadcrumbs
- ⅓ cup minced onion
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 (15 ounce) can pineapple chunks, juice reserved
- ⅓ cup vinegar
- ⅓ cup chopped green bell pepper
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Thoroughly mix the ground beef
- bread crumbs
- onion
- milk
- egg
- and salt together in a bowl. Roll the mixture into balls and arrange onto a baking sheet.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the meatballs are browned on the bottom
- about 25 minutes. Transfer to a slow cooker.
- Stir the cornstarch and brown sugar together in the bottom of a saucepan and place over low heat. Add the reserved pineapple juice and vinegar; stir until smooth. Bring the mixture to a boil for 1 full minute before removing from heat; pour over the meatballs in the slow cooker.
- Add the pineapple chunks and green bell pepper to the slow cooker.
- Cook the mixture in the slow cooker on Low until the flavors are thoroughly combined
- 3 to 4 hours.
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 3 hrs 30 mins
Total Time: 3 hrs 45 mins
Servings: 6