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Crock Pot Sweet and Sour Meatballs are a delicious and easy recipe! Meatballs, pineapple and peppers are all coated in a homemade sweet and sour sauce!
FROZEN MEATBALLS WITH A HOMEMADE SAUCE
I could not wait to share this recipe for Crock Pot Sweet and Sour Meatballs with you today. It turned out so good that even my picky eaters enjoyed it. It was so simple to make and my house smelled AMAZING while it cooked. The sauce is a wonderful blend of sweet and tangy. And the meatballs came out so tender! It may sound like a weird combination of flavors but it really works so well. If there is one recipe I wish people would make from my site, it is definitely this one!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Nope! The meatballs go in frozen.
I wouldn’t suggest it. Mainly because homemade meatballs will release a lot of fat as they cook and you might end up with a greasy mess. Perhaps if your meatballs had already been pre-cooked that would work. Just make sure they aren’t Italian style meatballs. Those flavors do not work well with this. Also, I have only made this with frozen meatballs so this is all just guessing on my part. If you try it and it works for you, please let me know!
If you want to serve these as an appetizer, just serve them as-is and with small bowls and forks on the side for guests to help themselves. Or if you want to make it more like a meal, you could serve them with rice.
Technically yes, but at some point, you’ll want to switch it over to high to help the sauce thicken. Getting it hot helps that cornstarch activate to thicken the sauce. Unless maybe you have a slow cooker that naturally runs hot, you may not need to. I’ve only ever tested this out this one particular way but if you have tips or have tried making it a different way, please comment below.
Leftovers can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and can be frozen for up to 3 months. Reheating in the microwave or on a pot on the stove is your best option.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)
frozen homestyle meatballs – use your favorite here, I know different areas carry different brands and it seems like there are varying sizes of the bags too. I used a 28 ounce bag but if yours is a little less or a little more – that’s fine, it will still work. Just make sure you don’t get the Italian flavored meatballs because the seasoning in those won’t work well with this recipe.
canned pineapple chunks in 100% juice – you need the kind in 100% juice not syrup because you are going to use that juice to make the sauce and the syrup is just too sweet and not the right consistency to make this sauce. If you can’t find the pineapple chunks, you can use pineapple tidbits.
green pepper – you could also go with a red or yellow pepper here. I suppose you could leave it out if you really hate peppers.
brown sugar – this is the sweet part of the sweet and sour sauce. Because brown sugar has molasses in it, it’s also adds a nice depth of flavor. I would not substitute this with regular sugar or a sugar substitute if possible.
vinegar – I have not tried this with apple cider vinegar so I honestly couldn’t say if that flavor would work well here. I like apple cider vinegar but I’m not sure I would like it in this.
soy sauce – if you are sensitive to sodium, you could go with a low sodium soy sauce here.
cornstarch – this is going to help thicken the sauce. Don’t use flour, it doesn’t work as well and you’ll end up with lumps in your sauce.
HOW TO MAKE SLOW COOKER SWEET AND SOUR MEATBALLS:
First, drain the juice from the can of pineapple into a medium bowl (you’ll need that later for the sauce.) It should give you about a cup of pineapple juice.
Place frozen meatballs into a 4-6 quart crock pot.
Then top meatballs with pineapple chunks and green peppers.
Add brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce and cornstarch to the pineapple juice you set aside earlier. Whisk it all together well.
Pour sauce over meatballs.
Cover and cook on low for 2 hours. After a couple of hours, switch the crock pot to high and cook for an additional hour. Doing this will thicken the sauce. After an hour, the sauce should be thicker and bubbling around the edges.
You can serve them just like this or over some rice to make it a meal!
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
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Originally published: December 2015
Updated and republished: May 2023
Crock Pot Sweet and Sour Meatballs (+Video)
Ingredients
20 ounce can pineapple chunks in 100% juice (save juice)
1 green pepper diced into chunks
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup vinegar2 tablespoon soy sauce
3 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
Notes
Don’t like peppers? Just leave them out!
Frozen meatball packages all come in varying sizes depending on the brand. This recipe will accommodate all standard size bags of meatballs – as long as it isn’t family size, it will work.
If your can of pineapples doesn’t give you a full cup of pineapple juice, you may need to supplement with a little more or just add a touch of water to get you up to one cup.
For a meal, serve with rice. For an appetizer, serve with toothpicks or set aside bowls for your guests to serve themselves.
Nutrition
Looking for more ideas? I post recipes I find on other blogs here. I share information about kitchen equipment I use here. Since I often order ingredients from Amazon (I live in a rural area and don’t have easy access to grocery stories) and my list of items I commonly order here. Finally, here is a list of my favorite cookbooks.