These meatballs are a snap to prepare and cook in the slow cooker. It’s a simple “fix and forget” dish your family will love. Buy your favorite frozen meatballs for this dish or make the meatballs from scratch. Hoisin sauce, ginger, soy sauce, and apricot preserves give the meatballs Asian flavor. If you don’t like the heat, you can skip the chili garlic sauce. Or instead of chili garlic paste, add one of my favorite ingredients, chili crisp. Serve the meatballs with rice or noodles or make them for a party or tailgating event.
PrintSpicy Asian-Style Slow Cooker Meatballs
These easy slow cooker meatballs take just a few minutes of prep time, and they make a delicious entree or appetizer.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Meatballs, Appetizers, Ground Beef
- Method: Slow Cooker
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 pounds frozen beef meatballs
- 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
- 1/3 cup water
- 4 tablespoons apricot preserves
- 6 green onions
- 3 tablespoons vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil or regular Asian sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste or ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon garlic chili paste, or to taste, optional
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Put the frozen meatballs in the slow cooker insert.
- Slice the green onions thinly, separating the white/light green and the dark green. Refrigerate the sliced dark green tops.
- In a small bowl or large measuring cup, combine the white and light green sliced green onions with the remaining ingredients; stir to blend.
- Pour the sauce over the meatballs. Stir to coat all of the meatballs.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 6 hours, stirring occasionally, or until the meatballs are hot and the mixture is bubbly. Add about half of the reserved sliced green onion tops.
- Serve garnished with the remaining sliced green onion tops.
