Crock Pot Party Meatballs
Homemade Crock Pot Party Meatballs are easily made from scratch with the most delicious sauce and made right in your slow cooker!
A DELICIOUS HOMEMADE PARTY MEATBALL RECIPE
If there is any food I love the most, it is party food. I am a total sucker for little bites of goodness. I guess it’s because I am more of a grazer. I mean, I love my 3 square meals a day, but if I have the choice, I love to eat a little bit all throughout the day. That’s why I get excited for tailgating or holiday parties. Lots of bite-sized goodness! I can just keep going back and eating here and there as the mood strikes.
TIPS FOR MAKING CROCK POT PARTY MEATBALLS:
- For this recipe, I am making a homemade meatball. You can make these meatballs in advance and freeze them. Just put the meatballs on a tray in a single layer. Then put the tray in the freezer. Once they are frozen, you can pack them up in a freezer safe bag and then when ready, put them in the crock pot with the sauce and cook for about 4-6 hours (it takes a little longer for them to cook from frozen.)
- It’s important to use lean ground beef (90/10) for this dish. You don’t want the meat to release a lot of fat while cooking. We don’t want greasy meatballs here. Pork is naturally lean so it works well in this along with ground turkey or ground chicken.
- If you don’t have one of these casserole crock pots, just put down a single layer of meatballs at a time. Add a sheet of aluminum foil on top of each layer, followed by a single layer of meatballs. Once meatballs are fully cooked, remove the foil layers and give the meatballs a stir to cover them all in the sauce and allow the meatballs to simmer in the sauce for an additional hour.
- For this particular recipe, I chose to make a larger meatball. Most cocktail meatballs are half this size. However, I’ll be totally honest, I have no patience for rolling out meatballs. So I figured I would make these larger ones and each one would be perfect for two or three bites. You can certainly use a smaller scoop and you would be able to double the amount of meatballs.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- lean ground beef (90/10)
- ground pork
- eggs
- bread crumbs
- salt & pepper
- onion powder
- garlic powder
- Worcestershire Sauce
- chili sauce
- hot pepper jelly (or red pepper jelly)
HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE CROCK POT PARTY MEATBALLS:
I find this easiest to use a stand mixer. I just pop all the ingredients into the bowl and turn it on low until combined. However, using your clean hands works just as good.
Stir until fully combined.
Before rolling the meatballs, pour the chili sauce and jelly into a 6 quart (or larger slow cooker.) Note: I am using a 3.5 quart casserole slow cooker. I like it because it has a lot of surface area to work with and is perfect for meatballs.
Using a spring-loaded cookie scooper, scoop out the meat mixture and roll between your hands to make them round. Using one of these will help you keep the meatballs an even size. This particular scooper is a medium one. It holds just about 3 tablespoons of meatball mix.
Add meatballs on top of the sauce mixture. Continue until you’ve made all the meatballs.
Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours. Internal temperature of the meat should be 160f degrees.
Flip the meatballs over about halfway through cooking.
Once cooked, stir the meatballs so they are covered in sauce.
Place on a plate with toothpicks or serve directly from the crock pot. You can place some plates and forks right next to the slow cooker so guests can help themselves. Just keep your slow cooker on the warm setting.
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
Crock Pot Party Meatballs
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 1 pound lean ground beef, 90/10
- 1 pound lean ground pork
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups bread crumbs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
For the sauce:
- 12 ounce jar chili sauce
- 10.5 ounce jar hot pepper jelly (or red pepper jelly)
Instructions
- Place all ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Stir until full combined.
- Before rolling the meatballs, pour the chili sauce and jelly into a 6 quart slow cooker.
- Using a spring-loaded cookie scooper, scoop out the meat mixture and roll between your hands to make them round. Continue until you've made all the meatballs.
- Add meatballs on top of the sauce mixture.
- Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours (or have reached an internal temperature of 160f degrees.) Turn the meatballs over once about halfway through cooking.
- Once cooked, stir the meatballs so they are covered in sauce.
- Place on a plate and serve or serve directly from the crock pot (keeping it on the warm setting.)
Notes
- It’s important to use lean ground beef (90/10) for this dish. You don’t want the meat to release a lot of fat while cooking.
- If you don’t have one of these casserole crock pots, just put down a single layer of meatballs at a time. Add a sheet of aluminum foil on top of each layer, followed by a single layer of meatballs. Once meatballs are fully cooked, remove the foil layers and give the meatballs a stir to cover them all in the sauce and allow the meatballs to simmer in the sauce for an additional hour.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
I’m using frozen meatballs. How long would you suggest I leave them on?
Can you use frozen meatballs instead?
HI, do you still turn the meatballs halfway if doing them in layers in the crockpot? Mine is an oval crockpot and I have one layer on the bottom in the sauce and one layer above on foil.
Love meatballs. Your site is very good and the print out of recipes is excellent. Keep up the good work (recipes)
Can I just bake those meatball then put them in a Crockpot with the sauce? The adding of pork to the hamburger would cause a lot of grease in the Crock pot if not baked first.
Hi Susan, that is why I suggest very lean meat so you do not get a lot of grease. If you must use a fattier meat, then you could certainly do that. Hope that helps 🙂
If you want them less spicy, do all the above except substitute a bottle of Chili Sauce for the Pepper Jellly.
Are these spicy since using pepper jelly??
My husband can't eat beef. Can ground turkey be used along with the ground pork instead? If so, would I need to alter the other ingredients? Thanks
These meatballs are making my mouth water!! They would be perfect for an appetizer or a crazy good and easy dinner around the holidays!
Happy Thanksgiving Brandi!
Leslie
Thanks so much Leslie!! Ronnie, you could certainly use turkey in this. Or you could just use all pork. Or even venison or chicken!