Sweet and Sour Crock Pot Meatballs (Print)

Frozen meatballs in tangy-sweet peach preserves sauce. Effortless appetizer or main dish ready in 3 hours.

# Components:

→ Meatballs

01 - 2 lbs frozen fully-cooked meatballs

→ Sweet and Sour Sauce

02 - 1 cup peach or apricot preserves
03 - 1/2 cup ketchup
04 - 1/4 cup rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
05 - 2 tbsp soy sauce
06 - 1/4 cup light brown sugar
07 - 1 tbsp Dijon mustard, optional
08 - 1/2 tsp garlic powder
09 - 1/2 tsp ground ginger
10 - 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, optional

# Directions:

01 - Place frozen meatballs into the slow cooker bowl
02 - In a mixing bowl, whisk together preserves, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, Dijon mustard if using, garlic powder, ginger, and red pepper flakes until smooth
03 - Pour sauce over meatballs and stir gently to coat all meatballs evenly
04 - Cover and cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours until meatballs are heated through and sauce is bubbling, stirring once or twice during cooking if possible
05 - Serve hot as an appetizer with toothpicks or over rice as a main dish

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • Your slow cooker does the heavy lifting while you forget about dinner until it's ready to eat.
  • The sauce tastes like you spent hours perfecting it, but it's honestly just preserved fruit and a few pantry staples mixed together.
  • People ask for seconds even though they think frozen meatballs sound casual, but that tangy-sweet glaze changes everything.
02 -
  • Don't skip the stir at the beginning—meatballs sitting on the hot bottom of the crock pot without sauce will scorch and stick before you realize it.
  • The sauce gets thicker as it cooks, which is beautiful, but if it ever looks too thin after 3 hours, you can mix a tablespoon of cornstarch with a little water and stir it in during the last 30 minutes to tighten things up.
03 -
  • Use a slow cooker liner if you want zero cleanup—the sauce won't stick, and everything slides out effortlessly.
  • If your slow cooker runs particularly hot, check the meatballs after 2.5 hours; some models cook faster than others, and you don't want the sauce reducing too much.
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