Description
These Jalapeño Cranberry Meatballs are sweet, tart and spicy! Juicy, homemade meatballs are tossed in a cranberry bbq sauce with jalapeño for the ultimate holiday or game day appetizer! Ready to eat in just 45 minutes.
Ingredients
Scale
Meatballs:
- 1 slice of white sandwich bread
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 16 ounce 85/15 ground beef
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon pickled jalapeños from the jar, chopped fine
Sauce:
- 1 cup store bought or homemade cranberry sauce
- 3/4 cup original bbq sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon jalapeño juice from jar
Instructions
- Start with the homemade cranberry sauce if you're making it. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Tear the sandwich bread up into smaller pieces and place in a small bowl. Pour the milk over the bread and allow it to sit and get soggy for about 2 minutes. Make sure all the bread is submerged in the milk.
- Into a large bowl, add in the ground beef, milk and bread mixture, egg, diced jalapeño, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Mix with your hands to combine.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place a baking rack on top. Roll the meatball mix into meatballs about 2 inches wide and place on the rack. You should get about 20 meatballs. Bake for 22-30 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
- Once there is about 10 minutes left on the meatballs, heat a skillet on the stovetop over medium low heat. Add in cranberry sauce, bbq sauce, honey, and the jalapeño juice. Allow to warm up, stirring frequently. If you want the sauce a bit thinner, mash up the cranberry sauce and add in a few more tablespoons of bbq sauce or water.
- Remove the meatballs from the oven and allow to cool for a minute.
- Toss the meatballs in the sauce and gently stir to combine and coat all the meatballs. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- If the meatball mixture is really sticky or hard to work with, you can add in 1/4 cup breadcrumbs or panko and/or stick in the fridge for about 30 minutes before forming.
- Check the meatballs with an internal thermometer by inserting it into the center of the meatball. A 165 degree temperature will give you the best results. It's important to rely on temperature over time, because the size of the meatball will determine how fast they'll cook. Mine took about 23-24 minutes.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: appetizer
- Method: bake & stovetop
- Cuisine: American