Honey Garlic Meatballs are juicy, tender, and smothered in rich, sticky sauce with the perfect balance of sweet and savory! Try making today!
These homemade meatballs have quickly become a party favorite. They’re perfect to put out on a platter and serve with your other favorite Appetizers like Bacon Wrapped Smokies and Buffalo Wings.
Sabrina’s Honey Garlic Meatballs Recipe
This meatball recipe is the perfect party finger food to put out during a holiday gathering or the next time you’re hosting game day. The sweet honey glaze is sure to be a favorite with all your guests. Plus, you can put out sauces like BBQ or hot sauce for fun dipping options.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
Meatball Recipe:
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 3 slices bread
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter , divided
- 1/2 yellow onion , minced
- 2 pounds ground beef , (80/20)
- 2 large eggs
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
Honey Garlic Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 12 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 3/4 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a 9×13 baking pan with vegetable oil spray.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer add the milk to the slices of bread.
- Melt the butter in a pan and add the minced yellow onions.
- Cook them on medium-low until translucent but not browned.
- Remove from heat and let cool.
- In your bowl with the milk-soaked bread, add the ground beef, eggs, garlic, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce, along with the cooked onions.
- Mix it on low until the bread is broken apart and the meat is combined with the ingredients (using the stand mixer and not your hands helps keep the mixture cold and tender).
- Using a meatballer/ice cream scoop or your hands, scoop them into balls about the size of a ping pong ball and place on the baking sheet.
- Cook, uncovered, for 20-22 minutes.
- While meatballs are cooking add vegetable oil and garlic to a large skillet on medium heat.
- Cook for 1 minute, stirring often.
- Whisk in sesame oil, ketchup, honey, and soy sauce.
- Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
- Add cooked meatballs to skillet, stir to combine.
- Cook for 5-6 minutes until well glazed.
Nutrition
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Sabrina’s Tips
To ensure I have the most tender meatballs, I soak the bread thoroughly and mix the meat gently. I also let the sauce simmer until thickened, so it coats every meatball perfectly.
Table of contents
About this Recipe
This Honey Garlic Meatball recipe is quick, easy, and so tasty! Simple meatball ingredients are combined in a matter of minutes. Then you just put them in the oven to bake to tender, crispy perfection. Lastly, they’re coated in a sweet honey glaze that adds so much amazing flavor and contrast to the savory garlic meatball recipe. It’s the ultimate combination of a sweet, sticky glaze with the classic ground beef meatballs.
How to Store
- Serve: Don’t leave this meatball recipe at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
- Store: You can keep baked meatballs in the fridge for 3-4 days. Let the leftover meatballs cool, then transfer meatballs to an airtight container to seal them.
- Freeze: Frozen meatballs will stay good in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let them thaw in the fridge before reheating them in the oven.
Ideas to Serve
Rather than serving them as party food, you can also make Honey Garlic Meatballs the main dish for a filling family dinner. Meatballs quickly turn into a full meal with rice. Simply scoop the meatballs and honey garlic sauce over White or Brown Rice. The rice will soak up the flavor of the sweet honey glaze and makes a great base for the tasty meat. Finish off the bowl with sesame seeds and green onions for garnish.
Slow Cooker Method
- To make these meatballs in the slow cooker, start by prepping the bread and onions. Then combine the meat mixture and form the meatballs according to the recipe in this post.
- Add the meatballs to a baking sheet and broil for 8-10 minutes.
- Next, whisk together the sauce ingredients, and pour the sauce into the slow cooker.
- Add the meatballs, and stir until they’re coated in the sauce.
- Turn the crockpot to low for 3-4 hours to cook through.
Variations
- Brown sugar: If you’d like a darker more caramelized sweet flavor, you can use brown sugar instead of honey. Use ¾ cup brown sugar to replace the ½ cup honey in the recipe.
- Seasonings: For some extra flavor, try adding different spices like onion powder, paprika, cayenne pepper powder, cumin, or chili flakes.
- Ground chicken: Instead of a classic ground beef meatball recipe, you can make a slightly lighter dish by using ground chicken. Combine the ground chicken with the same ingredients as listed in the recipe and bake as usual before adding the sauce.
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These photos were in a previous version of this post:
I was so impressed by this recipe! Super super yummy and clean! My husband and daughter loved it too. This will definitely be a staple dinner in our house from now on 🙂
Is 12 cloves garlic in the sauce accurate?
Cloves come in different sizes of course but yes, 12 cloves. Please stop back by after you’ve tried the recipe with the amazing Honey Garlic sauce (super tasty) and let us know what your thoughts!
Can I use frozen meatballs? (I know the quality won’t be as amazing).
Yes you can! Let us know how they turned out for you.
Can I use breadcrumbs instead of bread?
yes! If you decide to make the recipe, let us know how it turned out! Enjoy!
I added Two tablespoons Of hoison sauce, red pepper flakes, and some extra honey…delicious ? thank you
I used turkey meat and added a few more spices and these meatballs were so moist and flavorful. I suggest doubling the sauce cause I could drink it.
I made this with the brown sugar substitute and my husband said “one of the better things I’ve cooked!” It will go in the rotation for sure!
My only question for nutritional purpose is what constitutes a serving? Thank you!
The issue is that people will have ingredients of different sizes. Packaged products are weighed and measured at the time of creation which makes their measurements accurate. The only way to accurately know the measurements of meals is to weigh and divide.
This came out great! I added a little orange juice to the sauce and added crushed peanuts at the end. Was so good! Thank you for this recipe!
Loved these meatballs! Will definitely add to our meal planner.
These are the BEST! I tried them last night for the first time and we really stuffed ourselves with them. SO good. I will say the prep time was way longer than 10 minutes but so worth it! Thanks for yet another great recipe.
This recipe was so easy and very delicious. I will definitely make it again.
This recipe is 3rd recipe of yours I have used this week that was a win for the pickiest of eaters!!! Only thing I had to do was make sure she was busy not watching me while I chopped the onions for the meatballs.
Haha we’ve all been there!
Hmmm, dear Sabrina, tomorrow will a lunch with my dear daughter in my home.
This recipe is fine and beautiful – I choose it for our lunch!
Thank you very much, Sabrina!!!
Have a great weekend!
Best
Marianne