These teriyaki meatballs are such a huge hit at our house, that even when I’ve made a huge batch of them, hoping to have enough extra to shoot pictures, my guys would eat up most of them in one sitting! The teriyaki sauce I came up with and use for these meatballs has a generous amount of ginger for a great flavor and cuts out a bit of sugar and sodium which usually acts as the main flavoring in most teriyaki sauces. This one surprises you with a bold, but balanced gingery kick.
Gingery Sauce For Teriyaki Meatballs
I think the key to making this sauce extra good without all the added sweetness is to bump up the ginger a bit. The meatballs are loaded with fresh ginger, as is the Ginger Teriyaki Sauce. You still get a subtle sweet undertone, but most of the flavor is from the ginger, green onion, sauce ingredients and good meat. You will also find that you don’t need to load on a ton of sauce to enjoy these yummy dinner treats. Just toss them in enough sauce to coat the meatballs and then add a little extra sauce to your dish if you want a little extra for your starch. We love this dish with jasmine rice, udon or lo mein noodles.
Meatball Meat
I find these meatballs most delicious and complimentary to the Ginger Teriyaki Sauce with local organic ground pork. I tried making these recently with regular store bought ground pork and it was good, but it was honestly missing that extra BAM, plus they were much greasier. A good naturally lean organic and sustainable meat will not only make your food taste better, but it won’t shrink and be loaded with extra grease . If you prefer turkey, chicken or beef, I’m sure these would be great made with that meat as well, as long as you still use the teriyaki sauce, do NOT forget that sauce.
Cocktail Party Potential
These would also be great served up for a crowd as a crockpot appetizer. Just prepare them in the oven as instructed below ( I already have the recipe to make these little yummies as cocktail size) and once cooked transfer them to a crockpot, add some of the Ginger Teriyaki Sauce and keep warm at the party. Don’t forget to bring some toothpicks and enjoy!
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Ginger Teriyaki Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 lb ground pork I prefer to use local organic ground pork
- 1 Tbsp fresh ginger grated fine ( I like to use my micro-plane the best)
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 green onions finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- *optional 1-2 extra green onions, chopped as a garnish
Ginger Teriyaki Sauce (You will have extra to enjoy with another meal)
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in mixing bowl and combine well with hands
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Once well combined use the larger side of melon-baller to ball up and roll mixture into small meatballs. (I make mine cocktail size, about 1" diameter)
- Place meatballs on aluminum foil lined and oil sprayed sheet pan or straight onto lightly greased sheet pan evenly spaced apart. (A broiler pan works great as well)
- Bake 20-25 minutes (or internal temperature of meatballs at least 160 degrees) Turn meatballs about halfway through. Either jiggle the sheet pan to loosen or turn manually (I like to use a wide spatula to turn 4/time)
- If not up to temp add another 2-3 minutes.
- While meatballs are cooking start preparing your Ginger Teriyaki Sauce. (Cook your starch if you're adding any to the dish at this time as well.)
- Once cooked you can serve immediately over rice or noodles. If you are not serving yet, you can keep the meatballs warm in a crock-pot til ready to serve. If your Teriyaki Sauce is ready, coat the meatballs in a little sauce while you're waiting to serve them.
- You can serve a little extra sauce on the side for people to add more on their own to their liking.
Very tasty! Thanks for sharing the recipe! I made these for dinner tonight and we had them over rice. My wife and I both thought that they were very good.
Awesome, Jim! Glad you and your wife enjoyed them. I hope you check out some more recipes on here as well. Happy New Year!
Greetings! I’ve been reading your website for some time now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out
from Huffman Tx! Just wanted to tell you keep up the good
job!
Why, thank you! I love hearing from readers like you! I appreciate your comments and hope to keep people like you coming back to keep checking us out. Happy New Year!
I just discovered your site through Yumgoggle and I pinned these meatballs to try in the future. They look so good! Ground pork is one of my favorite meats and I sometimes buy it from a local farmer at one of my local farmer’s market. Nothing beats the taste of meat that was raised humanely.
Neeli, I completely agree, the taste of good meat is incomparable. Also, it’s great to support local farmers, it’s a win win really. Thanks for checking out the site as well.
These sound…and look…fantastic! Will definately be trying them soon!
Do give them a try! They’re quite a hit in our house.