Crockpot Grape Jelly Meatballs
Party meatballs in a sweet, tangy, slightly spicy glaze made from grape jelly and chili sauce. Three ingredients, zero stress.
- Crockpot
- Slow cooker
- Beef
- Snack
- 185 min total
- Serves 12
Ingredients
Ingredients for servings
Enter a number of at least ½, in steps of ½.
Original recipe serves 12. Ingredient amounts adjust automatically. Cooking times and pan size may need adjusting separately.
- 2 lb frozen meatballs, fully cooked, thawed overnight in the fridge
- 1 cup grape jelly
- 1 cup chili sauce, the ketchup-style kind, such as Heinz
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, optional
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, optional
Steps
Step 1: Put the jelly, chili sauce, Worcestershire and pepper flakes in the slow cooker and whisk until mostly smooth. A few lumps of jelly will melt.
Step 2: Add the thawed meatballs and stir to coat.
Step 3: Cover and cook on Low 3 hours or High 1.5 hours, stirring once or twice, until the meatballs are hot all the way through (165°F) and the sauce is glossy.
Step 4: Switch to Warm and serve with toothpicks.
Swaps
- Jelly: Apricot preserves or cranberry sauce give a different sweet-tart flavor.
- Sauce: Barbecue sauce in place of the chili sauce makes them smokier.
- Meatballs: Turkey meatballs work exactly the same way.
Tips
- Chili sauce here means the ketchup-style bottle near the ketchup, not Asian chili sauce.
- Double the batch for a big party. They disappear.
- Serve them over rice for a quick dinner the next day.
The story
HAM Cooking. Let’s fire it up.
Grape jelly meatballs sound like a recipe a kid would invent. Then you taste them and realize the kid was a genius.
It works because a great glaze is all about balancing sweet against sour and savory, and these two jars do it for you. Grape jelly brings sugar and fruity tang. Chili sauce, the ketchup-style kind, brings tomato, vinegar and a little spice. Mix them together and heat them, and they melt into a shiny, sticky, sweet-and-sour sauce that coats every meatball. A shot of Worcestershire sauce adds some savory depth so it doesn’t taste like dessert.
The slow cooker is the perfect party host. It heats them gently, keeps them warm for hours, and doesn’t need you standing over it. Just thaw the meatballs first. Starting from frozen means they spend too long in the temperature danger zone while they warm up.
Set out the toothpicks and watch these vanish while everybody pretends they only had one.
HAM out.
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