SUBSCRIBE BY EMAIL!
Crockpot Sweet Asian Meatballs
PIN THIS RECIPE!Oh my lord, I completely forgot to tell you about my pepper experience. How I forgot about this, I have no idea. But it needs to be talked about. My humiliation is just for you.
Ok so did you know peppers are spicy? You did? Ok cool. So did you know that peppers have capsaicin in them? Oh you knew that too? Ok this is a boring convo so let’s get to the point. The other day, when I was making my pork green chile, I cut up a crap ton of peppers before I got tired of standing and sat down on the couch to Food Network it up. Cupcake Wars to be exact. Anywho, while sitting on this couch of mine, my finger somehow made it up my nose. Oh don’t act you never pick your nose. If you act like you don’t, you’re a liar. STRAIGHT UP liar. I don’t care if you’re a side pincher, deep digger, or pick-and-looker, you all do it. So I did it. Then regretted that decision. My capsaicin covered fingers got the best of me. My eyes started to water. My nose itched in a weird burning uncomfortable way. And I couldn’t figure what the hell was going on. Then I used my brain. Don’t caress peppers then pick your nose. It doesn’t make sense. Trust me. It hurt. I cried while watching Cupcake Wars.
If you’re a parent and need to ween your child off their pacifier or thumb, rub a pepper on it. Sh*t I’m smart. Nanny 911 right here. BOOM.
So I’ve been pretty good at staying away from family while I’ve been in Dallas. Not intentionally. I just would rather be working out or eating at fun restaurants with other CrossFitters than doing really…anything else. I was lucky enough to get to try out Kozy Kitchen after another class at CrossFit Deep Ellum. Great gym. Great people. Great music. And those people know food. This was a wicked good paleo/gluten free friendly place. I got something called the Bowl of Doom that included about 18 chopped sweet potatoes, poached eggs, and venison sausage. Oh and avocado. Duh. There were even other CrossFitters hangin around in there. I should move to Texas. Hot bros everywhere.
Have you noticed how often I’ve been using my crockpot lately? That’s because I’m lazy. And most people are too. That’s why my friends have been asking for more crockpot recipes. Lazy bastards. You know who you are.
PrintPaleo Crockpot Sweet Asian Meatballs
Ingredients
- 2 yellow onions, sliced
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 egg, whisked
- 1/3 cup almond flour/meal
- 1 (14 oz) can of diced pineapple
- 2 tablespoons coconut aminos (or wheat free soy sauce if you can’t find it)
- 1 tablespoon siracha
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon mustard seed
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Grab out your crockpot.
- Put all the onions in the bottom of the crockpot. The fat from the meat cooks them down and makes them stupid delicious.
- Add all the ingredients in a bowl. Mix together
- Make balls of the meat. Any size you please. I made these guys a little bigger because bigger is better. Just tuck the pineapple in the meat and pinch to close up.
- Cook on high for about 2-3 hours in the crockpot (depending on how thick you make the meatballs). I made these then cleaned the house. When I say cleaned the house, I mean cleaned the dishes then watched cupcake wars. Cleaned meaning put everything in the dishwasher.
- Anywho, eat these with some of the cooked onions. So good!
Oh, Hi! I’m Juli.
LATEST BOOK
DON’T MISS A BITE
discounts, and stories straight to your inbox for FREE!
36 thoughts on “Crockpot Sweet Asian Meatballs”
In case you are an idiot like me, I will let you know not to do what I did.
1 (14 oz) can of diced pineapple – Should be a DRAINED can. So dump the juice, otherwise you wont be able to make any meat balls at all… just some gross looking meat sauce 😉
Wish it would have said to drain the pineapple juice first! the taste is great, but I couldn’t form meatballs (even after adding a whole lot more almond flour). It would be great to have that important piece of information added to the original recipe. I will be making it again though 🙂
★★★★
Muchas gracias Peter. Always being so helpful 🙂
Made this today. Used fresh Pineapple on sale $1.99 each! Came out great easy lovely , love the siracha kick. We had this with traditional french Ratatoui
Thanks Juli for all your hard work,Your NJ home is always ready for you!
You guys are so freaking awesome!! Glad you liked them!!
Hey Juli – Your website is amazing! Any idea how long you could cook these on low?
I’m guessing for 4-5 hours Catherine!
dude, i grew up in dallas. never knew about kozy kitchen and its potential awesomeness. grass fed beef EVERYWHERE. i’m going next time i’m visiting dallas. thankyouthankyouthankyou.
oh, these meatballs look awesome too!
omg i wish that place was here in Denver!
Thanks for the recipe, the meatballs were so good! I had to share our additions with you!
I poured the pineapple juice into the crock pot on top of the onions, which made a nice simmery sauce for the meatballs. We also made oven-baked kale chips that we sprinkled on top of the meatballs and onions before eating, making it a crispy, savory, salty yummy bowl of deliciousness! Everyone here has a full belly and a happy mouth!
★★★★
That’s sounds awesome Stacy!
Do you think I could put these in the oven instead of in a crock pot? Would it change the moistness?
★★★★★
I bet it would still work!!
Anywho, hilarious! My husband had pepper issues. . . once. It wasn’t his nose that toasted. ‘Nuf said.
Can’t wait to try these meatballs. Asian. Pineapple. Mustard seed. Ginger. Sounds like ambrosia in meatball!
★★★★★
This was an epic fail for me. Used fresh pineapple. Meatballs melted into a sludge.
★
Me too! It tasted like glue. Must be the fresh pineapple?
huge hit with my family AND the family i made it for. THX!
★★★★★
Could you use ground pork rather than beef?
Absolutely!
These look AMAZING.
I have a pepper story too – my husband was making salsa with hot homegrown jalapenos one Sunday afternoon. I guess he looked really cute making salsa or something because we somehow ended up cruising down the hall to the bedroom… and that whole joint ended pretty fast when certain mucous membranes suddenly started getting pretty damn hot, and I don’t mean that in a good way.
We are a lot more careful about what activities we plan after salsa-making now. Just sayin’.
Ooooo!!! I always love a good new recipe. I want to try these with pork as one of the other commenters asked and I want to try searing the meatballs in some virgin coconut oil and then finish them in the crock pot. GREAT RECIPE! (sorry about the nose. lol…. I’ve put my finger in my eye before after slicing jalepenos. Sweet Jebus that was awful!)
Tomorrow night’s supper!
This recipe certainly withstood a lot of alterations & omissions on my part & still came out tasting divine!
Thank you so much for an awesome supper, we’re eating early 🙂
Is that ground or minced ginger?
ground, but you could use fresh minced ginger if you wanted to!
These turned out horrible. Not sure what went wrong, we used fresh pineapple and cooked in a crock pot. They turned into a sludge and the taste was beyond anything we wanted to try and eat.
★
I had the sluge problem as well when I used fresh pineapple. I’ve made it two other times with canned pineapple and it turned out great! Must be some reaction with the acid in the fresh pineapple and the meat.
★★★★★
OMG Julie you make me laugh…I actually snorted out a bugger reading this! ROFL
Reporting back…I doubled the recipe and then went to have a nap…woke up to the wonderful smell and everything turned out awesome!!! Thanks
HA.
“Don’t caress a pepper and then pick your nose.”
That’s the best advice ever. Friggin’ love you, Juli. XD
These were just okay. I made them for dinner tonight and after reading the other comments I was very aware that others had issues with the meatballs falling apart into a sludge. When I was mixing all of the ingredients the mixture was really loose looking, so I double the amount of almond meal to (hopefully) help bind it. Even still, they were hard to serve without them falling apart. I think searing them in a pan first might help. I don’t think ‘sweet’ in the name is fitting at all. I’m not trying to be nit picky but don’t want others to get the wrong idea of what to expect. They have some spice but they are not overly spicy which I appreciated since we have kids. My kids ate them without complaint, so points for that! I just felt the flavor was rather one dimensional and might try tweaking it to suit our tastes and work on firming them up.
★★
Had the sludge problem as well, wish I’d read the comments beforehand. They rolled up into meatballs just fine, but I think the slow cook method just wasn’t right for them, in the oven they probably would have been fine.
★
These are incredible! I omit the pineapple because my kids wouldn’t eat it with pineapple. Delish!
★★★★★
I didn’t make these in the crockpot or include the pineapple but they’re delicious! cooked in the oven on top of the raw onions and the onions still cooked perfectly. Didnt include as much ginger either. Easy to make, thanks!
★★★★
Any thoughts on how to convert these to the instant pot?
i haven’t tried meatballs in the IP yet so i can’t say!