Sweet and Sour Meatballs

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Yeah, I’m one of those people.

One of those people who is totally listening to Christmas music as I write this post. I try really hard to embrace the present, but Christmas is my absolutely favorite thing in the history of all things—so it’s really friggin’ hard for me to wait until after Thanksgiving to start thinking about my favorite season. It doesn’t help that we already had Thanksgiving (we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving last month).

I tried for years to hold out, but I’m going to just let myself soak in my Christmas cheer this year. I promise I’ll wait a little bit before overwhelming you with eggnog and peppermint and all things red and green, but I won’t wait to share with you some of my favorite holiday season eats.

These sweet and sour meatballs are new to my holiday repertoire, but they are a staple of my husband’s Christmas celebrations. He had these meatballs every year growing up. And the first year that we went up to visit his family for Christmas after we were married, I ate no less than 40,000 of these at his parents’ Christmas Eve party. I pretty much just camped out next to the slow cooker with toothpicks at the ready. So. Good.

When Craig’s parents were visiting us last month, my mother-in-law brought down an old, weathered cookbook that her mother had bought her as a wedding gift. I adore flipping through well-loved cookbooks. You can tell which recipes are the most-liked because the pages are torn, stained, and have lots of hand-written notes. I took photos of a ton of recipes from the book that I can’t wait to try, plus I snagged a few family favorites that I’ve always wanted to recreate, like these meatballs.

Because I am who I am, I couldn’t leave well enough alone and just follow the recipe, so I went to town and made my own version of both the meatballs and the sauce. The major change I made was because I knew I wanted to use some of the Concord grape jam I made from last year’s grape crop. We’ve been rationing our jam—it’s seriously amazing—and we’re on our last jar. This year’s grape harvest happened right went JuneBug was making her arrival, so we didn’t get a chance to pick them before the birds got to them, but next year, you better bet I’ll be making a triple batch of the jam.

If you want to serve this for a crowd, just dump the meatballs and the sauce in a slow cooker, put it on low and let it simmer away. Just add some toothpicks, and you’ve got an appetizer ready to go. These also work really well as a protein-packed, grab-and-go snack. I made a big batch of these for snacking on. I’m always looking for protein-based snacks, and these meatballs were perfect.

I can’t wait to share all the holiday goodness I have in store for you over the next few months! I hope you’ve got your spatulas at the ready.

Happy November! Enjoy.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Yield: 16 appetizer-sized servings

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

These sweet and sour meatballs are the perfect comfort-food appetizer for your holiday parties.

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Ingredients

For the Meatballs:

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon dried minced onion
• 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

For the Sauce:

• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup grape jam
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425°. In a medium-sized bowl, combine together all the meatball ingredients with clean hands. Form mixture into 1-1/2" meatballs and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until the meatballs are dark brown and cooked through.
2. Meanwhile, to repare the sauce, combine the water, brown sugar, vinegar, worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and grape jam in a small sauce pan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil. Mix the cornstarch with 3 tablespoons of water, and whisk into the sauce mixture. Reduce heat and simmer until the sauce is thick and bubbly, about five minutes.
3. Toss the meatballs in the sauce and serve immediately, or transfer the sauce and meatballs into a slow cooker on the low or warm setting to keep warm for serving.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 16 Serving Size: 1 appetizer serving
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 189Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 49mgSodium: 260mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 0gSugar: 12gProtein: 12g

At Wholefully, we believe that good nutrition is about much more than just the numbers on the nutrition facts panel. Please use the above information as only a small part of what helps you decide what foods are nourishing for you.