Sweet & Sour Meatballs

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These are perfect for the upcoming Superbowl game!! We have a friend that makes the most amazing Bourbon Meatballs so I wanted to try and find a recipe that was similar. I looked online multiple times for recipes but I wanted to make them fresh and from scratch. Out of the recipes I found, people were using frozen mini meatballs and a jar of store bought Chinese sweet & sour sauce or a jar of grape jelly and chili sauce which people claim is really good but doesn't sound very appetizing to me so I came up with my own with a little guidance from http://cookingontheside.com/

Ingredients for the Meatballs:

1 lb Ground Beef

1 Egg

1/2 cup Plain Breadcrumbs

1 Teaspoon Minced Garlic

S&P to taste

Ingredients for the Sauce:

1 Can Beef Broth - Fat Free Low Sodium

1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Vinegar
1/4 of a Red Pepper - Finely Diced
20oz Can of Pineapple Chunks in Syrup
1 Tbsp Corn Starch

Start by making the meatballs. Mix the breadcrumbs, meat, egg, salt & pepper together in a medium size bowl with your hands. When you feel it is mixed well, begin forming about 1 inch sized meatballs. When you have all of the meatballs made, put the vegetable oil in a large pan over medium heat.

Add all of the meatballs to the pan and brown the bottom of the meatballs for 3-4 minutes, than using tongs flip them over to brown the other side for 3-4 minutes. Add the entire can of beef broth and simmer for 20 minutes. Occasionally give the pan a little shake to move the meatballs back and forth in the broth.

While the meatballs are cooking you can start to get everything ready for the sauce. Take the pineapple chunks out of the can but keep the syrup aside. Dice the big pineapple chunks into much smaller pieces. Dice the red pepper as well. When the meatballs are done take them out and put them aside. Add the pineapple and red pepper to the broth.

Gradually begin to add the rest of the sauce ingredients to the pan. Add the soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar and 2/3 cup of the pineapple syrup left over from the can of pineapple. Mix the sauce well. Lastly whisk in the corn starch.

Stirring the sauce frequently, simmer it for about 15 minutes until it has reduced and become thick. Poor the sauce over the meatballs and serve hot. In my case I brought these with me to a party so I put them in my slow cooker and kept it on the warm setting until it was time to travel and then plugged it back in when we arrived. Put out some toothpicks or a spoon so that serving the meatballs is easy.

 Enjoy!! - Nicole