Spicy Honey Garlic Meatballs

These Spicy Honey Garlic Meatballs are coated in a sweet honey glaze with a punch of garlic. Perfect as a holiday appetizer or serve as a meal over rice.

When it comes to easy appetizers for the holidays, meatballs are such an easy go-to. They can be coated in a variety of sauces, like these Cranberry Barbecue Meatballs, and they are bite-sized making them easy to grab with a toothpick or mini fork and just pop in your mouth.

I love garlic in just about everything; I mean, if I could find a way to put garlic in a dessert I would totally rock that! Sweet flavors mesh so well with garlic because they tone it down a bit while still allowing the spiciness to shine through.

How to Make Spicy Honey Garlic Meatballs

This Honey Garlic Meatball Recipe is so easy, you’re going to be adding it to your holiday menus AND your weekly dinner rotation! The glaze is a simple sauce of garlic, honey, soy sauce, ketchup and brown sugar. These five ingredients are whisked together in a pot on the stove until they are nice and smooth and start to bubble. I also added some red pepper flakes and ground ginger for a spicy kick.

The sauce is pretty thin at this point and you want it to be nice and thick so it coats the meatballs and sticks. I made a slurry with a equal parts of the sauce and cornstarch in a bowl. You could also do this with water, but I didn’t want to take away from the flavor.

Once the slurry is added to the pot it doesn’t take long for it to thicken. Once the sauce is nice and thick and shiny, you can add the meatballs. Now, you can make some easy homemade meatballs, or you can use frozen. I personally prefer homemade, but in a pinch the frozen meatballs will do just fine (and they will save you a ton of time). The key here is to have the meatballs fully cooked and defrosted. Putting frozen meatballs in the warm sauce takes too long to bring them up to temperature and the sauce may burn. (affiliate link)

Recipe

Spicy Honey Garlic Meatballs

4.88 from 24 votes

Kristin Maxwell

These easy Honey Garlic Meatballs are coated in a sticky, sweet glaze with a punch of garlic and a little heat. Serve them as a holiday party appetizer, or over rice for a quick dinner.

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Servings 8 servings

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Ingredients

  

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• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Cornstarch
• 40 small meatballs cooked (about 1 ½ to 2 pounds)
• 1 green onion sliced, for garnish
• Sesame seeds for garnish

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Instructions

 

• Simmer the sauce: Add the honey, soy sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes to a large pan over medium-low heat. Whisk until smooth and heat until small bubbles form around the edges, about 2 to 3 minutes. Keep it at a simmer, not a boil.
• Make the slurry: Add the cornstarch to a small bowl with 2 tablespoons of the warm sauce. Whisk until smooth, then whisk it back into the pan until fully combined.
• Thicken: Cook over medium-low heat for a few minutes, until the sauce is thick and glossy.
• Add the meatballs: Add the cooked, thawed meatballs and toss to coat. Keep stirring over medium-low heat until the meatballs are heated through and completely coated.
• Serve: Serve right away as an appetizer, or transfer to a slow cooker on warm. For a main dish, serve over rice or pasta. Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds.

Notes

• Slow cooker (great for frozen meatballs): Add frozen or cooked meatballs to the slow cooker. Whisk the remaining ingredients, except the cornstarch, and pour over the meatballs. Cook on low for about 3 hours. Whisk the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of the sauce, stir it in, and cook on low for 30 minutes more to thicken.
• Heat level: For more kick, use up to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, add a squeeze of sriracha, or swap half the honey for hot honey.
• Soy sauce swap: Tamari or coconut aminos work in place of soy sauce. Coconut aminos are a little sweeter, so you may want slightly less honey.
• Storage and freezing: Refrigerate in a tightly sealed container for 3 to 4 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. The sauce may get a little watery after thawing, so simmer it for a few minutes to thicken it back up.

 

This serves 8 as an appetizer (5 meatballs each) or 6 as a main dish (6 to 7 meatballs each). Nutrition information is for appetizer servings.

Keyword honey garlic meatballs

Nutrition

Calories: 329kcalCarbohydrates: 26gProtein: 16gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 61mgSodium: 762mgPotassium: 373mgFiber: 0.4gSugar: 24gVitamin A: 135IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 27mgIron: 1mg

Nutritional Disclaimer Kristin Maxwell of "Yellow Bliss Road" is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. For accurate calorie counts and other nutritional values, we recommend running the ingredients through your preferred online nutritional calculator. Calories and other nutritional values can vary depending on which brands were used.

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Here is another favorite meatball appetizer we love:

Spicy Pineapple Barbecue Turkey Meatballs

And here are some more delicious meatball appetizers:

• One Pan Parmesan Meatballs
• Spicy Cranberry Barbecue Meatballs
• Meatball Marinara Poppers Appetizer