These Asian cocktail meatballs just the right amount of sweet and savory, sure to please your guests!
I was brainstorming what I can do with the rest of a bag of cranberries after I made some mulled wine (recipe to come!). I thought I wanted to make some sort of dip, or appetizer. Then I open my fridge to see the gochujang, thought it would be great to make a cocktail meatball inspired by the inside of an Asian dumpling! With ground pork, ground beef, garlic, ginger and the works, I knew that I hit the recipe on the money when even the day after preparing the meatballs, my fridge smelled like Korean food.
I have had crockpot meatballs in almost every setting. Weddings, funerals, baby showers, and pretty much any other kind of get together or party there is to have. I know the weird ketchup and grape jelly trick and I love the tacky texture that glazes the meatballs, and I was looking for that same mouthfeel. So I decided to try my hand out with a cranberry glaze. The cranberries and gochujang together produce this savory and tangy feeling that barbecue sauce often tickles the taste buds! I know some people also don’t like green onions. But I think the brightness of the onion really cuts the sweetness so don’t leave them out as a garnish!
Local Spotlight: I picked up the pork and beef from the new Farm Stand inside of the Mother Road Market. It’s a storefront that carries things from vendors from the Tulsa Farmers Market every day of the week. My eggs are from a couple weeks ago from the actual farmers market!
I hope that you enjoy this new twist on a favorite just as much as we enjoyed them.
xxHillary

Asian Cocktail Meatballs [DF]
Ingredients
Cranberry Sauce:
- 1 C. fresh cranberries
- 3/4 C. water
- 1/4 C. honey
- 1/8 C. brown sugar packed
- 1 t. gochujang
- 2 T. soy sauce
- 1 t. rice vinegar
Meatballs:
- 1 lb. pork
- 1/2 lb. ground beef
- 3 T. finely minced onion
- 1 t. finely minced garlic
- 1 t. finely minced ginger
- 1/2 t. onion powder
- 1/4 t. garlic powder
- 1 t. black pepper
- 1/2 t. salt
- 1/2 t. sesame oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 C. panko
- 2 t. sesame seeds
- 5 green onions
Instructions
Meatballs:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl until well combined.
- Scoop out into meatballs with a cookie scoop or spoons onto a cookie sheet or a rack.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes.
Sauce:
- Combine cranberries, water and honey in a saucepan on medium low heat for 5 minutes, until most of the cranberries have popped.
- Stir in brown sugar until dissolved.
- Turn off heat and mix in gochujang, soy sauce and rice vinegar.
- Blend all ingredients together with an immersion blender until smooth.
- Set aside.
Assembly:
- Heat meatballs in crock pot or oven with sauce poured on top until heated through and serve.
- Garnish with sesame seeds and thinly sliced green onions.
- #enJOY!
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