barbecue-grape-jelly-meatballs

Winter Best Food

Barbecue Grape-Jelly Meatballs

These barbecue grape-jelly meatballs are meatballs smothered in a sauce of sweet grape jelly, barbecue sauce, hot sauce and ketchup. They're sweet, salty and incredibly tender after their long cook time in the slow cooker. You can serve them right from the slow cooker or stack them on toothpicks for easy finger food.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound 90%-lean ground beef
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 1 cup whole-wheat panko breadcrumbs
  • ¼ cup finely chopped shallot
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
  • ⅔ cup thick tomato-based barbecue sauce (such as Stubb's Original)
  • ⅔ cup grape jelly
  • 3 tablespoons ketchup
  • 1 ½ tablespoons hot sauce
  • Chopped fresh chives for garnish

Directions

  1. Combine ground beef, ground pork, panko, shallot, eggs, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Roll into 48 (1-inch) balls and place on a large rimmed baking sheet.

  2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of the meatballs; cook, turning often, until evenly browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Transfer the meatballs to a 5- or 6-quart slow cooker. Repeat with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and the remaining meatballs. Set the skillet aside (do not wipe clean).

  3. Whisk barbecue sauce, grape jelly, ketchup and hot sauce together in a small bowl or glass measuring cup. Add the sauce mixture to the hot skillet and stir to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Pour the sauce over the meatballs in the slow cooker; gently stir to combine. Cover and cook on Low until the sauce thickens and coats the meatballs and a thermometer inserted into the meatballs registers 160°F, 3 to 4 hours. Garnish with chives, if desired.