Today, I am going to share a delicious sweet and sour meatballs recipe with you.
Sweet and sour sauce is incredibly versatile. While great for dipping your spring rolls in, it’s also a fantastic seasoning sauce for a variety popular dishes such as these sweet and sour meatballs.
This time, I made beef meatballs. Chicken, pork or lamp are great options as well.
To hold the meat balls together, I used starch and water. Egg and breadcrumbs is another popular choice. For better flavor and texture, I added fresh minced onion, garlic and ginger to the meat mixture.
By using just five everyday ingredients, everyone can make sweet and sour stir fry sauce at home, it’s super easy. The five ingredients are ketchup, rice vinegar, sugar, water and starch. In the recipe section, I listed the amounts.
If you are making the sweet and sour sauce for dipping, I recommend adding pineapple juice and brown sugar for a stronger flavor and more depth.
I sprinkled a touch of roasted sesame seeds on top these sweet and sour meatballs and enjoyed them as a snack this afternoon. They could be a great appetizer or side dish for your meal as well.
- Making the meat balls:
- ½ pound ground beef (I used 70% lean)
- ⅛ onion, minced
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon potato/corn starch
- ½ tablespoon dark soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- For the sauce:
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tablespoon starch
- a touch of roasted sesame seeds for topping
- For cooking:
- ¼ cup oil
- Whisk water, ketchup, rice vinegar, sugar, water and starch in a small container and set aide.
- In a large mix bowl, combine ground beef, onion, garlic, ginger, water, starch, dark soy sauce, sesame oil and salt, insert a pair of chopsticks into the mixture, stir in one direction for a couple of minutes until the meat became sticky.
- Spoon some meat mixture into your hand, roll between your hands to shape into a 1.5- inch meatballs, repeat the process until all the mixture is used.
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat, add in the meatballs, pan fry until both sides are browned, remove from pan and set aside.
- Pour the sauce mixture into a sauce pan, bring to a simmer over low heat and add in the meat balls, simmer for 20 minutes or until cook through with lid on, stir occasionally.
- Top with roasted sesame seeds to serve.
6 comments
This recipe looks good but I’m trying to cut back on sugars. Do you think just liquid stevia drops would work okay?
Hi Miranda,
This is a really good question. I have never tried it myself so I googled using stevia for cooking. Stevia can be used in baking (two tablespoons of stevia powder is the same as one cup of sugar). However, since it does not caramelize, I don’t recommend using stevia to substitute sugar for this recipe.
I hope it helps. Feel free to browse other recipes that’s low on sugar on Spice the Plate.I hope you’ll find a recipe that fit your needs 🙂
Thank you Han for your detailed reply.
My pleasure!
When you say starch, do you mean cornstarch? I just want to be sure. Thanks!
Not a problem. I recommend using cornstarch.