Honey Sriracha Meatballs are flavor packed, tangy meatballs that make an almost effortless dinner! Quick and easy to make with a simple spicy sauce. These homemade meatballs are the thing you need in your Monday to Friday routine. The kids will be begging you to make these honey meatballs and you will agree as you know that they take minimal effort and result in maximum yum!
Recipes like the Italian Meatballs with Polenta, Kottbullar Meatballs and Sweet and Sour Pork Meatballs get us rolling meatballs for dinner.
The Easy Meatball Pesto Pasta and Meatball Bolognese add carbs to the mix with either a homemade basil pesto or meaty bolognese sauce.
🤍 Recipe Highlights
I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the recipe in the points below:
- Versatile: if you want to use the meatballs as a dinner idea, you can simply pair them with rice, sliced green onions and lime wedges. The dinner table will look very fancy 😉👌! Or you can serve them as a party food for game night. They will be a huge hit and tasty appetizer that everyone will love!
- Simple ingredients: you will be able to get each of the ingredients needed to make the recipe at the local grocery store. The soy sauce will be with the Asian foods and noodles. There is no need to drive all over town or visit a specialty store for the basic ingredients that we need.
- Meal prep: this honey sriracha meatballs recipe is meal prep friendly! Simply make the meatballs in advance as part of your weekly meal prep and store them in the fridge. Then make the glaze when you come in the door from work. This easy recipe will save a you little time and lot of energy!
- Freezer friendly: you can also make the meatballs, let them cool and then freeze them. Then when you know you will have a busy day and not a lot of time in the evening take them out of the freezer and let them thaw during the day.
- Budget friendly: the ingredients needed for this meatball recipe are cost effective and don't break the bank. A meal that feeds the whole family yet doesn't come with a high price tag is winner, winner, meatball dinner right 😉👍.
🥗 Ingredients
The photo below is to show you everything you need to make the recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements as well as detailed instructions.
As you can see the recipe calls for:
- Peanut oil: we use this to cook the meatballs in.
- Salt and pepper: we use a little salt and black pepper to season the meatballs.
- Panko breadcrumbs: these absorb moisture in the meatballs, helping them stay bouncy and juicy.
- Onion powder: an excellent pantry staple that works well for so many recipes.
- Garlic powder: as above, a pantry staple. The onion and garlic powder are a complimentary pair of ingredients that add flavour basics to many recipes.
- Egg: free range is always best. The egg helps the meatballs to stick together.
- All spice: adds a lovely sweetish flavor to the meatballs. The spice is a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
- Fennel: always works so well with pork! We use a small amount of dried fennel seeds in the meatballs. This adds a unique flavor to the ground pork.
- Sriracha sauce: hot stuff baby 🤣!! This sauce is known for being notoriously 'hot'. For good reason. It is a sauce made from chili peppers.
- Honey: sweet and sensational to cook with. The honey ensures that the sriracha is balanced and not 'too hot'.
- Pork mince (ground pork): this is the main ingredient used to make the meatballs. It is a freezer friendly inexpensive cut of meat that is versatile and works across a wide variety of dishes.
🥢 Pork Meatball Sauce
Now that we known what goes into our sriracha honey meatballs, let's talk about the sauce ingredients!
- Butter: unsalted is best. We melt this as that starting point in making the sauce.
- Soy sauce: a little of this brings a salty flavor to the sauce.
- Lime juice: balances the sweet and savory ingredients with a little citrus zing!
- Honey: sweet and thick. It helps the sauce to have a robust texture about it.
- Sweet chilli sauce: we use this for the meatball glaze as a subtle way to add a tangy flavor and a little chilli. Whereas the meatballs have the sriracha hot chilli sauce in the meat mix. This keeps the overall dish highly palatable without overdoing the heat factor!
Tasty Tip: I like to provide you with a number of substitutions and variations giving you an array of options when making the recipe. If in doubt of any of the above ingredients, or wanting alternatives, read this section (further below) before jumping into the instructions on how to make the recipe which are coming next 😉👌.
🍳 Instructions
Here are the step by step instructions to make the recipe. We start by making the meatballs. A large bowl, mini cookie scoop and chopping board will come in handy.
- Add meatball ingredients to bowl (Photo 1)
- Use clean hands and combine (Photo 2)
- Roll into meatballs (Photo 3)
- Cook in peanut oil (Photo 4)
👩🍳 How to Make Honey Sriracha Meatballs
Start with a mixing bowl and add the ingredients needed to make the meatballs to it.
Add the pork mince, panko breadcrumbs, garlic powder, onion powder, all spice, fennel, salt, pepper and egg. Then use clean hands to mix this together.
Once the meat mixture is combined you can portion and use the palms of your hands to shape mixture into meatballs. Once rolled, place the meatballs onto a clean chopping board. Then repeat until all of the mixture is used up.
Next add the peanut oil to a saute pan or large skillet. Place it on the stove top and turn the heat to high. Cook the meatballs in batches, using a slotted spoon to lift them up and out of the pan once they are cooked. The meatballs will take 8 to 10 minutes to cook.
Next, we want to make a glaze type sauce to coat the meatballs so that they are sticky and irresistible. Turn the stove down to medium heat.
To make the sauce we use a combination of butter, sweet chilli sauce, honey, soy sauce and lime juice. This keeps the notion of the 'sweet and hot' meatballs, but adds a lovely subtle tang that makes them seriously delicious.
- Melt the butter (Photo 5)
- Add the remaining ingredients for the sauce (Photo 6)
- Stir and reduce heat (Photo 7)
- Add the meatballs and allow them to heat through (Photo 8)
Allow the butter to melt, then add the sweet chilli sauce, honey, soy sauce and lime juice. Stir to combine and allow to start bubbling at the edges.
Then turn the stove down and allow the sauce to simmer for around 5 minutes.
Next add the cooked meatballs to the pan. Stir to coat in the sticky sauce and then allow them to heat through.
Once the meatballs are heated through, you are ready to serve them!
🍽 Serving Suggestions
If you want to serve an appetizer before serving the meatballs, the Air Fryer Frozen Spring Rolls fit the theme and have great crunchy texture.
If you are feeding a crowd and want a variety of meaty options try the BBQ Lamb Ribs, Sticky Pork Ribs or Baked Pork Ribs.
Or if you want to make these for a quick dinner then cook some rice or purchase store bought rice that you only have to heat. Slice some green onions, chop some fresh limes into wedges and you are good to go!
👍 How to Guide
How to Store
Store leftovers in an airtight container with a lid. They can be kept in the fridge up to 3 days and are best reheated before being consumed.
How to Reheat
The microwave is your best option to reheat the meatballs. Place them on a plate with cling wrap and heat for 3 - 4 minutes until they are hot throughout.
Or if you are making the meatballs for a party and have made them in advance, you can add them to the bowl of the slow cooker, turn the setting to warm and allow these to heat through prior to serving.
How to Freeze
You can make the meatballs and freeze them separately to the glaze then make that on the day or night you want to serve them.
Allow them to thaw completely before reheating.
Frozen portions of the dish can be kept for up to 3 months.
😉 Substitutions and Variations
Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:
- You can vary the protein and use lean ground beef, ground turkey or chicken to make beef, turkey meatballs or a chicken version.
- You can omit the fennel if you go with any of the meats above. Try cumin for the beef and cardamon for the chicken and turkey.
- Reduce the amount of sriracha is you are not a fan of spicy foods. Whilst the flavor is moderated as to not overwhelm, you can reduce this further if wanting more subtlety.
- You can use regular bread crumbs in place of the panko breadcrumbs (equivalent amount), if you wish to.
- You can use olive oil in place of the peanut oil.
- Try a fancy rice like coconut rice or Jasmine. These both add extra flavor to the overall combination of elements making up the recipe.
- If you want another option in place of the rice, you can use quinoa as an alternative.
- In place of the green onions for garnish you can use toasted sesame seeds and chopped chives.
- Brown rice is a healthy option to pair the meatballs with.
- Rice noodles or soba noodles are another great way the serve the dish.
- Sliced cucumbers can be used to add another vegetable to the bowl for serving.
💡 Tasty Tips
Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:
- You can cook the meatballs in batches if you find it easier. Simply add about 10 meatballs to the pan at a time and once cooked, remove to a bowl then place the next batch of meatballs into the pan to cook.
- One technique to use when making meatballs is to use a mini cookie scoop and portion all of the meat mixture onto a chopping board. Then you roll all of these portions into meatballs. This keeps your tasks consistent as well as allowing all of your meatballs to be a uniform size. You can see what this looks like in this photo (portioned but not yet rolled meatballs).
- If you line a bowl with paper towel and transfer the cooked meatballs into this, it will absorb any excess oil from the meatballs before you roll them in the sauce.
- If you want to serve the meatballs as appetizers, follow the recipe to the step of heating the meatballs in the honey sauce. Then transfer then to a plate and provide toothpicks which can be used to serve them.
🤓 Frequently Asked Questions
What is sriracha sauce made of?
Sriracha sauce is made from a combination of chilli peppers, sugar, salt, garlic and vinegar.
Do you bake or fry meatballs before putting in sauce?
Frying the meatballs before putting them in sauce is a great way to cook them. This ensures that the outsides of the meatballs are browned and slightly crispy and the insides moist and juicy. If however, you are slow cooking your meatballs, you can add them to the crockpot without browning them and they will cook in the sauce.
Do you use breadcrumbs or egg for meatballs?
Using a combination of breadcrumbs and egg to make meatballs is a great way to ensure that the meatballs are juicy and moist. It also means that they will hold their shape and form when they are cooking and not break apart.
😍 More Easy Dinner Recipes
Easy, quick, sometimes prepped, sometimes slow cooked and sometimes taking our time and making things a sophisticated dinner all come to mind when thinking about what we need for dinner.
I like to offer you variety through taste, texture, cook time, protein, carbs, sauces and more. Here are some ideas that I hope you will try and love!
- Slow Cooker Pulled Lamb
- Pappardelle Bolognese
- Spicy Chicken Ribs
- Chicken and Chorizo Paella
- Crumbed Lamb Cutlets
- Baked Meatball Subs
- Dutch Oven Pulled Pork
- Crumbed Mushrooms
- Penne Alfredo
- Garlic Pepper Beef
- Mongolian Beef Noodles
Get ready to get your honey on my friend 🍯. You can also find all of my dinner recipes in the one spot!
Adrianne
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📖 Recipe
Honey Sriracha Meatballs
Equipment
- 1 Medium bowl to mix the meatballs in
- 1 Mini Cookie Scoop to portion the meatball mixture
- 1 Chopping board to place the rolled meatballs onto
- 1 Large frying pan or skillet
- 1 Kitchen Tongs
- 1 Wooden spoon
Ingredients
- 500 grams/16 oz pork mince
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup/60ml honey
- 2 tbs sriracha sauce
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- ¼ teaspoon all spice
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoon peanut oil
Sauce
- 1 tablespoon butter unsalted
- ⅓ cup/80 ml sweet chilli sauce
- 1 tbs honey
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
Serving suggestion (optional):
- rice
- green onions ends and tops trimmed, thinly sliced
- lime wedges
Instructions
- Meatballs: add the pork mince, panko breadcrumbs, garlic powder, onion powder, dried fennel, all spice, salt, black pepper, honey, sriracha sauce and egg to a medium bowl. Use clean hands to combine. Then take a mini cookie scoop and portion out the mix, placing each portion onto a chopping board. Then roll these portions into meatballs using the palms of your hands. Once rolled place onto a chopping board. Repeat this process till all of the meatballs are rolled.
- Cook the meatballs: place a large frying pan on the stove, turn the heat to high and add the peanut oil. Work in batches and use kitchen tongs to place the meatballs into the pan. Cook them, using a slotted spoon to flip and move them around in the pan. They will take 10 to 12 minutes to cook. Once cooked use a slotted spoon to remove the meatballs and place them in a paper towel lined bowl. Note 4
- Make the sauce: without rinsing or cleaning the pan add the butter and let it melt. Then add the sweet chilli sauce, honey, soy sauce and lime juice. Stir to combine, allow these to heat till they start bubbling and then turn the heat down and let the sauce simmer for 5 minutes.
- Meatballs and sauce: add the cooked meatballs back to the pan, stir to coat them in the sticky sauce and then allow them to heat through.
- Serve: pair them with rice, sliced green onions and lime wedges for an easy dinner idea!
Sonia Bain says
Yum so good. We had no leftovers.
Helen J says
We cooked these over the weekend. Flavor was great and loved the sticky sauce.
Adrianne says
Thanks Helen 😄.