Mom’s Sweet and Sour Meatballs

It feels like winter! I like it…because it gives me an excuse to eat a ton of comfort food! When I would come home for the holidays, my mom would make these three things for me: sweet and sour meatballs, chicken wild rice soup, and jerk chicken. These family recipes were hands down my favorites. Hearty, comforting, and when I was living 2000 miles away, these meals always reminded me of home.

I’m not going to lie – these meatballs are not the most healthy thing in the world. I tried “lightening” them up by using turkey instead of hamburger and replacing half of the brown sugar with 1/4 cup of honey. Those turned out good, but they weren’t “mom good” – know what I mean?

Try out these meatballs – maybe try the “mom” version and the “healthy” version – and let me know what you think!

A Good Place to Start

Ground beef (or turkey or both), onions, garlic salt, pepper, salt, bread, tomatoes, brown sugar, vinegar, gingersnap cookies

Make the meatballs first. I thought making homemade meatballs was going to be hard, but it’s not. And they taste a whole lot better than the frozen kind.

Preheat the oven to 400°.

Soak the bread in water. I used wheat bread, but you could use any kind of bread. I asked my mom why she used bread like this and she told me two reasons: it helps keep the meatballs from drying out and it stretches your meat so you get more bang for your buck. (She was so thrifty!)

Next, add the meat, finely chopped onion, garlic salt, pepper, and salt to a large bowl.

Squeeze the water from the bread. It should be soggy, but not dripping. I just use my hands, but you could put it in a colander and press most of the water out into the sink. Add the bread to the meat mixture.

Mix well using your hands. Make sure there are no big clumps of bread, but be careful not to overwork the meat. (Looking back, I should have chopped my onions much smaller than this!)

Form your meatballs. I use a cookie scoop to make sure they are relatively the same size so they cook evenly.

Put them on a broiler pan so the grease drains away from the meat during cooking. If you don’t have a broiler pan, a 9 x 13 cake pan will work just fine. Bake the meatballs at 400° for 25 – 30 minutes or until there is no pink in the center and the meatballs are browned.

Use a  tongs to carefully turn the meatballs once during cooking.

Meanwhile, make the sauce. Mix the tomatoes, brown sugar, vinegar, onion, salt, and gingersnaps in a large pot. Cook over medium-low heat until the cookies dissolve and the sauce is bubbly and thickens. Stir often, the sugar can burn easily.

When the meatballs are done, add them to the sauce and stir until well coated.

Serve over rice or noodles, or serve on toothpicks as an appetizer at a party!