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These Crockpot Sweet and Sour Meatballs are so yummy and easy to make! With homemade meatballs, pineapple chunks, and a tangy sweet sauce, you are gonna love it!
Featured with this Recipe
This Crockpot Sweet and Sour Meatballs recipe came from the Williams Family way back when our blog began. Since then I have made it dozens of times! They are super easy! If you are in a rush, you can cook this over the stovetop, but cooking it in the crockpot gives the meatballs time to soak up all the sweet and sour flavors. Also, I doubled the sauce recipe on this because my family loves to eat the sauce over rice… if you aren’t a big sauce fan, feel free to half the sauce part.
Ingredients in Crock Pot Sweet and Sour Meatballs
For the Meatballs
- Ground Beef – you can also use ground turkey
- Cracker Crumbs – ritz crackers are my favorite, or you can use bread crumbs
- Red Bell Pepper
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Onion
- Milk
- Kosher Salt and Black Pepper
- Egg
- Ginger
For the Rest
- Cornstarch
- Brown Sugar
- Soy Sauce
- White Vinegar
- Ketchup
- Green Bell Pepper
- Red Bell Pepper
- Pineapple Tidbits
- Rice for Serving
Homemade Meatballs or Store-Bought Meatballs
This recipe includes an actual recipe for meatballs if you want to make your own… but the last few times I have made these I have bought the frozen meatballs at Costco and used those! I have also used the Italian meatballs from Costco and those taste great too (I just feel less guilty eating the turkey meatballs and my kids don’t even know the difference)! I just dump in the meatballs with the sauce (and veggies and pineapple) and dinner is DONE. It is one of those great fix-it and forget-it Crockpot meals.
What to Serve on the Side
Of course these delicious sweet and sour meatballs go great with rice on the side, but there are other options to consider. A slightly healthier alternative to white rice is quinoa. While still carrying carbohydrates, quinoa packs high protein and fiber into every bite, while decreasing the calorie count by 40 per cup. If you want to go even healthier, consider cauliflower rice, which has roughly 2.5 grams of carbs per cup (compared to 45 grams of carbs per cup for white rice).
Frequently Asked Questions
We like to brown them on the stovetop or in the oven to get that crispy outside, and then cook them the rest of the way in sauce for flavor!
You can substitute the egg with plain yogurt, buttermilk, or even applesauce.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.
Read More: The Best Hawaiian Dessert Recipes
More Yummy Hawaiian Flavors
Can’t get to the islands as often as you’d like, but still enjoy the flavor of Hawaii? This crockpot sweet and sour meatballs isn’t the only way to go. Check out these great options:
- Hawaiian Style Chicken and Long Rice
- Authentic Hawaiian Macaroni Salad
- How to make a Hawaiian Plate lunch
Or keep your crockpot cooking even more tasty dishes like these:
How to Make Crockpot Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Crockpot Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Equipment
- Crock Pot Slow Cooker
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
- 2/3 cup cracker crumbs
- 1/2 red bell pepper finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes or more to taste
- 2/3 cup chopped onion
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons ginger
For the Rest…
- 4 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 1 green pepper chopped
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 14 ounces pineapple tidbits divided into juice and tidbits
Instructions
- Mix meatball ingredients together and roll into meatballs. Brown and cook over medium heat in large skillet until cooked through (Or you can roll them and bake them in the oven at 425 for 13-14 minutes).
- In a small mixing bowl, mix cornstarch and brown sugar. Drain pineapple juice into brown sugar mixture with soy sauce, vinegar, and ketchup.
- Add meatballs, peppers, and pineapple tidbits to crock pot and pour sauce over.
- Cook on low for 2-4 hours or until sauce is thickened.
- Serve over rice.
I’m not sure, if 5 stars, is enough for this recipe. It’s freaking amazing. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
This has become one of my family’s favorite recipes. We have it at least once a month. So good and easy.
I made this and it was so yummy! Exactly what the hubs and I wanted. Before making a recipe from the internet I tend to look at several different versions to see what the ingredients are doing in the recipe. I have some food allergies (corn, rice, and tomatoes) so here is what I used for the sauce:
Flour
Brown Sugar
Soy Sauce
Vinegar
Red Chile Mango Preserves
Green and Red Bell Peppers
Pineapple
Then for the meatballs I just heated frozen. I served this over “ancient grains”. It was delicious and has earned a spot in my weekly meal rotation! Thank you for the recipe!
These were very good! Grated the onion and used bread crumbs since I couldn’t find the crackers. The sauce is the perfect sweet and sour and can probably be used on other meats! Will make this again.
These were so delicious, perfect dinner over some rice! Big hit with my family.
these turned out amazing, perfectly cooked and the flavor was spot on.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but this definitely exceeded ALL of my expectations! These meatballs are delightfully delicious and we loved the sauce! Definitely a good call to serve it over rice!
Do you think this would be good with chicken instead of the meatballs? I’m not sure my picky italian family will be able to stomach meatballs any other way besides in spaghetti sauce.
Yes I think it would be delicious!!
Made this for the first time tonight, my family loved it, now I can see how it can be a family staple. Will be saving this one
What size bag of meatballs should you use for the recipe size sauce?
If you are using frozen, you can use 2 pounds. This will coat the meatballs. If you want extra sauce to put over rice you will probably just want to use 1 pound. Hope this helps!
Made these last year.. They were a big hit!! Couldn’t find cracker crumbs, made crumbs from saltines. Cut down on the ginger, thinking about using the full amount this year. Thanks for a great recipe.
Thanks for the five-star rating!!
Can this be done as a stove top recipe instead of in the crock pot?
Yes, you can just bring it all to a simmer until the meatballs are heated through. Hope this helps!
It’s funny that I see this on here because I have been making the meatballs, doubling the sauce recipe, and then sticking in my crockpot for YEARS! Cheers to adding it to Pinterest!
In the ingredients list, it states 1/4 white vinegar. Is that supposed to be 1/4 cup of white vinegar?
Yes, white vinegar. 🙂 Sorry, will clarify on the recipe
Hi – question about the cornstarch. It’s still an ingredient I’m not very familiar with … what does it do for this dish? I’d like to cut it out or substitute it for something less carb-y if possible. Thank you!
Corn starch thickens liquids. It makes it so the sauce sticks to the chicken better. Hope this helps!
I buy the Italian meatballs at Costco also. Can they go in the crockpot frozen?
Yes, they can.. we do it all the time!
Looks great! What size of can of pineapple do you use? I’m planning on making these tonight!!
Just the “typical” size can.. I think it is around 15-20 oz? I don’t have any in my pantry right now so I can’t tell you exactly lol. Sorry I’m not a huge help with this one!
I made these for lunch today. Oh my, are they amazing! Next time I am adding sliced carrots to up the veggies. But these meatballs are absolutely amazing!
Thank you for sharing.
Tried these for dinner last night. This is a “do again” recipe! Very easy and very Yummy.
My mom has been making this since I was a child, and now I make them for my kids. Exact same recipe! So delicious. I make a huge pan, and we eat them all!
I am retired but I still love ciokong in my CrockPot. recipes are endless and so good. I make a beef roast in mine and use three seasoning packets, Ranch, Peppercorn and Italian. Out of this world taste.
Do you use fresh ginger or powdered?
I used powdered in this recipe!
Can these be frozen after everything is cooked, if so how do you reccomend doing so? Thanks 😊
Yes, they can be frozen. Place the cooled meatballs in a freezer safe bag and freeze. Thaw in the refrigerator for 24 hours before reheating. They can be reheated in the microwave, stove top, or in the crock pot again. We recommend adding a little water to the sauce when reheating.
I need to make Waikiki Meatballs for approximately 20 people. Any idea how many servings this recipe provides?
I LOVED these. I never eat leftovers, but there’s no way I was going to let these go to waste. This recipe is definitely going in my favorites! And it was easy too 🙂
Can I use fresh pineapple in this recipe? I don’t have canned at this time. The pineapples are from my garden.
Sure! That sounds delicious!