When you’re busily cooking a big holiday meal, the last thing you want to do is take up room in the oven or on the stovetop with appetizers. That’s why we love this recipe for sweet and spicy cranberry meatballs. They’re done in the slow cooker, which means that not only can you set them up early in the morning with ease, but you’re not taking up any precious space!
On the Ingredients
- Cranberries are well known for having unique plant compounds that may help prevent UTIs, but they also have lots of vitamins C, E, and K1, plus copper and Manganese. Cranberries also have a lot of antioxidants which are mainly concentrated in the skin, and therefore get lost in the ever-popular juice. (More on the health benefits).
- Gochujang is a fermented sweet and spicy condiment from Korea. It’s made with chili, glutenous rice, soybean powder, barley malt powder, and salt. Gochujang can vary greatly in heat and even has its own heat scale called GHU (gochujang hot-taste units), ranked from 0 (mild) to 100 (Extreme hot). In flavor, gochujang is earthy and mildly sweet. It’s used in classic Korean dishes such as bibimbap and tteokbokki.
- Sriracha is a type of hot sauce that comes from Thailand. It’s made with chili peppers, vinegar, garlic, and sugar and is a great all-purpose hot sauce.
Sweet and Spicy Cranberry Meatballs (Slow Cooker)
20
minutes3
hours8
minutes3
hours28
minutesWhen you’re busily cooking a big holiday meal, the last thing you want to do is take up room in the oven or on the stovetop with appetizers. That’s why we love this recipe for sweet and spicy cranberry meatballs. They’re done in the slow cooker, which means that not only can you set them up early in the morning with ease, but you’re not taking up any precious space!
Ingredients
- Meatball Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef
1 egg
1 small onion (minced)
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
- Sweet and Spicy Cranberry glaze
14oz cranberry sauce (canned or made from scratch)
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup oyster sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp gochujan
2 tbsp brown sugar or monkfruit sweetener
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 tbsp sriracha (if you want extra spiciness)
- Garnish
3 scallions (chopped)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400° F.
- Combine the meatball ingredients together and mix well. Scoop about 2 tbsp of meat and roll into a ball. Repeat with the rest of the meat, placing the balls on a baking sheet. Bake them for 8 minutes until they’re slightly brown.
- Mix together the glaze ingredients. Put the meatballs in your slow cooker and cover them in the cranberry glaze. Stir so the glaze is evenly coating all the meatballs. Set the slow cooker on low and cook for 3 hours, until the meatballs are cooked through.
- Garnish with chopped scallions and serve warm.
