Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Kaarin's Note:

This is a crockpot recipe. It has lots of sweet and sour sauce...Yum!!! It looks pretty with meatballs and pineapple chunks. I like to serve it with a crunchy vegetable saute. I almost always use venison in this recipe because the meat is so lean. This is one of dh's favorite foods!

• Total Time: 8 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 8 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

The Meatballs

• 1 lb ground beef or 1 lb venison
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
• 1 tablespoon canola oil

The Sauce

• 6 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 6 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 (15 ounce) can pineapple chunks, undrained
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice

Directions:

1. Combine meat, egg, salt, pepper, 1 tablespoons cornstarch, and onion (I use a kitchenaid mixer).
2. Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls.
3. Brown in oil in a heavy skillet.
4. Transfer to a crock pot.
5. Mix sauce ingredients: vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and corn starch in a small bowl.
6. Pour over meatballs.
7. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 2-4, depending how thick you want the sauce, stirring several times.
8. During the last 30 minutes of cooking, add the undrained pineapple and pineapple juice.
9. Serve over rice.

Reviews

[Seedbeads]

This was so tasty! I put this on just after lunch today, and it was ready by 6 PM. I used ground chicken for the meatballs and it worked great. I had to keep switching between High and Low heat, and I did stir it every hour or so just to get the sauce mixed in. I have to agree - there is a bit too much cornstarch. When mine was done, the sauce was lovely and thick but the mouth feel of the starch was still there. I didn't add extra liquid, but I did use OJ in place of the pineapple juice. My kids happily ate it on rice too.

[Jay3fer]

A previous reviewer mentioned the lack of a "tomato"/"red" element, so after some thought, I added a small tin of tomato paste to the ingredients given here. It was superb! Lots of compliments! I did have to add a cup of water in the middle of cooking; the sauce got WAY too thick. And I added a red pepper because it looked so sad without a veggie... :-))) YUM! Will definitely make this again.

[appleydapply]

I'm not sure if I would make these again. It seemed to be missing a tomato ingredient (catsup, tomato paste) which is found in many S&S recipes - I didn't think about this until the recipe was in the crockpot and wondered where the red color was. And there was too much cornstarch - I stirred at one point and it was still very thin; 30 minutes later it was paste! I had to add another 3/4 cup liquid.