Anyone looking for a fun new appetizer (or even main course!) for the big game this week?

These saucy sesame meatballs are some of my favorites!!!

I first made them a few months ago when I was experimenting with multiple meatball recipes to serve for a fundraiser. And when my friends graciously “helped me out” with some taste testing, these little guys were the clear winner! My friend’s 1-yr-old son was even crazy about them as well. ;)

Definitely easy, quick, and bursting with yummy flavor. And everyone commented on how they’re a nice twist from traditional marinara meatballs. Give them a try!

Saucy Sesame Meatballs

4.91 from 42 votes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Makes: 30 -35 meatballs
You will love this delicious saucy sesame meatballs recipe! It’s so flavorful, saucy, and perfect for game day or as an appetizer for special occasions.

Ingredients

Meatball Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs. ground pork or ground beef
  • 2 tsp. sesame oil
  • 1 cup Panko or breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 tsp. minced garlic
  • 1/2 cup thinly-sliced green onions
  • optional garnish: toasted sesame seeds, sliced scallions

Sesame Sauce Ingredients:

  • 2/3 cup hoisin sauce
  • 1/4 cup rice vinegar
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
  • 1 tsp. sesame oil
  • 1 tsp. ground ginger

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400.
  • In a large bowl, mix together meatball ingredients until well-combined. Shape into balls (I made mine about 1.5 inches, which yielded about 35 meatballs, but 1 inch is probably standard), and place on a greased baking sheet or in a 9×13-inch baking dish. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until meatballs are golden on the outside and no longer pink on the inside.
  • While the meatballs are baking, whisk together all of the sauce ingredients until blended. Once meatballs have finished cooking, you can either dip each meatball individually (using a toothpick) in the sauce mixture. Or you can pour the sauce over the meatballs and gently stir them until covered.
  • Serve warm, and sprinkle with additional garnish if desired. (I served mine on these cocktail forks.)

Notes

You can also keep these warm (after cooking) in the crockpot on a low setting!

Additional Info

Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!

This post contains affiliate links.

About Ali

Hi, I'm Ali Martin! I created this site in 2009 to celebrate good food and gathering around the table. I live in Kansas City with my husband and two young boys and love creating simple, reliable, delicious recipes that anyone can make!

You May Also Like...

4.91 from 42 votes

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




229 Comments

  1. Marlaina says:

    Made these for dinner tonight. . . Amazing! LOVE these!

  2. Kacey says:

    I made these for New Years and they were a big hit! I changed up the meatballs by adding a bit more ground beef (didn’t want to waste my open package.) Added more sesame oil and garlic, but only had 3 green onions which was enough. For the sauce, I reduced the hoisin to 1/3 cup and halved the amount of ginger and it was great! I think fresh ginger would work great here. I paired the sauce with my vegetarian meatballs and it was perfect :) Oh, and 12 minutes was the perfect amount of time for my meatballs (I measured them out by the tablespoonful.) Thanks!

  3. janet says:

    Sorry to say these were horrible! The hoisin sauce was so overpowering and my guests also agreed this not very good! Lesson learned for me don’t make something new when having people over to watch the game stick to my faithful recipes

    1. Kendra says:

      The sauce was terrible. Couldn’t eat them.

  4. Nicole says:

    These meatballs were great. I made them for an appetizer on Christmas. Everyone enjoyed them! :)

  5. Marie LYON says:

    I really didn’t like the way you had to go from Pinterest to your website to get the recipe. I assumed the ingredients on P were right and made the meatballs – I’m not a stellar cook and have a party tomorrow. So when they seemed mushy I thought maybe I should go double check the directions and discovered I had the sauce in the meatballs. NOW I need to go back to the store… Whoever thought that was a spiffy way to get people to your web site didn’t care about the poor stupid people who are not cooks! This is the first time I have checked Pin for recipes and now I feel discouraged. It would have been better if you didn’t show the ingredients… Frustrated and tired. Merry Christmas

    1. Ali says:

      Hi Marie,

      Sorry for the confusion with Pinterest. The ingredient list is an automatic feature with Pinterest that I cannot edit, but I’m sorry that they made the directions confusing. Best wishes if you try the recipe again. It really is one of my favorites!

      ~Ali

    2. kara says:

      these are really fabulous . I have made them many times and everyone loved them. I am sorry that the other person had to comment on here negatively . when it wasn’t ALi who was at fault for the outcome of their meatballs.

      Bravo Ali and thank you for sharing this great recipe! Happy Holidays to you all !!

    3. Harriet says:

      I know sometimes recipes are hard to follow but I personally thought it was very self explainitary it was written in two sections each one labeled accordingly. In all fairness to Ali I thought it was very easy to understand, I don’t mean this comment in a bad way but I am sure this wasn’t meant to make you have a frustrating Christmas.
      by the way these were delicious

  6. Mo says:

    These were delicious!! I make them with vensison and they are a HUGE hit!

  7. MmmmMmmm says:

    The meatballs are good, but the sauce is overpowering — way too much hoisin sauce and very, very salty. I was very glad I put the sauce on the side because everyone pretty much either ignored it or threw it out.

  8. cheeky says:

    made these with ground pork and chicken, big hit! https://cheekydid.blogspot.com/2013/09/happy-football-season.html

  9. Amanda Trent says:

    I made these for a party at my son’s house – Smaller, bite sized meatballs and they were a total hit!

  10. Gin says:

    It was really good! Thank you. I hope you don’t mind but I shared your recipe on my site https://www.ginious.nl/hapjes/aziatische-gehaktballetjes/ It has of course a link to your site. It’s in Dutch so everybody in Holland can enjoy these too :)