Stout Meatballs with BBQ Sauce
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These Stout Meatballs with BBQ Sauce are everything you’ve ever dreamed of and more! They’re juicy, a bit spicy, not to mention they’re baked and then drowned in a homemade stout BBQ sauce that is to die for.
Stout Meatballs With BBQ Sauce Recipe
I’m so excited to share this recipe with you because this literally is one of my all time favorite meatball recipes ever! The stout for this dish is in both the meatballs and in the BBQ sauce, so you will definitely taste it. The BBQ sauce is very simple to make but the end result is incredible. The stout is what makes the sauce look super glossy and loads it with flavor.
Don’t be afraid that it will taste boozy because it won’t. The alcohol evaporates during the cooking process, leaving you with a rich and tasty sauce. Adding the stout to the meatballs themselves tenderizes the meat a bit and makes them juicier, plus adds a lot of flavor.
What Is Stout?
Stout is a dark beer, a super dark beer. You get tons of flavor from cooking with stouts as they’re chock full of coffee, caramel, and chocolate notes. So they’re a perfect addition to dark and rich sauces like the one we’re creating today! My favorite stout is the classic, Guinness, but feel free to use whichever you prefer!
Ingredients
Detailed measurements and instructions can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.
Meatballs
- Meat – We’re using both ground beef and pork today for juicy meatballs with lots of depth of flavor. You can use only beef or only pork. Ground lamb can also be used.
- Breadcrumbs – I used panko but you can substitute it for any breadcrumbs you have on hand.
- Egg – The binder in our meatballs. If you’re egg free you can use 1/4 cup of ricotta per egg.
- Beer – I used stout today, trust me you want to look for something dark, no lagers allowed.
- Seasoning – Salt and pepper.
- Spices – Cumin and cayenne pepper.
- Aromatics – Fresh garlic and onion.
BBQ sauce
- Olive oil – We want a nice neutral tasting oil to be the liquid base of our homemade sauce.
- Garlic – Use as much or little as you like.
- Sauces – Soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and sriracha to add depth, heat and lots of flavor.
- Sugar – You’ll need brown sugar to add rich molasses notes to our dish.
- Smoked paprika – This spice will add sweetness and a great smoky note to our dish, be sure to look for something high quality.
- Seasoning – Salt and pepper to taste.
- Parsley – Chopped up fresh and sprinkled liberally on top.
How To Make Stout Meatballs
- Preheat your oven: To 400 F degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
- Combine the meatballs: In a large bowl add all the meatball ingredients and mix well using your clean hands. Shape the meat mixture into balls around the size of a golf ball. You should get around 40 meatballs.
- Bake the meatballs: Place the meatballs onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown.
- Start the sauce: Start making the sauce while the meatballs are baking. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds until aromatic.
- Finish the sauce: Add all of the remaining sauce ingredients, except for the parsley, and whisk well. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and reduced by about half.
- Finish the dish: Add the meatballs to the sauce and toss them around making sure they are fully covered in sauce. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve over mashed potatoes.
What Can I Serve With Stout Meatballs
You want something that soaks up all that rich, hearty sauce. You will love the final outcome, no matter how you slice it!
- Mashed Potatoes
- Creamy Polenta
- Fluffy white rice
- Spaghetti, to twirl around in your beautiful rich sauce!
Baked Or Fried?
If you’d like to fry these meatballs, more power to you! Believe me these bad boys taste just as good baked or fried. Just follow these steps below after forming your meatballs to fry them up.
- Add the olive oil to a large skillet and heat over medium to high heat. Add meatballs and cook.
- If you’re using a large skillet all meatballs should fit in one batch otherwise, you might have to fry them in a couple batches.
- Cook the meatballs on all sides, add more oil if needed. Remove meatballs from skillet and set aside.
Other Ways To Cook
Slow cooker
Follow the instructions for forming the meatballs but place in your slow cooker instead. Make the sauce before hand and cover the meatballs with the sauce and cook on low for 6 – 8 hours.
Pressure cooker
Add your sauce to the pot first, followed by the meatballs. Cook on the manual setting on high for 7 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally before removing the lid, this step takes about 10 minutes.
Can I Use Other Kinds Of Meat In My Meatballs?
You definitely can, that’s the great thing about meatballs – they’re a blank canvas! Today I blended ground pork and beef but you can use any kind of ground meat you would like. Chicken, turkey, veal, or even sausage removed from its casing are all perfectly delicious substitutes.
Some Tips
- If you find your meatballs are a bit dry, try cubing up some bread nice and small and soaking in a bit of milk before incorporating into the meatballs. This is a traditionally Italian way of ensuring moisture.
- Don’t crowd your pan when frying these up, this is to ensure that meatballs brown properly.
- Before making your meatballs, you can place the meatball mixture in the fridge for 1 hour to up to a day. This will help the meatballs hold their shape while cooking especially if frying.
- If you’re still having trouble with your meatballs, try referencing this page to trouble shoot what exactly is going wrong.
Leftovers
These meatballs can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 – 4 days. This recipe also freezes quite well so just be sure to separate the balls from the sauce in airtight containers and store. Each should last around 3 months frozen just allow to thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat on the stove top when ready to eat!
More Must Try Meatballs:
- Salisbury Steak Meatballs
- Moroccan Meatballs
- Meatballs with Mushroom Sauce
- Porcupine Meatballs
- Thai Meatball Lettuce Wraps
- Cheesy Chicken Meatball Rolls
- Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs
- Easy Meatballs
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Stout Meatballs with BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
For Meatballs
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 eggs
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin (ground)
- 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup stout beer ((I used Guinness))
For BBQ Sauce
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 4 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce
- 2 cups stout beer
- 4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 6 ounce tomato paste ((1 can))
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley (chopped, for garnish)
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 F degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
- In a large bowl add all the meatball ingredients and mix well using your clean hands. Shape the meat mixture into balls around the size of a golf ball. You should get around 40 meatballs.
- Place the meatballs onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown.
- Start making the sauce while the meatballs are baking. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds until aromatic.
- Add all of the remaining sauce ingredients, except for the parsley, and whisk well. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and reduced by about half.
- Add the meatballs to the sauce and toss them around making sure they are fully covered in sauce. Simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Garnish with fresh parsley and serve over mashed potatoes.
Video
Notes
- Before making your meatballs, you can place the meatball mixture in the fridge for 1 hour to up to a day. This will help the meatballs hold their shape while cooking. Since I baked these, I wasn’t afraid of them losing shape, but if you choose to fry them instead, you might want to refrigerate the meat first for about an hour.
- Meatballs with sauce/gravy tend to freeze really well, use an airtight container or ziploc bag. When ready to serve, thaw them out slowly and reheat in a saucepan, or in a microwave.
- Nutritional information assumes about 5 meatballs and sauce per serving with sauce, no mashed potatoes.
- These meatballs can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 – 4 days. This recipe also freezes quite well so just be sure to separate the balls from the sauce in airtight containers and store. Each should last around 3 months frozen just allow to thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat on the stove top when ready to eat!
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Nutrition Information
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Meatballs were great! Sauce was too smoky for us. Will definitely make again but drop to 2tsp of the smoked paprika. Served with mashed potato’s and green beans but this would also make an awesome appetizer!
Jo,
I love your website and your recipes, in particular because it is a CANADIAN site!
I was so disappointed when I opened up your email this morning to find 4th of July recipes (on Canada Day!).
We are so proud to be Canadian! A big number of our readers are from the USA, so we posted a nice and big 4th of July round-up 🙂 The emails will send out our most recent post. You can absolutely use that post for Canada Day inspiration! I definitely did.
This is one of our regular recipes, I’ve made it so many times, and it’s really spot on. Typically I do all beef for the meatballs since that’s what we always have, and it works great. We usually bake them as written, but I’ve also done a crockpot variation for parties that works super well– I bump up the temp to 425, and cook until just browned on the outside, then pop them in the slow cooker smothered in the sauce on Low for an hour or two and they’re good to go, or put the crock in the fridge and reheat at party. And don’t get me started on this sauce. DYNAMITE! I use it for everything, meatballs, ribs, brisket, pulled pork, it’s my go-to BBQ sauce, seriously such a great recipe and everyone we’ve made it for raves over it. <3
Heaven help me! This was delicious! I made this recipe for the first time this week, and we loved it. This will absolutely be going on the regular rotation. Even on a weeknight, it’s a quick meal that will stick to your ribs.
Hey! Lovely Recipe. How about we add a bit of peri peri sauce to this?
nice pictures. looks good
Looks delicious. Loved the clicks.
Dish looks yummy and excellent presentation!
Delicious! Very flavorful sauce for the meatballs. This recipe is one I will make more often. Thanks for sharing!
These meatballs look absolutely delicious! I’d love to give this recipe a try!
These look amazing!
Thank you! Hope you give them a try!
I’m not a beer drinker but I’ll still be your best bud if you make these for me!!! ? HAIL to the Meatball Queen! ?
LOL You are quickly becoming one too, my friend!
Funny your post shows meatballs today, I was just asking mt brother if he knew / had any good recipes for meatballs as I want to make some and keep in the freezer.
What recipe would you suggest as an all around versatile meatball. I want one that I can use for a meatball sandwich with a tomato sauce?
Thanks,
Oh that’s a tough one..so many meatball recipes to choose from but the godfather meatball sub one should work for you.
http://www.jocooks.com/sandwiches/godfather-meatball-sub/
Can these be made in the crockpot? They sound delicious.
Yes you could make these in a crock pot and they are soooo good