Last updated on May 18th, 2018 at 02:25 pm
These Sweet and Spicy Korean Meatballs will change your life. They’re made with lean beef, flavored with garlic and Sriracha, baked without frying and glazed with a spicy apricot glaze.
I bet you’ve missed my meatballs! Well don’t worry, because I’m back with another fabulous meatball recipe. This time the recipe is for sweet and spicy Korean meatballs. In the party snack department, tiny glazed meatballs always win so these meatballs are perfect as an appetizer for your party, or to snack on, even to serve them as a meal over some cooked rice.
Korean meatballs are usually made with Gochujang chili paste, but honestly I didn’t want to look for it at the grocery store or go to the Asian market, so I just used Sriracha sauce instead and they were still plenty spicy and utterly delicious. There’s also plenty of garlic, which makes me very happy, and chopped green onions among other staple meatball ingredients.
Of course, what makes these meatballs stand out, is the apricot glaze which is where the sweet and spicy part comes in. It’s such a simple glaze, only 3 ingredients, apricot jam, soy sauce and Sriracha sauce, but totally makes these meatballs go from good to sensational. All in all these meatballs come together pretty quickly and by baking them you save yourself the hassle of frying them, making a mess and cleaning up your stove top and more dishes and so on. Did I mention they’re only 59 calories a meatball? Go on then, have a few!
If you love meatballs as much as I do, you have to try these recipes!
If you try this recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!
- 1 1/2 lb lean ground beef
- 4 green onions chopped
- 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp Sriracha sauce
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 cup apricot jam
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Sriracha sauce
- Preheat oven to 400 F degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
- In a large bowl, add all the meatball ingredients and mix with your hands to combine. Form the meatballs into small 1 inch balls. Place the meatballs on the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until done to your liking.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl whisk together all the glaze ingredients. Add the meatballs and toss well until all the meatballs are glazed.
- Garnish with chopped chives if preferred and serve immediately over cooked rice or as an appetizer.
You can use ground chicken, turkey, or pork instead of beef.
You can use orange marmalade instead of apricot jam if that's more convenient for you.
You can use gochujang instead of sriracha.
Nutritional information is calculated at 2 meatballs per serving.
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
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Yummy! We barely had any leftovers. I used ground turkey and no one could tell the difference. I will be making these again for sure! Thanks, Jo!
I LOVE this recipe! It worked beautifully with ground turkey. I’ve made it twice now; this time I didn’t have apricot jam so I combined soy sauce, brown sugar, sriracha, ginger, and red pepper flakes and it tasted great!
These are SO delicious and my family absolutely loves them! I even double the recipe and take left overs the next day for lunch. We add some mashed potatoes as a side dish and it’s dinner!
Curious as to why you would use sriracha instead of gochujang for the hot & spicy part. The gochujang is authentically Korean, whereas the sriracha makes this more of a generically “Asian” dish. Furthermore, gochujang is fermented whereas the sriracha is not, so it adds a depth of earthy flavor missing from sriracha. Although sriracha is big on garlic, so perhaps that rounds it out sufficiently for this recipe…? I think I’ll test a sample batch using each and perhaps one with a combination at some point, and come back to share the results.
Simple. I didn’t have gochujang, so I used sriracha, as mentioned in the post. Most people would have sriracha on hand vs gochujang. This recipe isn’t meant to be authentic, only my interpretation of it.
Tried this last night and made enough for lunch leftovers. My family loved it so much I had none left for lunch! Thanks for sharing.
Have you ever tried it with sugar free apricot jelly? I’m on WW and trying to cut down the points.
I have not, but it should be fine. 🙂
Love this recipe!!! The meatballs have the perfect flavor and texture. And the sauce is delicious- the perfect balance of sweet and spicy. I served it over jasmine rice for dinner. These would make a great appetizer for a party, too. Adding this to the meal rotation!
I made these to eat while watching the olympics. They were SOOOO GOOD!! I used garlic chili sauce instead of sriracha and orange marmalade instead of apricot preserves because that’s what I had at home. I also added sesame oil and rice vinegar to the extra sauce and made a dressing for a spicy slaw. Thanks for the recipe!!
These were really good! Sweet with spicy kick!
WHERE CAN YOU BUY SRIRACHA SAUCE, I LIVE IN PERTH WESTERN AUSTRALIA, NOT SURE I CAN BUY THIS HERE.!
Here it’s pretty much sold in all grocery stores. Perhaps you can find it in an Asian store.
This recipe sounds terrific. Can they be made in a crock pot? Will they be as good?
Yes you can! I would follow the same instructions as this recipe: https://www.jocooks.com/main-courses/poultry-main-courses/crockpot-sweet-and-tangy-asian-meatballs/
These meatballs are fantastic and are now a go to favorite in my house!!
Jo! I am in meatball heaven! I pinned most of these meatball recipes. Meatballs, gravy, and mashed potatoes. The food of the gods. I hit a small snag while pinning. I am in a small town in Wisconsin. I have never seen ground chicken in the grocery stores here. Where are you finding ground chicken? We have a Walmart and a Pick-n-Save (Kroger) here. I would love to start soon. Please let me know what to do about the ground chicken. Best Wishes. B. Karr.
Hi Barbara! I love this, the food of the gods, I’ll have to use that. LOL I find ground chicken at Sobey’s or Safeway, but I know the bigger grocery stores have it. Perhaps ask the butcher, maybe they just didn’t have it out when you were there. However, you don’t have to use ground chicken, usually I’ll use ground chicken or turkey to make healthier meatballs with less fat, so you can always use ground pork, beef or veal.
Hi – my Walmart carries ground turkey (also in fairly small town/rural area in Northern California) I bet you could substitute it. I think the brand is Purdue – I think it is the “organic” version of Great Value so your store might carry it too…
You can also take chicken breast and put it in a food processor and process to make your own ground chicken meat. I do this to make chicken burgers
Just curious if you’d use the same amount of gochujang as the sriracha sauce. I have lots of my grandmas gochujang that I could use.
These were so good! Thanks for sharing!
I’m glad you liked them!
This recipe was really good! I was worried the sauce would be too sweet but it turned out just right. Next time I might slow simmer the meatballs in the sauce (after cooking) to help the sauce soak in more.
Love these Sweet and Spicy Korean Meatballs. I did not have some of the ingredients, so substituted. I used ground turkey instead of ground beef; matzah meal instead of Panko crumbs; dried chopped onions instead of green onions; Trader Joe’s Sweet Chili Sauce instead of Sriracha Sauce but used Sriracha Sea Salt in place of plain sea salt, and a mix of Mango Coconut Chutney and Orange Marmalade instead of Apricot Jam. They lstill tasted delicious. Will make these again when I get the original ingredients. 😊
SERIOUSLY good!!! I didn’t have Siriacha sauce so I used the Byron Bay Chilli Red Cayenne I had in the fridge – YUMMO!!!!
I served with mashed potato and veg – they were awesome with the mash 🙂
going to try this with a mango preserve since thats all i have right now…
I still think it will taste great, do let me know!
It came outcome delicious… also switched the Siracha for the glaze to chili garlic sauce to switch up the heat since the ground turkey already had siracha in it