I’m excited to share with you one of my favourite recipes from my childhood, with my own twist on it – Sweet & Tangy Meatballs!
These meatballs were often a staple in my home growing up yet every time we ate them, it felt like a treat! The smell coming from the kitchen was always a dead giveaway that Mom was cooking up these delicious meatballs and let me tell you, we would devour them as quickly as she set them down on the table.
Now, every time my Mom would make these meatballs, she would always make the meatballs from scratch. While they taste amazing from scratch, it is a lot more work doing it that way. Because I like to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen (I’m more of a get-in, get-out kinda girl), I always make this recipe with pre-made meatballs. Over the last few years, we’ve been buying these DELICIOUS Italian style meatballs from Costco and I’m convinced you can’t beat the price and flavour, nor convenience, for that matter.
This HUGE bag cost $23 and will feed our family of five at least FOUR times. The meatballs taste amazing and I’d say are as close to homemade meatballs as you can get!
So if you want to make your own meatballs, by all means, but if you are in need of a quick and easy weeknight meal that the whole family will love, grab a bag of these meatballs and just whip up the sauce and I guarantee your whole family will love it!
For serving, we always grew up eating it over rice, however you could have it any way really – on it’s own as appetizers, in buns as sliders, over noodles – totally up to you!
One thing I want to mention before I share the recipe is that everyone’s “tangy” levels are different. Some like more of a tang flavour while others prefer it not as much. My mom makes her much more tangy whereas I’ve had to lower the amount of vinegar significantly for my family to tolerate. My suggestion is to use this recipe as a great jumping off point and make sure to taste and adjust to your own palette while it’s simmering. Also don’t forget, that once you add in the meatballs, it will alter the taste somewhat, so my recommendation is to keep taste testing as it simmers, both with and without the meatballs and adjust accordingly!
Sweet & Tangy Meatballs
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1 1/4 cup water
- 2 beef bovril packets
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 tbsp white vinegar
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 tsp old style dijon mustard (grainy)
- salt & pepper, to taste
- 30-40 pre-cooked meatballs
Instructions
- Melt butter in large saucepan and add onions. Sauté until translucent
- Add the rest of the ingredients, excluding meatballs, and whisk to blend together well. Simmer on medium low for approximately 10 - 15 minutes.
- Add in pre-cooked meatballs and cover with lid until heated through
- Serve over rice and enjoy!
Notes
- Make sure to taste test as the sauce is simmering to adjust sweet and tangy flavours to taste
A super simple yet delicious meal that your family is guaranteed to enjoy! I can tell you that this is one dish we never have to fight with the kids to eat – they LOVE it! For some more easy dinner ideas, click here!
Bon Apetit!
Love & Blessings,
Christine
