Teriyaki Meatballs
Juicy, tender meatballs tossed in a super easy, homemade sweet teriyaki sauce!
Meatballs and I didn’t get along all that much when I was growing up. I’d even purposefully eat around all the meatballs when I was served spaghetti and meatballs. I know, it’s weird. But somewhere along the way, I’ve become somewhat obsessed with meatballs, and I’ve found myself making a million different kinds of variations left and right, like these hoisin asian meatballs or these Italian meatball sandwiches, and of course, these swedish meatballs. So after making all these meatballs, I wanted to try something really different, and since I love teriyaki sauce, I just had to put two and two together.
These meatballs come together very easily using a combination of ground beef and pork. Feel free to use your preferred combination of ground meat but I’ve found that this particular combination produces the most tender, juicy meatballs. From there, you’ll pop these bad boys into the oven before slathering them in my homemade teriyaki sauce from my teriyaki salmon dish. You can certainly use store-bought teriyaki sauce but we all know that at the end of the day, nothing beats homemade.
The best part about these is that they can served either as a party appetizer or as a main dish over a bed of rice – either way, everyone will be dying for seconds and thirds!
Teriyaki Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork
- ½ cup Panko
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- Sesame seeds, for garnish
For the teriyaki sauce
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a cooling rack with nonstick spray and place on baking sheet; set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 1/4 cup water; set aside.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, add soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic powder, honey and 1 cup water; bring to a simmer. Stir in cornstarch mixture until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 2 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine ground beef, ground pork, Panko, egg yolks, green onions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and white pepper. Using a wooden spoon or clean hands, stir until well combined. Roll the mixture into 1 1/4-to-1 1/2-inch meatballs, forming about 40 meatballs.
- Place meatballs onto prepared baking sheet and bake until golden brown and cooked through, about 20-25 minutes.
- Serve meatballs immediately with teriyaki sauce, garnished with green onion and sesame seeds, if desired.
Notes
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These are absolutely delish! I have made them on multiple occasions for parties and dinners. I double the recipe and after baking, put them in a slow cooker to keep warm. Serve with toothpicks. My kids gobble them up and I always get major points. Thank you very much.
Hi. If I were going to make these ahead of time for a party, would you half cook them then freeze or freeze then raw? What about the sauce – do you think it would freeze well? Or how long would it keep in the fridge? The party is on a month – seems like a long time to keep in fridge. Thanks, Lori
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself. Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
Chungah, Just made it. It was easy and absolutely delicious. I had extra sauce left over. Is it possible to freeze it? How long do you think you could stay in the refrigerator?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself. Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
you use fresh ginger and garlic in the meatballs, but powdered in the sauce. Any particular reason why? Wondering if I can use fresh for both. Looks delicious! Beautiful photos!
Yes, you can use fresh for both if you wish!
I make thee in a crockpot?
It is very difficult to give exact conversion information to translate a traditional stovetop recipe to be used in a slow cooker without further recipe testing. However, here is an article worth checking out on a possible conversion guide. Hope that helps!
These were really yummy! Hit with fussy kids and quite quick and easy to prepare! Thanks ☺
I just made these tonight but I am glad I cooked a single meatball first to test for seasoning…. too bland so I added more soy and salt about a teaspoon of each. The sauce itself is very good and I used fresh garlic and ginger for it and it’s a hit for my family 🙂 Thanks for a quick and easy family recipe!
Thanks for this delicious recipe. My whole family loved it
Fantastic – first time ever making meatballs and they turned out great! Any idea on the calories per serving?
Nutritional information is provided only for select and new recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, I recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information.
I will be making these, and serving them over mascarpone polenta! Cant wait to get at them, it will be a few days as i must purchase my meats, thanks for awesome recipe!
So the meatballs are supposed to be baked on a rack rather than directly on the baking sheet? If I put them on the baking sheet would it make a big difference?
Yes, there will be a slight difference in texture.
What’s the difference between using black pepper and white pepper? Thank you.
Nicole, here is a great article discussing the difference between black and white pepper. Hope that helps!
Prepared as directed. Meatballs needed more flavor, maybe salt or siracha? sauce was a little on the sweet side for us. Added a little more soy sauce. Served with rice and broc. Pretty easy meal to make with ingred I had on hand.
Looks greart. our oven broke down a while ago so can i just pan fry the meatballs.
Absolutely delicious, will definitely make this again. Used the Copycat Panda chow mein recipe with it. Nothing leftover.
Love this site, great recipes, thanks
I made these this week, I did change up the recipe, only the meat. I only had hamburger so that is what I used. I did everything else the same but doubled the teriyaki sauce and it was all cheers from the family to make it again. Another great meal, thank you!
I made this with crushed up Matzoh instead of bread crumbs for us celebrating Passover! I also used Turkey. My boys said it was a keeper
I made your recipe using ground turkey instead of beef or pork and it turned out great. My son says this one is a keeper. Thanks!
Hi Chungah
This looks great! A question – can i replace ground beef with ground turkey?
Yes, of course!
So for Lessley, who didn’t want to use cornstarch…. I just used potato starch and the teriyaki sauce turned out great! These were so yummy, next time I would just add either a little more soy sauce or a little salt to the meatball mixture. Thanks for a great dinner!