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Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary

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Grandma Ann’s Sweet & Sour Meatballs

Published on May 4, 2013 β€’ Last updated March 4, 2018 by Elizabeth Atia
sweet-and-sour-meatballs

This is my Canadian grandmother’s sweet and sour meatballs recipe. She used to make a big batch of these for us for Christmas Eve dinner back in the 80s and 90s and I don’t believe there were ever any leftovers. This recipe won’t be winning any healthy food awards due to the massive quantity of sugar in the sauce, but it’s an awesome recipe from my childhood and I’m delighted that all three of my own children love it. I don’t make it very often, but it’s nice for an occasional treat.

I don’t know what she used to put in the meatballs themselves, as my recipe only calls for ‘meatballs’ so the recipe I’ve included for those is my own.

Since this recipe uses store-cupboard ingredients and it is a very inexpensive meal to make I am sharing the recipe with Fuss Free Flavours and Fab Food 4 All’s Credit Crunch Munch, hosted this month by Janice from Farmersgirl Kitchen. Credit Crunch Munch asks us to share our frugal food recipes and it’s a blog hop too, so scroll down and see what other food bloggers have been cooking.

sweet-and-sour-meatballs-2
Grandma Ann’s Sweet & Sour Meatballs
by Elizabeth
A child-friendly meatball recipe with plenty of sweet & sour sauce. Excellent with plain rice.
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
    • 600 grams lean ground beef
    • 1 red onion, finely diced
    • 1 garlic clove, crushed
    • 1 tsp mixed dried herbs
    • 1 tbsp tomato puree
    • 1 egg, beaten
    • freshly ground black pepper
    • sea salt
For the Sweet & Sour sauce:
  • 330 grams dark brown sugar
  • 125 ml white vinegar
  • 175 ml water
  • 1 tsp dry mustard powder
  • 125 ml ketchup
  • 2 tbsp cornflour
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. To prepare the meatballs combine the ground beef, onion, garlic, tomato puree, salt, pepper and egg.
3. Using your hands form into 36 one inch round meatballs.
4. Heat a nonstick frying pan and fry the meatballs in batches until browned on the outside. Transfer to an ovenproof casserole dish.
5. Combine the brown sugar, vinegar, water, mustard and ketchup in a medium sized saucepan.
6. Whisk over a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture starts to bubble.
7. Thicken with cornflour dissolved in a little cold water.
8. Pour the sauce over the meatballs and transfer the casserole dish to the oven.
9. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve with plenty of plain white rice.
Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 40 mins Total time: 1 hour Yield: Serves 4-6

Category: Uncategorized

About Elizabeth Atia

Daydream adventurer. Expat Canadian. Foodie. Calls Shetland home.

Previous Post: « Three Bean Vegetable Soup
Next Post: Chocolate Black Pepper Cookies & Electric Pepper Grinder Review »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sam Williams

    October 29, 2014 at 4:33 pm

    That’s a really good idea – I’ll have to try it myself

    Reply
  2. Heather Haigh

    July 6, 2014 at 11:28 pm

    This looks like a great recipe for those ‘dunno what to make tonight’ days – normally have most of these things in the store cupboard and it looks very tasty.

    Reply
  3. Heather Haigh

    June 25, 2014 at 8:56 am

    These sound really tasty – love meat balls and the sauce sounds great.

    Reply
    • Elizabeth

      June 25, 2014 at 9:07 am

      It is a fab sauce – really high in sugar but it’s got that nostalgia/childhood thing going for it. I do love it so!

      Reply
  4. Camilla @Fabfood4all

    May 11, 2013 at 9:36 am

    These sound very tasty but I think I’d be tempted to cut down on the sugar. Thanks for entering Credit Crunch Munch again with another tasty and frugal dish:-)

    Reply
    • Elizabeth

      May 11, 2013 at 9:42 am

      There’s an astonishing quantity of sugar in this recipe, isn’t there! This is why I don’t make it very often (ie: MAYBE once a year!)

      Reply
  5. Gary

    May 4, 2013 at 10:52 pm

    The photography is fantastic

    Reply
    • Elizabeth

      May 5, 2013 at 8:29 am

      Aw, thanks Gary, I really appreciate that πŸ™‚

      Reply
  6. Janice Pattie

    May 4, 2013 at 6:37 pm

    Fab sauce recipe, love the picture with the sauce smooshec into the rice, that is SO right! Thanks for joining us for Creit Crunch Munch

    Reply
    • Elizabeth

      May 5, 2013 at 8:28 am

      Thanks! I tried to make the first photo look really nice and professional and then when it came time to eat it (I’d waited until the next day to photograph the leftovers) I poured over lots more sauce (because that’s the best bit!) and thought it looked much more appealing! I just had to include that photo πŸ™‚

      Reply
  7. Anneli (Delicieux_fr)

    May 4, 2013 at 5:37 pm

    These look so lovely in that shiny sauce. What a lovely idea – I would not have thought of sweet & sour meatballs but now I have seen them, I crave them! Bookmarked x

    Reply
    • Elizabeth

      May 5, 2013 at 8:26 am

      Oh I do hope you like them! It’s a really easy recipe to make, and leftovers freeze really well (so my grandmother says). πŸ™‚

      Reply
  8. Victoria Lee

    May 4, 2013 at 4:46 pm

    I’ve never had meatballs with anything other than a classic tomato sauce, although sometimes I stuff mine with a cheese centre. But I really like the sound of them with the Sweet and Sour sauce, thank you so much for sharing such a treasured family recipe πŸ™‚

    Reply
    • Elizabeth

      May 5, 2013 at 8:25 am

      I think that this was the only way I had meatballs during my childhood, that and out of a can with gravy (oh gosh we loved those canned meatballs!) It wasn’t until I was an adult and cooking for myself I tried the classic meatball sauce. Jamie Oliver has a fantastic recipe. I hope you try the sweet and sour sauce and I hope you like it as much as we do. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  9. Aara Shaikh

    May 4, 2013 at 4:33 pm

    Yummy recipe and wonderful clicks!! Made me drool the combination is excellent!!

    Reply
    • Elizabeth

      May 5, 2013 at 8:22 am

      Thank you πŸ™‚

      Reply

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About Elizabeth

Adventurer. Expat Canadian. Foodie. Loves bikes. Calls Shetland home. Read More…

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“Every day is another chance to get stronger, to eat better, to live healthier, and to be the best version of you.”

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