Cranberry Baked Meatballs – Tasty Vacation Appetizer

When entertaining in the course of the holidays, these Cranberry Baked Meatballs are an appetizer that may fly off the desk. Be ready to provide out the recipe!! I needed to share earlier than our Christmas occasion was even over!!

Cocktail Meatballs are a mainstay appetizer, however shaking issues up with a can of jellied cranberry sauce made for a festive, seasonal twist on this traditional!

Cranberry Baked Meatballs

Considered one of our vacation traditions is to assemble with a bunch of mates with whom I volunteered for years and their husbands. I provided to host, however was inspired to have our dinner catered as an alternative of our common pitch-in meal.

Nicely, the meals blogger in me needed to make just a few dishes, together with these festive home made meatballs with a jellied cranberry sauce base. Including some ketchup, brown sugar and lemon juice gave the proper steadiness for a saucy candy and bitter meatballs recipe!

Why You Should Make

• These are an ideal approach to make use of up leftover cranberry sauce from the vacations.
• Function a starter on Thanksgiving or Christmas for a seasonal twist on the standard meatball appetizers.
• Meatballs make a hearty appetizer that’s ultimate whereas watching sports activities and consuming beer!

Make Meatballs

• When you select to make your meatballs from scratch, be at liberty to make use of any favourite traditional meatball recipe. I used floor beef, contemporary bread crumbs, dried onions, eggs and soy sauce (for some scrumptious umami).
• I like to combine all of the components along with my fingers when making meatballs or meatloaf to make sure all components are properly included.
• Be sure to not overwork the meatball combination, although.
• Floor pork or darkish meat rooster works properly in case you favor these over beef.
• Use a medium cookie disher for good-sized cocktail meatballs. Gently form as wanted.
• The fitting steadiness of flavors within the cocktail meatball sauce will make a memorable recipe. The brown sugar and cranberry sauce present the candy factor, soy the salty, lemon the bitter. The best meatball sauce is a jar of grape jelly for candy and a jar or two of chili sauce for the savory.
• These cocktail meatballs have to be cooked earlier than serving. Sauteing them is a risk, though it might probably get messy. I favor baking because it helps render among the fats from the meatballs.
• Putting the meatballs on a wire rack over a sheet pan permits the grease to drip away from the meat.

Suggestions for making Baked Meatballs

Word that you should use your favourite frozen meatballs to make this an excellent simpler recipe, however there are just a few suggestions in case you favor home made meatballs.

• PRO-Tip: Don’t use tremendous lean beef or your meatballs can be dry. Because the meatballs are baked on a rack a whole lot of the fats will drip off onto the sheet pan beneath.
• Line your sheet pan with aluminum foil for simple cleanup. Guarantee your rack is oven-safe, too.
• Don’t compress your meatballs an excessive amount of when forming them as they gained’t be as tender.
• I like utilizing a medium cookie disher to make all of the meatballs an analogous dimension.
• The unique recipe known as for small meatballs (72 1-inch meatballs), however I knew my crowd would favor them a extra substantial.
• Add some warmth with Sriracha or your favourite sizzling sauce, if desired.
• These may be saved heat in a low cooker or chafing dish if wanted.

Extra Appetizers You’ll Love:

Whether or not for the Tremendous Bowl, tailgating, a cocktail occasion, or feast, tried and true appetizers are needed for a bunch or hostess’ recipe arsenal. Add these Cranberry Baked Meatballs to your subsequent occasion menu!