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Self Saucing Honey Ginger and Garlic Pork Meatballs

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Honey Ginger and Garlic Pork Meatballs are sticky little balls of flavor the whole family will love. Baked, not fried, and they even make their own super sticky sauce right there when they are baking – perfect for pouring over some noodles when serving up.

What is it with kids and meatballs? If I were the betting kind, I could place money on it that if I asked my kids what they wanted for dinner they would reply with ‘pizza or meatballs’ every.single.time. And I can literally count the times they have had meatballs on two hands, but it’s still up there.

Honey Ginger and Garlic Pork Meatballs

I picked up some nice pork from the farmers market the other day, and decided to finally give in and make them up a little batch of honey and garlic pork meatballs. Half for them this weekend as mama is not going to be home (woohoo – more on that below), and half for the freezer for when the next inevitable request comes along. For tips on freezing, make sure you check out the notes section.

These Honey Ginger and Garlic Pork Meatballs are baked, not fried, and the sauce they are baked in makes a great sauce for pouring over some noodles and veg when you are ready to serve up.

Honey Ginger and Garlic Pork Meatballs

Aren’t these little chubby hands just the cutest? My 3 year old won’t nap anymore so she has become my assistant during ‘styling time’ when the youngest is napping.

Now I know you are just dying to hear about why I won’t be home this weekend 😛  I will be heading to the International Food Blogger’s Conference, and am so so excited to be doing something just for me for a change. It is going to be jam-packed!

I will be sampling local food, partaking in a farm-to-fork tour through the historic Sacramento delta, learning lots and lots about the whole farm-to-fork movement Sacramento is so well-known for, and hopefully meeting some lovely fellow bloggers while I am at it. Sounds fun, right? Make sure you are following me on Instagram so you can get a glimpse of some of the fun (and food, of course) along the way.

Honey Ginger and Garlic Pork Meatballs

I was so adamant I was going to let them fend for themselves while I am away (the husband, not the kids – they are only 2 and 3 after all). But all the talk of pizza, burgers and ice-cream stuffed doughnuts (???) the hubby keeps telling me he will be subjecting the kids to  (I am pretty sure he is winding me up, but you never know…) made me cave and make them at least one nutritious meal. That was probably his plan all along  😕

Looking for more quick and delicious weeknight meals? Check out these lovelies:

Are your little ones meatball crazy as well? I would love to hear from you if you try them out, so be sure to pop back and leave a comment.

Honey Ginger and Garlic Pork Meatballs
Print Recipe
4.12 from 44 votes

Honey Ginger and Garlic Pork Meatballs

Honey Ginger and Garlic Pork Meatballs are sticky little balls of flavor the whole family will love. Baked, not fried, and they even make their own super sticky sauce right there when they are baking - perfect for pouring over some noodles when serving up.
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Total Time30 mins
Course: Main
Cuisine: Asian
Servings: 6 serves
Calories: 254kcal
Author: Whole Food Bellies

Ingredients

For The Meatballs

  • 600 g Pork mince
  • 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 3 cloves garlic crushed
  • 2 tbsp ginger finely grated
  • 2 tsp sesame seeds
  • 2 tsp sesame oil
  • 2 green onions finely chopped
  • 1 egg lightly beaten
  • 1 tbsp avocado oil (or cooking oil of choice)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • soba noodles, black sesame seeds and chopped green onions to serve

For The Sauce

  • 1/2 cup tamari
  • 1/2 cup mirin
  • 2 tsp sesame oil
  • 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1/4 cup raw honey

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 425F
  • Pop the pork, breadcrumbs, garlic, ginger, sesame seeds, sesame oil, green onion, egg, and salt and pepper into a large bowl and mix well to combine
  • Place a large deep-sided roasting tray (like the kind you would bake a roast in) in the oven for 5 minutes or until very hot
  • Using a tablespoon, roll the pork mixture into balls and set aside. Once the roasting tin is hot, pour in the avocado oil, and add the meatballs. Pop into the preheated oven and cook for 5 minutes
  • For the sauce, place the soy tamari, mirin, sesame oil, vinegar and honey into a small bowl and mix to combine
  • Remove the meatball tray from the oven. Pour the honey mixture over the meatballs and toss carefully to coat. Pop back into the oven for 15 mins
  • Serve the meatballs with the noodles and a sprinkle of black sesame seeds and green onions

Video

Notes

To freeze: prepare the pork mixture, roll into balls and place on a piece of parchment paper on a baking tray. Pop the baking tray into the freezer until the meatballs are completely frozen. Transfer to a ziplock bag, and freeze until ready to use.

Nutrition

Calories: 254kcal | Carbohydrates: 25.2g | Protein: 22.7g | Fat: 7.2g | Saturated Fat: 2.3g | Cholesterol: 66mg | Sodium: 342mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 17.5g
Honey Garlic & Ginger Pork Meatballs . Little bites of flavor the whole family will love. Baked, not fried

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Comments

  1. Shelly says

    I was just curious if you set aside some of the sauce to pour on after as in the picture or did you make more than what the recipe says? I made these once before (they are amazing!) but I can’t remember what I did 😬

    Reply

  2. Sharon says

    For the exact same reasons as Donna, I was looking for a meatball recipe with pork mince. A few minutes ago I took the meatballs out of the oven, had a small bite, and they are delicious! My son could not help himself, and declared this as one of the best (and he could live on Swedish meatballs if it was up to him).
    Changes I made: no green onions (had none but I’ll see to it to have some next time); no oil in oven pan, instead parchement paper just to ease the cleaning later; no panko and matzo meal instead.
    The sauce was rather liquid and cannot see how it should be stickier, but I didn’t mind. I poured the rest of the sauce into the pan with the meatballs when they were going in for the last 15 min. I added sesame seeds and dry chili flakes to the sauce – worked great. A spicy note seemed to go well with the theme.
    I usually freeze the baked meatballs, and then they are defrozen in the microwave, as many as needed. Perfect for my son since he can do it himself.
    Thanks, Donna. This will be a family regular for sure.

    Reply

    • Donna says

      I am so glad you loved them, and I am super curious about using parchment paper in the pan instead of oil, will have to check that out. Love that your son can heat them up by himself with the microwave, perfect!!

      Reply

      • Donna says

        Hi Shelly, hope you got the last reply (sorry crazy busy with getting organised for Christmas over here), I just used what was in the recipe 🙂

        Reply

  4. Lyle Ketterling says

    This was great! Only problem was i could not tell when to add the Avocado oil, the instructions just say oil, oil and oil. There are a couple of oils being used in this recipe. coat is miss spelled in the instructions for #6.

    Reply

    • Donna1 says

      Thanks for the feedback Lyle, I am so glad you enjoyed them! I have updated the recipe to specify exactly where the avocado oil needs to be used just in case anyone else has this problem as well. Cheers

      Reply

  5. Liz says

    These were amazing. I had to make a few adjustments (soy sauce instead of tamari, and rice wine vinegar and abpinch of sugar instead of mirin, brown rice noodles instead of soba) because my store selection was limited, but the flavors were still so great. I’m just regretting I didn’t make more. Looking forward to trying the recipe as it is written, but even with a couple necessary tweaks, it still came out delicious! The kids loved it too.

    Reply

    • Donna1 says

      Oh I am SO glad Liz, especially that the kids loved them – that’s always a huge bonus right!! Thanks so much for taking the time to pop back and let me know 🙂

      Reply

  6. Hayley says

    After the time you stated my meatballs were still abit pink inside. Is the Sauce supposed to be thick because mine was still runny, what did I do wrong?

    Reply

    • Donna1 says

      Oh no, I am sorry to hear that Hayley. I have never had either of those problems with this dish, and we make it all the time! Maybe your meatballs were a little bit big? The sauce isn’t super thick, it should be of a pourable consistency, but sticky enough to stick to the meatballs. I hope this helps!

      Reply

  10. Katrin Nuernberger says

    I am a huge meatball fan! This recipe is next on my list. Do you think it will taste good without the honey?

    Reply

    • Donna1 says

      The honey makes the sauce nice and thick and sticky, but you could try it with some maple syrup instead, I think that would still taste good 🙂 Let me know how you go!

      Reply

  17. Nancy | Plus Ate Six says

    Big kids love meatballs too – well this big kid does anyway ! Hey, I’m sure your husband’s not going to panic whilst you’re away but autocorrect has changed panko to panic in your recipe 🙂 I was writing up a ragu recipe a couple of weeks back and it kept changing it to argue!!!

    Reply

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