January 13, 2016

Korean Meatballs

My darling sister makes these amazing Korean meatballs and I finally had to re-create them to post for all of you looking for a delicious appetizer. I mean, who doesn’t need another tasty finger food for all of these winter game gatherings?? Or for family movie night. Or maybe just because having finger food instead of real food for dinner is more fun tonight!

Korean meatballs combine the flavors of soy, ginger, garlic and sesame with a hit of heat from a Korean condiment called gochujang which is a medium intensity hot pepper paste. The sauce ingredients are combined with a little starch to bring it to a barbeque sauce consistency which works well to coat these little balls of meaty goodness. Use the sauce as a dipper or you can place these little fellas in a crockpot already sauced for easy crowd-pleasing poppables.

Korean Meatballs

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

35 mins

Author: Kari - CookingUpClean

Recipe type: Appetizers

Serves: 20

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
1 egg
2 teaspoons gochujang pepper paste (or use Sriracha sauce)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon rice flour (optional)
greens of 4 scallions, chopped (save white part for sauce)
FOR THE SAUCE:
½ cup tamari soy sauce or coconut aminos (low sodium is preferred)
¼ cup rice vinegar
4 scallions, white part only, chopped
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon gochujang pepper paste (or use Sriracha)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons, minced ginger (from about a 2" piece)
¾ cup water
1 tablespoon starch of any kind (potato starch, corn starch, tapioca starch)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl, add ground beef with egg, rice flour, garlic, onion greens and gochujang.
Mix together using your hands until all is thoroughly combines.
Shape into 1-1.5" balls and place on an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes and remove from oven. Top with sauce and serve immediately or place in a crockpot along with the sauce to keep warm while serving.
FOR THE SAUCE:
While meatballs are baking, combine all sauce ingredients in a small saucepot.
Heat sauce ingredients while whisking until thickened to a BBQ sauce consistency.
Pour over meatballs and serve hot!

Notes

You can also make up the meatballs in advance and freeze them. Reheat before serving and then top with fresh made sauce.

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