Did you ever have a recipe that over time you slowly start to change and the old one gets pushed to the way side? Well, that has happened for me with my Sweet and Sour Meatballs! My coworker Chelsea got me onto a new way to do meatballs. The secret ingredient is kind of funny....Stove Top Stuffing! You're thinking why? Well, usually meatballs require some kind of binder/filler with bread. This way, you have your bread and all the seasonings incorporated into one. All you have to do is add an egg! The sauce is slightly tweaked from a friend, Joanne Russell who is a chef extraordinaire!
Makes roughly 80 meatballs (yes, a lot!)
Ingredients:
1 box of Turkey Stove Top stuffing (requires 2 tbsp of butter, and 3/4 cup of hot water)
3.5 lbs of ground hamburger
1 egg
Sauce:
3/4 cup of white sugar
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 heaping tbsp of white flour
3/4 cup of white vinegar
1/2 cup of ketchup
1/4 cup of water
1 tbsp of soy sauce
Directions:
Step 1: First, make the stuffing. I have a big microwave dish with a lid that I always use. Place the contents of the bag in the bowl, add the butter and pour over the hot water. Mix a little. Place the lid on and microwave for 4 minutes on high. Take out of the microwave and let sit for a bit. Take the lid off, mix around and let cool a little.
Step 2: To make the meatballs, I place half of the ground beef in my Kitchen Aid mixer, the stuffing and egg, and the rest of the hamburger on top. With the paddle attachment, I mix to combine. If you don't have a mixer, you can obviously do this by hand!
Step 3: Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil. Time to make the meatballs. Grab a little bit of meat, roughly a heaping tablespoon's worth, roll with your hands, place on the baking sheet and repeat...for a while!.
Step 4: Oven on to 375F. While the oven heats up make the sauce. In a bowl place the 2 kinds of sugar and the flour. Mix. In a small saucepan on medium heat, add the vinegar, ketchup, water and soy sauce. Whisk to combine and let it slowly start to bubble. Once it bubbles, add the sugar/flour mixture and whisk. Keep an eye on the sauce since you don't want it to over boil. Whisk when needed until the sauce is thickened. It may take 5-8 minutes. Take off the heat until needed.
Step 5: Cook the meatballs in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Take them out of the oven and with tongs place in a large oven-safe dish. Pour over the sauce and mix. Place on the lid and bake in the oven for 35 minutes.
Serve with rice and steamed veggies!