These crowd-pleasing tender crockpot meatballs are smothered in a super flavorful honey garlic bbq sauce. Perfect for parties, this recipe couldn’t be more simple to make!
Party food recipes like these Honey Garlic Crockpot Meatballs are great for game days, holidays, and pretty much any gathering. Party guests love finger foods and dips! We LOVE easy, family-favorite recipes like my Bacon Ranch Cheese Ball and this Everything Bagel Pigs in a Blanket. This is one of my Appetizer recipes you’ll definitely want in your collection!
CROCKPOT MEATBALLS RECIPE
What’s your holiday season going to look like this year? Normally we’re booked every weekend with a holiday party, hosting one ourselves, or getting the house ready to host Christmas. But this year, it’s undoubtedly going to look a bit different.
But even if we don’t get to attend or host all those fun holiday parties, we’re still going to want some of that amazing party food!
I like to have a fun appetizer-dinner every once in a while. You get to eat all your faves, and the kids think it’s a blast because they get to eat finger food!
These honey garlic meatballs are a staple at our parties and appetizer-dinners. The sauce is out of this world good. And the best part, it’s base is bottled bbq sauce, so it’s a quick, 5 minute prep, with very minimal ingredients.
Perfect for parties, these little meatballs are pop-able, and oh so delectable. Your guests will keep coming back for more and asking you for the recipe, I promise!
HOW TO MAKE CROCKPOT MEATBALLS
- Stir together sauce. I like to mix the bbq sauce, honey, garlic and cayenne right in the slow cooker, so I have one less dish to wash.
- Add meatballs. Stir the meatballs into the sauce.
- Cook. Cover and cook on HIGH for 2-3 hours.
ADDITIONAL COOKING TIPS
- TYPE OF MEATBALLS – since this dish has sweeter flavors, I don’t advise using and Italian seasoned meatball variety for this recipe. Personally, I pick up a bag of my grocery store’s brand meatballs, in the homestyle variety. Trader Joes has some amazing frozen meatballs as well.
- TYPE OF BBQ SAUCE – to keep things simple, I like to use an original variety of bbq sauce, and let the honey and garlic flavors shine through. Any flavor will work though.
VARIATIONS OF THIS RECIPE
- SPICY – a fan of a spicy kick? Try using half regular bbq and half spicy bbq sauce, adding more cayenne pepper, and adding some hot sauce.
- MILD – if you’re really sensitive to heat, you can omit the cayenne pepper.
- MEATBALLS – to save on some time, this recipe uses pre-cooked frozen meatballs that have been thawed, but you can use homemade meatballs if you want. Just sear or partially bake them first, so they hold up well in the slow cooker.
- BBQ SAUCE – I normally use bottled bbq sauce (Heady Country is one of my faves), but if you’d rather use homemade, you certainly can! I like to use my Bourbon BBQ Sauce when I’m using a made from scratch version.
- FROZEN – no time to thaw the meatballs? No problem! Just use them frozen, but cook on LOW for 3-4 hours. The sauce may be a bit thinner.
MAKING CROCKPOT MEATBALLS AHEAD OF TIME
Since these meatballs cook in the slow cooker, and there’s not any rushing around cooking, I don’t find I need to make this recipe ahead of time.
If you want to do it, you can make it 1-2 days ahead, and reheat in the slow cooker until hot and bubbly.
STORAGE
Leftover meatballs should be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT FOR THIS RECIPE
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- Slow Cooker – the white model pictured isn’t available any more, but this model is one of my favorites!
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Ingredients
- 28 oz bottle BBQ sauce (use your favorite brand)
- 1/3 cup honey
- 3 Tbsp minced fresh garlic
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 32 oz bag pre-cooked frozen meatballs thawed
Instructions
- Lightly spray a slow cooker insert with nonstick cooking spray.
- Add bbq sauce, honey, garlic, and cayenne pepper to slow cooker insert and stir to combine well.
- Add thawed meatballs and stir to coat well. Cover and cook on LOW for. 3-4 hours or HIGH for 2 hours.
- Stir before serving; serve hot.
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Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Any nutritional information shared is an estimate, and is automatically calculated through a program. If calorie count is important to you, I recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
The Chunky Chef is not a nutritionist and doesn’t provide full nutritional information for recipes as she wouldn’t want to potentially and unknowingly pass along incorrect information.
Lexi says
Would this work well with frozen Swedish meatballs?
The Chunky Chef says
Do the swedish meatballs have a sauce or other flavorings? This recipe works best with plain meatballs, otherwise the sauce will be competing with the other flavors going on.