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
The following links are affiliate links.
The Chunky Chef, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. For more information regarding this program and what it means for you, please see my Privacy page.
- Slow Cooker – the white model pictured isn’t available any more, but this model is one of my favorites!
BE SURE TO SCROLL DOWN TO CHECK OUT OTHER READERS’ COMMENTS FOR TIPS AND REVIEWS.
AND DON’T FORGET, IF YOU’VE MADE THIS RECIPE, LEAVE A COMMENT AND PLEASE GIVE IT A STAR RATING LETTING ME KNOW HOW YOU ENJOYED IT!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
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.
Want to save this recipe for later? Click the heart in the bottom right corner to save to your own recipe box!
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.
Barbara says
Delicious and hardy on a cold night! Looked just like the picture. And so easy to make. I am enjoying cooking with my crock pot thanks to your recipes. By the way, I loved your beef barley recipe. It had been unused for a few years and now I have used it more times this month than all the years I have had it. It’s great to know dinner is cooking without me watching over the stove every minute.
Ruby Fitzpatrick says
Super delicious! I made this for my New Year’s Eve Party. And, it was a hit. I followed the recipe exactly, except for the cayenne pepper. I can’t do hot or spicy foods. But, it was real, real good. Thanks for sharing!!!
Renee Cheesman says
Can I make my own meatballs and how would that change the recipe?
The Chunky Chef says
I’m not sure how it would change, as I’ve only tested this recipe as written. So without testing and retesting it myself, I can’t say for certain if that would work. If you do some experimenting, I’d love to know how it turns out!
Ronald says
it should work with home made meat balls
after all meat balls are meat balls arent they
Heather says
Can I do this with frozen uncooked meatballs the same ?
The Chunky Chef says
I haven’t tested this recipe using uncooked meatballs, so I can’t say for certain whether any changes would need to be made, or if the cooking time would work. If you do some experimenting, I’d love to know how it turns out 🙂
Anthony says
Hello. This looks amazing and can’t wait to try it. Going to be making these tonight and I just want to make sure I get this right. I saw a comment about cooking the frozen meatballs on Low 3-4 hours but the sauce will be thin. That is the same as cooking the thawed meatballs on Low 3-4 hours? Meaning if I use the thawed meatballs and cook on Low 3-4 hours, the sauce will be thin? Or will the sauce be any thinner on High for thawed? Want the sauce to be fairly thick as possible. Thanks for your help
The Chunky Chef says
The sauce would be a little thinner using frozen meatballs, as there’s usually excess frost on the meatballs, which becomes watery when heated. If you thaw them, the meatballs and sauce should look like the photos.
Erica Mcfadgon says
Great meatball recipe!!!!!!
Chelssa says
If I was planning on using 48oz instead of 32oz, what would you recommend for the amount of ingredients to use for the sauce?
The Chunky Chef says
If you hover over the servings number in the recipe card, a toggle bar will appear. You can slide it either way, but in your case you’d want to slide it to the right until it says 12 servings. Then the recipe card will automatically calculate the sauce amounts.
Kathy Coleman says
I want to make a charcuterie board at Christmas and meatballs was going to be one thing I was going to make. Do you recommend any kind of dipping sauce for these? Maybe a ranch dip? Would like your feedback. Thank you.
The Chunky Chef says
We don’t ever have these with a dipping sauce since they’re pretty saucy as is, so I can’t say for certain which dip would go best. Ranch or blue cheese would probably be the most common though 🙂