Slow Cooker French Onion Meatballs

I love recipes that combine two things into one incredible dinner, like a buffalo chicken mac and cheese, or a deluxe pizza soup.

Plus, I really love easy dinner recipes, where there’s hardly any prep work, nothing to remember to thaw, and that don’t use all the ingredients in my pantry or refrigerator.

That’s where this recipe comes in! The meatballs are cooked from frozen, there’s no chopping needed, it uses just 4 ingredients, and the slow cooker does 95% of the work.

It combines everything you love about a classic french onion soup, with fun, pop-able meatballs! Serve them alongside mashed potatoes or french bread, and a green vegetable (like roasted asparagus, or bacon green beans), and you have a delicious family dinner everyone will love.

How to make crockpot french onion meatballs?

This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.

1. Add meatballs to slow cooker. These meatballs are cooked from frozen.
2. Add onion. We like to use a yellow or sweet onion for this, but white will also work well.
3. Add soups. Condensed french onion soup is so versatile, and adds a classic flavor.
4. Slow cook, then add cheese. This recipe can be cooked on low or high (all the times are in the recipe card towards the bottom of the post).

Variations of this recipe

• Meatballs – to save on some time, this recipe uses pre-cooked frozen meatballs, 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.
• Thawed – if you have thawed meatballs, you can use those, just cook on LOW for 1-2 hours, or HIGH for 1 hour (I would stir a couple of times if cooking on high, just to make sure the meatballs and sauce don’t burn).
• Alcohol – a lot of french onion soup recipes have some kind of alcohol added to give the soup a depth of flavor. So feel free to add a splash of sherry or white wine to the slow cooker.
• Cheese – gruyere is the classic cheese used in french onion soup, so that’s what I chose for these meatballs. However, gruyere is somewhat expensive and can be more difficult to find. Provolone is a great alternative.
• Serving – we love to serve these meatballs over mashed potatoes, toasted french bread slices, or rice.

Making french onion 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 (minus the cheese), and reheat in the slow cooker until hot and bubbly (sprinkling with cheese the last 30 minutes or so).

Freezing

Meatballs can also be frozen for up to 3 months.  Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then reheat.

Storage

Leftover meatballs should be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days.