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–+ servings
pile of bbq meatballs in white bowl
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5 from 7 votes

Crockpot Bourbon BBQ Meatballs

These crockpot bourbon bbq meatballs take just 5 minutes to prep and are the best appetizer for game day, football season or a fun night at home with the family!
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time3 hours
Total Time3 hours 5 minutes
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Keyword: bbq meatballs, crockpot meatball recipe, meatball appetizer
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 582kcal
Author: The Chunky Chef

Ingredients

  • 32 oz bag fully cooked frozen meatballs thawed
  • 2 cups bottled bbq sauce our favorite is Head Country original, but use your favorite
  • 3/4 cup bourbon
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1/3 cup molasses
  • 1 Tbsp finely minced fresh garlic
  • 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • fresh minced parsley optional - for garnish

Instructions

  • Add meatballs to slow cooker. Set aside.
  • In a bowl, mix together bbq sauce, bourbon, honey, molasses, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and cayenne pepper.  Pour over meatballs and stir to coat.
  • Cover and cook on LOW for 3-4 hours.
  • Stir before serving, then serve hot, sprinkled with minced fresh parsley if desired.

Notes

The calories shown are for a crockpot of meatballs, serving roughly 8 people as an appetizer, with one serving being approximately 4 oz of meatballs.  Please remember, any nutritional information shared is an estimate, since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information.
 
  1. 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.
  2. Type of BBQ Sauce – to keep things simple, I like to use an original variety of bbq sauce, and let the other flavors shine through.  Any flavor will work though.
  3. Bourbon - since the bourbon is mixed in with other flavors, there's no need to break the bank and bust open a bottle of super expensive bourbon for this.  But conversely, you want to enjoy the flavor.  My advise is to just use a brand of bourbon that you would sip on it's own.

Nutrition

Calories: 582kcal | Carbohydrates: 58g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 82mg | Sodium: 825mg | Potassium: 725mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 52g | Vitamin A: 215IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 74mg | Iron: 2mg