These tasty meatballs will disappear quickly from anyone's holiday party. My mom makes them every year for New Years Eve, and now so do I. These do very well in a slow cooker, as you can simmer them before serving, as well as keep them hot for the duration of your party.

Cocktail Meatballs

beef

water

bread crumbs

onion

(8 ounce) can jellied cranberry sauce

chili sauce

brown sugar

lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).


In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, egg, water, bread crumbs, and minced onion. Roll into small meatballs.


Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, turning once.


In a slow cooker or large saucepan over low heat, blend the cranberry sauce, chili sauce, brown sugar, and lemon juice. Add meatballs, and simmer for 1 hour before serving.


These meatballs were a hit!  I used frozen meatballs.
Most jellied cranberry sauce come in 16 oz cans so if you decide to use the whole can you'll need to double all the other ingredients.  Typical chili sauce comes in 12oz. bottle so you'll need two bottles if you use the full can of cranberry.  Hope this helps your  shopping.

I have made these numerous times and am ashamed to admit I'm just now reviewing them.  Wonderful addition to the regular grape jelly recipes out there with great meatballs....      Based on experience and personal preference with these cocktail meatballs I offer the following suggestions:  1.)  Add one packet of lipton onion soup mix to the meatball mixture if you do not have time to mince or grate the onion.  2.)  Bake meatballs over a drip pan to reduce the fat before adding to the sauce.  3.) If using frozen meatballs ENSURE you DO NOT use Italian meatballs as this upsets the balance of the meatballs and sauce (yuck)!  3.)  Make the sauce the day before to let the flavors marry - I can't stress what a difference this makes!  This recipe gets better the next day.  4.)  The Heinz sauce in the round bottle seems to be the best chili sauce for this mixture.  Reviewers:  I seriously dislike people that rate a recipe based on the changes they have made to the original.  I want to state that I rated this recipe on the recipe Lara submitted.  The changes I suggested were based on my family's personal preference.  Thanks Lara for a fabulous appetizer recipe - I always give you the credit!

Fromrfjl46
I have been making these meatballs for 30 years or more in my catering business. I however use cornflakes crumbs instead of bread crumbs. I also put 1/3 cup parsley; I use 1/4 cup ketchup instead of water and 1 tsp. soy sauce. Just a tought from an old chef

These were great. A huge hit with my family. The only thing I did differently was substitute 1 packet of lipton onion soup for the minced onion. It added great flavor. My nephews couldn't get enough of these meatballs. I highly recommend this recipe.

This is a very tasty recipe for meatballs, with the cranberry sauce representing a change from the run of the mill grape jelly recipe.  I used seasoned bread crumbs, which added some nice flavor to the meatballs, and then baked them on a broiler tray, which allowed the fat to run off while they were baking.  One recipe is enough to fill one of the small 1 to 2 quart crockpots.  I made the meatballs 2 days ahead, and refrigerated them.  The day of my party, I made the sauce, put the meatballs in the crockpot, added the sauce, and put the whole crock back in the fridge.  About 2 hours before the party, I put the crock back in the warmer, and plugged it in.  Voila!  Easy and tasty.  I was so impressed with the recipe, that I made an extra batch of the meatballs, and froze them.  I will use them for another party in the next couple of weeks.  I'll bet you could use ground turkey for a little less fat.  Thanks for sharing a wonderful recipe!

Since I was serving 50+ and had several other dishes to prepare, I used storebought meatballs, and used this recipe for the sauce, cooking everything in a slowcooker.  This was the biggest hit of the party, and many people asked for the recipe.  It was sweet, but with a bit of a kick from the chili--unusual, but quite delicious, and it won my husband's "best he's ever had" compliment.  A fantastic, but very simple recipe!

These were great! So great, I barely got to eat 2 of them myself - the guys just inhaled them! One thing that would make the recipe easier though, is some explanation of what is meant by "Chili Sauce". There are so many types of Chili Sauce out there - after searching, I found that Heinz makes something called "Chili Sauce". If you're like me and have never heard of this type of chili sauce, it's basically a vinegar-y, very mildly spiced-up version of ketchup - (sort of like cocktail sauce for shrimp?), w/a ketchup consistency. You can find it next to the ketchup in any big chain grocery. You can't go wrong with this recipe! I'm making it again for New Year's eve!

I too served these for my New Year's Day party and they were a hit. I also used the prepared frozen meatballs. I'll bet the Little Smokies would be great in this sauce as well. Word of warning - do NOT use the Italian meatballs! The flavors fight each other and the sauce is the loser. Thanks for the recipe Lara.

I cheated and used frozen meatballs and baked for 15 minutes while making the sauce in a sauce pan.  The sauce comes out to be absolutely amazing that you wouldn't know if the meatballs where homemade or store bought.  I added 1 tbsp. of worchestershire sauce and put the sauce and meatballs in a crockpot and put on low for a couple hours.  It was a huge hit at the my friend's Xmas party.  People where raving and asking for this recipe all night.  They were the first things to be eaten up on the buffet table.

See how to make the best party meatballs.

cocktail meatballs

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hours, 25 minutes

Total: 1 hours, 45 minutes

Servings: 10

Cost: $3.90 /serving

Author : Lara

Ingredients

Instructions

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