Sweet and Sour Meatballs Recipe - Food.com (2024)

FAQs

Why do my homemade meatballs fall apart? ›

Because meat shrinks when cooked, mince proteins are likely to separate and crumble unless bound together. Whether it's breadcrumbs or egg (or both), or simply salt, binding the mince is a crucial step in maintaining the softness of your meatballs while preventing them from falling apart.

Add moisture.

Eggs and binders like breadcrumbs mixed with milk all help with keeping meatballs tender and moist, so don't skip any of these.

While sweet and sour can be found in diverse forms in China, the American version builds upon the simple mixture of sugar, vinegar, and spices with the addition of fruit juice—most commonly pineapple—and ketchup, giving the sauce both its red hue and uniquely Western flavor.

After all of the Italian meatballs I've been making lately, I consider myself a meatball expert. A good rule of thumb is to bake meatballs for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees fahrenheit.

When it comes to adding liquid to meatball mixtures, milk is often used for its versatility, depth of flavor, and richness. Without the use of milk, you may be faced with a plate of dry meatballs. Milk adds a certain level of moisture that helps produce perfectly tender meatballs.

While water and broth may keep the meatballs moist throughout the cooking process, milk's extra fat and luscious consistency add an unmatched level of complexity to any classic meatball recipe.

The only way to prevent your meatballs from falling apart is to add some flour in the precooked seasoned ground beef. once you season the ground beef to your taste, you then add some flour, not too much but at least half of a handful.

Pretzels. Pretzels are a great all-purpose substitute for bread crumbs. You can pulse them in a food processor until they're super-fine and use them as a binder for meatballs or meatloaf.

Chill your meatballs: refrigerating your meatballs an hour before cooking helps them hold their shape throughout the cooking process. They can chill in the fridge for up to 24 hours before cooking, making meatballs a great make-ahead dish, too.

You only need a small amount of egg – it's there only to help the cooked meatball retain its shape, and shouldn't detract from the meat's flavour or texture. Filler ingredients like breadcrumbs or flour are important too because they stop the meatballs becoming dry.

Do meatballs get more tender the longer they cook? ›

Tenderizing the Meat:

As the collagen in the meat dissolves over time, it transforms into gelatin, which not only adds a silky texture to the sauce but also contributes to the overall richness and depth of flavor. The longer the simmer, the more tender and succulent the meatballs become.

Baking soda, otherwise known as sodium bicarbonate, appears often in köfte recipes. It raises the PH level of the meat, making it harder for the meat's protein molecules to bond. This in turn allows the meat to retain water as it cooks. And more water means a moist meatball.

Don't Over-Mix the Meat

Another meatball-related pitfall? Over-mixing. The more you mix ground meat with seasonings, the tougher, springier, and more compact the finished product will be—we want loose and tender, not tight and sausage-like.

They are usually made with a mix of ground beef and ground pork, or just with ground beef, which is mixed into a mixture of beaten eggs, breadcrumbs soaked in milk, and grated raw onions or finely chopped and fried onions. Cream is often added for more luxurious versions.

Sweet and Sour meatballs originated in China. They have become a popular main dish in the Philippines or anywhere around the globe for that matter. They are primarily made from ground pork, which is shaped, into balls and cooked with a sweet and sour sauce.

Replace the Grape Jelly with apricot preserves, orange marmalade, canned cranberry sauce, raspberry preserves, or hot pepper jelly. Replace the Ketchup with Heinz chili sauce or barbecue sauce. If swapping the ketchup for chili sauce, it is not a spicy sauce.