Easy Asian pork meatballs taste like the inside of a dumpling. Great with rice, noodles or over greens. Light and healthy!
**this post was updated in 2019
Brrrrr! Its cold! Ha! just kidding. Its cold to me (mid to low 60s), but I’m actually just messing around with all those getting pummeled by “Snow Death Storm” as dubbed by my brother.
Although I’m under a blanket wearing slippers and leg warmers, I am also counting my blessings that I don’t have to de-ice, shovel or pre-heat my car before going anywhere.
Not that anyone buried in snow is going to read this recipe and immediately go buy ingredients, but, when you finally thaw out, you should add it to your MUST MAKE list.
Asian Pork Meatballs
Since The Hubs isn’t supposed to eat beef anymore, I’ve been working with ground pork a lot lately. I decided to rework this old meatball recipe from back in the day.
I’ll tell you a little secret. To compensate for the still-too-short-to-photograph-during-actual-dinner-hour-using-natural-light days, I often make a small “dinner” in the middle of the afternoon. This allows me to get a good photo AND taste test new recipes ahead of feeding them to my loved ones.
They don’t always work out you know.
I made a small portion of Asian pork meatballs photos and after eating my “sample” I desperately wanted to make the rest of them and eat them all immediately!
Let me just say that these ground pork meatballs taste just like the inside of a pot sticker dumpling. The entire recipe was gone in no time. When The Hubs eats the leftovers from dinner before he goes to bed, I know I have a winner on my hands.
If you give this recipe a try, I’d love to see it! Tag me @betsylife on Facebook or Instagram and I’ll share your creations!
More great meatball recipes
- Turkey meatballs with zucchini spaghetti
- Turkey Banh Mi Meatball Sliders
- Vegetarian Lentil “Meat” balls
Asian Pork Meatballs
Easy Asian ground pork meatballs taste like the inside of a pot sticker. Great with rice, noodles or over greens. Light and healthy!
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 Tablespoons flaked unsweetened coconut
- 1/4 cup chopped green onions
- 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 1 Tablespoon sweet chili sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 large egg white lightly beaten
- Cooking spray
Sauce:
- 1/4 cup lower-sodium soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon basil oil
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
- 1 teaspoon water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons mirin sweet rice wine
- Dash of crushed red pepper
- Additional ingredients:
- Small basil leaves optional
- Chopped green onions optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°.
- To prepare meatballs, combine first 9 ingredients in a large bowl; shape mixture into 16 (1 1/2-incmeatballs.
Heat a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add 8 meatballs to pan, and cook for 6 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove from pan.
Repeat with remaining meatballs.
Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Whisk together 4soy sauce, basil oil, orange juice, water, mirin, and red pepper in a small bowl.
Return all meatballs to the pan. Pour sauce over meatballs. Place skillet in the oven.
- Bake at 425° for 7 minutes or until done.
Stir meatballs to fully coat with sauce. Garnish with basil leaves and additional chopped green onions, if desired.
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Jamie Gollan says
Do I have to use the coconut or can I substitute something else?
betsy says
You can leave it out but it will change the flavor. I would add additional breadcrumbs as a binder