One of my favorite go-to meals in the ‘old’ days was throwing frozen meatballs into a crockpot with grape jelly and chili sauce. Tasty. Easy. And filled with so much crap i don’t even know where to begin. So my task this week was recreating that delicious (awful) meal while making it more paleo friendly and a lot more nutritionally sound.
Little known secret, this is also a copycat of the recipe found on the back of the chili sauce bottle around the holidays – my friend Blair made these meatballs back when we lived in Little Rock and I quickly fell in love. This was the last official thing I ate before giving birth to my first baby so I always make them for friends who are hoping to induce labor. So far my track record has not been great in actual induction, but at least my “ready-to-pop” friends have been well fed.
When I went grain free I really had a craving for these meatballs and had to figure out a better way. This version is still a family favorite and now with my Instant Pot, they can be on the table in under an hour, start to finish!
Ingredients:
- 1 pound organic ground beef (grass fed)
- 5 tablespoons 100% fruit-sweetened grape jelly
- 1/2 cup organic chili sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground garlic salt
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup arrowroot or tapioca flour
- preheat oven to 350
- combine beef, pepper, garlic salt, egg, and tapioca starch in a bowl
- make golf ball sized meatballs with mixture and place on baking sheet
- bake for 20-30 minutes or until browned
- transfer meatballs to crockpot and add chili sauce, grape jelly, chili powder and paprika
- cook on low for 2-4 hours, checking periodically. do not overcook or meatballs and sauce will burn
- serve with your favorite greens or over rice if you eat grain
- NOTE: If using your Instant Pot, there is no need to bake the meatballs in advance. Assemble and form the meatballs, put the jelly, chili sauce, paprika and chili powder in the bottom of your Instant Pot, then cook on LOW PRESSURE (manual setting) for 30 minutes. They were well-formed, tender, and cooked to perfection!!!
That looks SO good, Yennifer! I love the instructional, pics, too! ~CC
I am making this recipe today…can you please tell me when the paprika goes into the dish?
I am making this recipe today…can you please tell me when the paprika goes into the dish?
Also the Chili powder….I hope it doent go into the meat balls as mine are already in the oven 🙁
I am making this recipe today…can you please tell me when the paprika goes into the dish?
Also the Chili powder….I hope it doesnt go into the meat balls as mine are already in the oven 🙁
You can mix them into the sauce!!! They were added seasonings, I forgot to update the recipe directions themselves. Thanks for catching that!
Where do you get your grape jelly?
I find mine at my commissary on base. You can also make your own if you can’t find an all fruit sweetened one!
I’m making these for dinner today! They look and sound so good! Have you ever made the meatballs in advance and refrigerated until ready to cook? My concern is the Arrowroot…if it will cause anything funky to happen if not cooked right away. Also, I have a Cuisinart electric pressure cooker, which is similar to the Instapot. It requires using 1/2 C. liquid minimum. I’m not sure what the requirements of the Instapot are, but I’m hopeful that the chili sauce and jelly qualify as liquid?
Hi there! That should be enough liquid – the Instant Pot is supposed to have a little liquid too but always performs even if it is minimal. Arrowroot should not cause any issues. It is shelf stable. Hope you enjoyed them!
What jelly can I use as a sub for grape. I can’t find one that is organic and 100% fruit
Any flavor you think you might enjoy. I prefer grape – you can also make your own very easily with pectin or gelatin and organic grape juice!
Would another kind of fruit jam work instead of grape do you think?
Sure it’s up to your palate which one might be good!
I think apricot would be good..:-)
Any suggestions to stretch out the sauce? I’m using an instant pot. Maybe just add water? Even when double the recipe it’s just not quite as much as we’d like (bc it’s so good!) 🙂
You can double the sauce! Just add more of both ingredients. I love it too!
I made this today and they are great. The only issue I have is they burned in the IntantPot. Just the bottoms.
I used organic fruit sweetened Strawberry jam. Turned out great!
The only thing I would change is maybe some coconut oil in the bottom of the cooker.
Bummer hope they work out better next time!
This recipe looks great!
If cooking in the instant pot is there no need to add water to the bottom of the pot? I thought all recipes had to have some water added to the instant pot.
What if I froze the meatballs uncooked, could I then make them in the instnatpot from frozen?
NO need for water, the sauce is enough! You can use frozen meatballs yes!
Do you do Natural release or quick release of steam after 30 minutes?
Quick release!
Thanks. That was quick… I have 12 minutes left for cooking so I’m glad you answered!!!
Hi, I’m making this now, my first dish in my new instant pot!!!
Can you tell how long the cooking times are if I use 3 lbs of meat (sauce tripled as well)?
So sorry I didn’t see this in time, hope it worked out well!
I’m making these tonight with 3lbs of meat as well. Do I need to adjust the cooking time or is 30 minutes enough?
Yes it should be!
If using pre-made meatballs, what could instructions be for IP? Thanks!
Are they cooked already? Or just preformed? Frozen and cooked?
What type of chili sauce do you use in this recipe? Sweet or Hot?
Savory chili sauce. It’s not really hot or sweet – it’s the one that is sort of like tangy ketchup.
I made these today but with pepper jelly. OMG SOOOO GOOD!
Wow great idea!
Hi wondering if you have tried making these ahead and freezing, then throw them in the IP before eating? I am new to the instant pot, any suggestions on how this would work?
I haven’t tried making them that way but I think it should work!
I want to say thank you for this recipe! Originally I made as written, but my family has differing opinions about sauce, so every week I bake a huge batch of the meatballs, skip the sauce step, and throw them in the fridge so everyone can heat them up and dip them in any sauce they please. Tonight I used ground turkey instead of beef and fried them as patties in a little butter, and they were the best turkey burgers I have ever had. Yum! The tapioca starch and egg work magic.
Oh awesome! I’m so glad you figured out how to cater these to accommodate everyone in your fam!
I tried your recipe and its amazing! The only problem was that the meatballs burned on the bottom, just as another person wrote in the comments. After reading that comment, I used some coconut oil on the bottom of the pot but that didn’t really help. Any suggestions fot next time? Thanks!
I love this recipe! I’ve made it twice already! But I was trying to get more chili sauce for the next time & can’t find the sauce on Amazon anymore. Do you have a suggestion for another chili sauce to try?
Oh bummer, I wonder why it’s not available. The Organicville brand can be found at Whole Foods and maybe a few other online stores too.
This looks great and thank you! When using in the Instant Pot, should the meatballs be in the sauce or on the trivet?
They are directly in the sauce!
My IP will be occupied with another dish and I don’t have a slow cooker (My slow cooker is my IP!). Do you have a suggestion for how/long to finish these on the stovetop after they’ve been baked in the oven? I’m planning to form and bake the meatballs the night before my event then finish them on the day of.
If they were to simmer for an hour or so it should work!
This is a fantastic recipe! For the Instant Pot version I added all the dry ingredients to the meat and made 12 balls out of the mix. For the sauce I didn’t have your exact ingredients so I winged it a little: Polaner All Fruit Concord Grape (5T), A Taste of Thai Sweet Chili Sauce (6T) and Sriracha (2T). The sriracha gave it a really nice kick!
I do have one question though: I have made meatballs before and never cooked them for 30 minutes in the Instant Pot. Could that be a typo? I programmed it for 5 minutes on High and they were perfect. The temp was !65 when I opened the lid. The sauce was a little thin so after taking them out I did Sauté for 3 minutes and it was thick and glossy.
Thanks for a great GF meatball recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it!