Grape Jelly Meatballs – These easy to make, traditional, grape jelly and chili sauce meatballs are perfect for parties and game day gatherings! They make a great family friendly dinner served over rice too!
Ok, you guys. Is it wrong that I’m already excited for comfort food season AND football season to be upon us?
Love summer, but, the kids are headed back to school, and Autumn is on my mind!
Well, mostly family football gatherings and the fact that I need even more quick and easy weeknight meals is what’s on my mind.
These three ingredient crockpot meatballs are perfect for either occasion.
I still always wonder where exactly this recipe came from.
Who came up with the idea to mix chili sauce and grape jelly together and then toss it over some meatballs?
Also, they’re obviously a genius, so let’s just get that out of the way.
I remember these being served at any and every single party I attended growing up.
Church gatherings, family potlucks, baby showers…..they’re everywhere!
But, if you haven’t had them or made them, and you’re like “what in the heck is chili sauce?” I’ll tell you.
It’s like ketchup, but better. You can find it in a glass bottle on the same aisle of the store as the ketchup.
Like I said, we have this for dinner pretty often. My kids go nuts for that tangy sauce. Really, really good over a bowl of rice!
My daughter, the grape jelly hater even loves these. Even after she figured out there was grape jelly in them. She said “I don’t even care because they’re so good!”
We have to keep her away from the crockpot when these are cooking so she doesn’t try to sneak them out!
It doesn’t get any simpler than this. I use frozen, beef meatballs to keep it even shorter and sweeter.
Whisk together the grape jelly and chili sauce, toss in the meatballs. Let them cook for a few hours.
And done!
If you’re looking for any other awesome crockpot dinner recipes, give my popular Crockpot Frito Chili Pie a try!
Enjoy!
~Nichole
Grape Jelly Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 32 Ounce Bag Fully Cooked Frozen Meatballs
- 2 12 Ounce Bottles Chili Sauce, I use Heinz
- 1 32 Ounce Jar Grape Jelly
Instructions
- Place the frozen meatballs in the bottom of your slow cooker. In a medium bowl, whisk together the chili sauce and grape jelly (the mixture will not be completely smooth at this point, that's fine it will melt down in the slow cooker.)
- Pour the sauce over the meatballs and cook on low heat for 3 hours. Serve with toothpicks as an appetizer, or over rice as a main dish.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I serve this at every SuperBowl / UFC party night! Works great with Lil’ Smokies mini hot dogs as well!
Can you combine these ahead of time and freeze it as a freezer meal?
I have been making these for a while now – But, I don’t use grape jelly – I use canned jellied cranberry sauce for that component – 1 can per bottle of chili sauce. Everyone seems to like it a lot.
I didn’t have quite enough grape jelly so I added a half cup of honey to make 32 oz. I have three more hours to find out if I messed up. I’ll let you know
Planning to make this as a main dish. What else would be good to serve with it for sides? I don’t think pasta would but trying to see if anyone else has any other ideas
The recipe suggests rice if you are serving the meatballs as a main dish. Maybe you could also add a side of Asian-inspired veggies!
Isn’t there a similar recipe that includes sauerkraut?
Can I make these with just the jelly and barbecue sauce. We don’t like spicy food
No you don’t need to. there is plenty of sauce.
Do you think homade meatballs would he better in here than Frozen ones?
I love these and I now use cranberry sauce instead of grape jelly , it gives it a nice zing .