Honey Garlic Meatballs (Gluten Free)

This savoury and sweet combo packed with protein and flavour makes for a great meal prep meal that will keep you feeling full the rest of your work day! Bonus it's a gluten free recipe!

Who doesn't love meatballs? You can flavour them anyway you want and make then out of any meat you want. These little guys are so versatile, whether you go the Italian spice route or the Asian spice route you can make every meatball recipe different. I wanted to play around with some traditional Asian spices so I paired the meatballs with a sweet and sticky honey garlic sauce.

I made this recipe for my nephew and my brother, surprisingly enough out of the two of them my brother is the picky eater and he loved it! I want to start making more recipes for anyone with any dietary restrictions, gluten free cooking has become such a popular diet whether you are Celiac or you just choose not to eat it. Now a days our grocery stores are filled with so many options to make your meals gluten free which is amazing, but finding the right ingredient can be tricky sometimes (I'm still trying to find the right flour combo for buns!).

Making meatballs is a great idea if you are meal prepping, want a fast meal or just want to stock up your freezer with ready go meals. Buy a large amount of your choice meat, roll your meat balls, cook them and then freeze portion sizes to be rewarmed and sauced up at a later date. This recipe could easily be paired with several types of sauces such as a teriyaki or a garlic ginger. Meatballs are one of those recipes where you get your hands dirty so kids are some of the best helpers when rolling the meatballs, I swear anything that gets messy is the most fun!

Honey Garlic Meatballs (Gluten Free)

Ingredients:

For meatballs:

- 1 1/2 pound ground beef

- 1 egg

- 1/2 cup gluten free bread crumbs

- 1 garlic clove, minced

- 1/2 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced

- 2 tablespoons gluten free soy sauce

- 2 teaspoons sesame oil

- pinch of salt and pepper

- a dash of Chinese 5 spice

For Honey Garlic sauce:

- 1/3 cup brown sugar

- 1/2 cup honey

- 2/3 cup ketchup

- 3 tablespoons gluten free soy sauce

- 1/4 cup olive oil

-5 garlic cloves, minced

- 1/2 tablespoon gluten free flour

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350C. Add all meatball ingredients in a large bowl and mix with hands until well combined. Using a tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out meat mixture and roll into a ball using your hands.

2. In a large frying pan heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil on medium heat and then add meatballs to hot pan. Cook for about 5 minutes, rolling meatballs to brown each side. Remove partially cooked meatballs from frying pan and place on a lined cookie sheet, place the cookie sheet in preheated oven and finish cooking the meatballs, about 6-8 minutes.

3. While meatballs are cooking in the oven, use the same frying pan you did for the meatballs to make the honey garlic sauce. On medium heat whisk all honey garlic sauce ingredients in the pan, continue whisking until sauce starts to thicken, then reduce heat to low.

4. Remove meatballs from the oven and toss into the sauce, continue cooking until meatballs are nicely coated with honey garlic sauce, about 2 minutes. Once meatballs are coated top with sesame seeds and cilantro. Serve with rice.

There you have it, a quick and delicious meal that even your pickiest eater will love. Add in some vegetables such as sautéed green peppers and onions to really bring this dish together.

Enjoy!

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