COCKTAIL MEATBALLS are the best holiday appetizer! These sweet and spicy Cranberry Meatballs are cooked in a cranberry pepper jelly sauce, which gives them the perfect kick of flavor. These cranberry sauce meatballs are just so delicious! The best Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years Eve appetizer without a doubt.
Best Cocktail Meatballs Recipe
Cocktail Meatballs are a must for any holiday party. These delicious Cranberry Meatballs are perfectly sweet and spicy, and so delicious!
Holiday appetizers are MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE TYPE OF FOOD ON THIS EARTH, so this amazing cocktail meatballs recipe is ideal. You guys know I just love my dips, appetizers, and any type of finger food. And Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years are the absolute best time to try out new appetizer recipes. There are so many parties with family and friends, and delicious shareable foods are a must!
These Sweet and Spicy Cranberry Meatballs are my new favorite appetizer. They have so much flavor, they are super easy to make, and of course they are ultra delicious. YUM! Mom came over and made me some of these meatballs and I just could not get enough. So I knew I had to share the recipe with all of you!
These Cranberry Sauce Meatballs are a real winner, so buckle up, prepare your holiday grocery list, and get excited for COCKTAIL MEATBALLS!
These Cranberry Meatballs are the perfect holiday appetizer. Every party needs a cocktail meatball recipe, so add these to your party plate!
Cranberry Meatballs
I’ve always loved pepper jelly, and it adds just enough zip to these Cranberry Meatballs. They don’t have a strong cranberry taste, but it’s just the right amount. Just enough spice and just enough sweetness. These cocktail meatballs are sure to please anyone and everyone at your holiday party! I’m already getting excited just thinking about all of the food!
How to Make Cranberry Cocktail Meatballs
Lucky for you (and for me), these cranberry meatballs are super easy to make. An easy cocktail meatball recipe? What more could you ask for during the holidays?
How to Make:
- Combine ground chuck, chili sauce, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, breadcrumbs, onion, & salt. (Everything should be blended but don’t over mix)
- Make 1 1/2 inch meatballs & place on baking sheet.
- Cook for 10 minutes at 350°F. Then turn meatballs over and cook another 10-15 minutes.
- (Prepare the sauce while the meatballs are cooking) Combine all sauce ingredients in a skillet over low heat.
- Once meatballs are cooked, place them in the skillet with the sauce and let them simmer for 1 hour.
You can let the cocktail meatballs simmer in the sauce in a slow cooker if you prefer! This is a great option if you’d like to prepare them ahead of time, then let them simmer just before the party.
What is the best sauce for meatballs?
This cocktail meatballs recipe is extra delicious thanks to the amazing sauce. We made a sweet and spicy cranberry sauce to cook these meatballs in, and it is so perfect for holiday parties!
Best New Year’s Eve Cocktail Meatballs Recipe
If your’e having a Thanksgiving, Christmas, or NYE party this year, this cocktail meatballs recipe is simply an absolute must. You can’t have a holiday get together without meatballs! It’s the American way! These sweet and spicy cranberry meatballs are just a great flavor combo for Fall/Winter, and I hope you love them as much as we do. I know they’ll be on our holiday table…for a few minutes at least. These don’t last very long around Pat!
See the recipe card below for details on how to make Cranberry Cocktail Meatballs. Enjoy!
Be sure to try some of our other favorite meatball recipes:
- Swedish Meatballs
- Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
- Mozzarella Stuffed Italian Meatballs
- Chicken Cordon Bleu Meatballs
- Peruvian Chicken Meatballs
- Orange Marmalade Meatballs
- Grape Jelly Meatballs
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
- 2 lbs. ground chuck
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 2 large eggs slightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons Sweet Chili Sauce
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 tablespoons minced onion opt.
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the Cranberry Pepper Jelly Sauce:
- 10 oz. jar Hot Pepper Jelly
- 12 oz. jar Chili Sauce
- 8 oz. can Jellied Cranberry Sauce
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- juice from ½ lemon
Instructions
For the Meatballs:
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine ground chuck, breadcrumbs, eggs, chili sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, onion and salt. Mix until all ingredients are incorporated but do not overwork the mixture or the meatballs will be tough.
- Form into 1½ inch meatballs and place on the prepared baking sheet. Leave at least 1-inch space between meatballs.
- Cook at 350F for 10 minutes then turn each meatball over. Cook another 10-15 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through. Remove from oven.
- *While meatballs are cooking, prepare the sauce.
For the Sauce:
- In a large skillet over LOW heat, combine all sauce ingredients. Stir until well blended then remove from heat until the meatballs are ready.
- When meatballs are cooked, place them in the sauce in the skillet and simmer for 1-hour or until sauce has thickened.
- ENJOY!
- *The meatballs and sauce can simmer on HIGH in a slow-cooker for the last hour.
That sounds like a good idea, Debbie!! I hope that helps!
It is good but too sweet. I will omit the brown sugar and use whole cranberry sauce next time.
Yay! Thanks, Sherry! I’m glad you enjoyed it!!
I have tried many different meatball recipes over the years. I made these last night and they are now my family’s favorite.
How many meatballs do you get out of this recipe? Assuming small cocktail sized (1-in round).
Those sound like great substitutions! I’ll have to give it a try!
I made these for a party today and everyone asked for the recipe.
I thought I didn’t have a lemon so I used white vinegar instead. Also used jalapeño red pepper jelly.
You definitely can!
Could you use orange jelly instead I wonder?
It looks really yummy
This literally made my day. Thank you Judi!!
Just attended a gathering where there were three meatballs. these sweet and spicy cranberry meatballs were by far the best. Thank you for a great keeper recipe.
Yes, the sweet chili sauce. Hope you love the recipe!
I am confused as to why chili sauce is listed twice in the recipe… one says “sweet chili sauce” and has a link, and then further down it just says “chili sauce”. Am I supposed to use the same chili sauce in both places or am I supposed to get two different chili sauces?
Hope you love them!
The meatballs look so delicious! I will try it this tomorrow and see if I can come up with good taste. Thanks for the recipe!
That makes me so happy, thank you for letting me know!!
These WERe a huge hit at Christmas… everyone wanted the recipe!!!
Thank you so much! Cant wait tO cook these!
No problem! We used a sweet chili sauce. Maybe Franks discontinued it. I would say any sweet chili sauce will work and I’ll update the recipe :) :)
Ive seen where several people have asked you. Im sure you are tired of the same question, but im making this doUble batch for New yearS Eve and just want to get it Right. Franks has a red hot sweeT chili sauce and a Red hot sriracha, but not a plain red hit chili sauce. I guess we just need to know if needs to be tomato type chili or a sweet chili sauce. Sorry to bother you again.
We used Franks Red Hot Chili Sauce but really any will work great. Hope you enjoy!
Looks wonderful! What kind of chiLi saUce? Like heinz? The link you provided in the comments wOn’t open fOr Me. Thanks in advance!
Any sweet chili sauce will work great. I’m having trouble remembering the exact one we used I’m sorry! Yes it should work with ground chicken :)
Hi can you give the link for the chilli sauce again please. Also would the same recipe work with grouNd chicken?
Oh gosh I’m so sorry to hear you didn’t like it! We really love it and have had a lot of people make it many times, but I totally understand all tastes are different. Hope you have a wonderful holiday.
You have some really great recipes, but unfortunately this is not one of them. Just had to say something – the sauce is very sugary and does not have a distinctive taste. I will not be making this again…
Yes you can do that!
could the meatballs Be made ahead of time and heated in the sauce to warm up?
Yes that would work great!
Ar are you able to prepare these a day ahead and just warm-up in a crockpot the next day?
You can but it will be hard to stir with the meatballs and might not be consistent. We prefer to have more control over it. Totally up to you!
Can i just heat up the sauce in the crockpot over the meatballs instead of thd pan?
Can’t you make them in a crockpot? And what kind of chili sauce do you use?
Love your images! They are amazing. The meatballs look so delicious! I will try it this weekend.
Made these for my daughter’s first birthday today- the theme was sugar and spice. They were awesome. Multiple people asked me for the recipe!
This sounds great.
Can i make the sauc a day or two ahead and put meatballs in to simmer the day I serve them.
We used red pepper jelly, but if you prefer the taste of jalapeños that would also work! Basically you just want that combo of sweet and spicy. Enjoy!
WhT kind of pepper jelly? Tabasco makes a spicy pepper jelly or there was jalapeño pepper jelly. Too many options, what did you use?
The taste would be much sweeter, less spicy, but would still probably be tasty. Usually pepper jelly can be found at the grocery store but he pb and jelly. Hope you love them either way!
I couldn’t find pepper jelly. Will it turn out okay if I don’t use the pepper jelly?
Hey Shelly, we used this sauce: https://jet.com/product/detail/2a1daaf04fc24fdf9ec61cc776cbc312?jcmp=pla:ggl:a_jd_cons_gen_food_beverages_tobacco_a3_b1:food_items_condiments_sauces_hot_sauce_a3_other:na:PLA_648191734_39624894304_pla-154139722140:na:na:na:2&code=PLA15&gclid=CPn878iJxdACFek8MgodEnUJXw&gclsrc=ds
For the chili sauce in the recipe, are you referring to the tomato based bottled chili sauce, like you would use to make cocktail sauce for seafood? Trader Joes also makes a sweet chili sauce that is more of a liquidy pepper jelly. Which type do you mean?
Thank you so much Anne! hope you love them :)
Love you images!
They are amazing.
The meatballs look so delicious!
I will try it this weekend.
Thanks for the recipe! It really looks great!
Aw thank you!! That’s the best kind of comment to ever receive. A cookbook might happen someday, I would love that!
Love your recipes. They’re easy and you dont have to buy lots of forvisl ingredients!
Looking forward to you COOKBOOK!