Honey Garlic-Glazed Meatballs
These tender, juicy meatballs tossed in a sweet savory glaze has been a favorite in our family for many years. We have cooked them for many weeknight dinners, holiday meals, special occasions and even a few weddings. (Did you guys know I catered a few weddings?)
They are some of the most tender meatballs I have ever eaten. Ketchup, soy sauce, honey and garlic come together in a great union to make a perfect complement for these moist and tender little morsels of beef. I certainly appreciate that I have most of these in my pantry/fridge most anytime, so I can whip them up anytime. My mom found this recipe many years ago in a Taste of Home magazine, and we’ve been making them ever since. Expect to be wowed and to get rave reviews and recipe requests from all your guests.
Ingredients:
Meatballs:
2 lbs ground beef
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
3/4 cup milk
1 onion, finely minced
2 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Sauce:
1/2 Tablespoon butter
2-4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup soy sauce
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two rimmed baking sheets with aluminum foil.
Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk until all the milk is absorbed by the bread. Combine all the ingredients for the meatballs together.
Form small meatballs, about 1 Tablespoon each and place on prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 12-14 min. Don’t overcook the meatballs, or they will become tough. 
Meanwhile, make the sauce. 
In a medium pot or large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook about 30 seconds. 
Add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for about 5 min. 
Add the meatballs to the sauce and cook for about 7 min, until cooked through. Once again, don’t cook them in the sauce too long either, or the meatballs will become tough. 
Make Ahead:
This is a great recipe to make ahead. Bake the meatballs ahead of time. Store in the refrigerator. You can even freeze the meatballs. Simply place in the freezer in a single layer until frozen solid and place in a ziptop bag or plastic container. Thaw the meatballs and continue with the recipe. The sauce takes no time at all to make, so I usually make it on the spot, but you can make it ahead of time also. 
Honey Garlic-Glazed Meatballs
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 23 mins
- Total Time: 33 mins
- Yield: 60-63 meatballs 1x
- Category: Entree
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 onion, finely minced
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
Sauce:
- 1/2 Tablespoon butter
- 2–4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 cup honey
- 3/4 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two rimmed baking sheets with aluminum foil.
- Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk until all the milk is absorbed by the bread.
- Combine all the ingredients for the meatballs together.
- Form small meatballs, about 1 Tablespoon each and place on prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 12-14 min. Don’t overcook the meatballs, or they will become tough.
- Meanwhile, make the sauce. In a medium pot or large skillet, melt butter over medium heat.
- Add the garlic and cook about 30 seconds.
- Add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for about 5 min.
- Add the meatballs to the sauce and cook for about 7 min, until cooked through.
Make Ahead:
- Bake the meatballs ahead of time. Store in the refrigerator.
- You can even freeze the meatballs. Simply place in the freezer in a single layer until frozen solid and place in a Ziploc bag or plastic container.
- Thaw the meatballs and continue with the recipe. The sauce takes no time at all to make, so I usually make it on the spot, but you can make it ahead of time also.
38 Comments
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Aleks
Looks yummy:) Thanks for the idea!
Roza
Olga what if I made these with pork instead of beef?? Would that be ok??
olgak7
Sure, use whatever meat you like:) You can even use a combination of meats.
Joyce
can I use a roaster oven to serve these meaatballs from at a buffet
olgak7
I’m not sure what a roaster oven is, Joyce. These meatballs are very non fussy, so I would assume so.
Inna
Just made these today, they have a unique taste. What would you serve them with? Thanks for the recipe.
olgak7
I like to serve them with mashed potatoes and Crunchy Cabbage Cucumber Salad.
Michelle
Wow!!!!! I just tried them. Soooooo yummy! Thanks for sharing!
Sveta
My hubby loves these(so do I).I stopped making katleti and just make a bunch of these meatballs for a quick, good, and healthy part of a meal!
olgak7
That’s awesome! I’m so glad you enjoy these meatballs.
Alla
My sister is coming with 6 kids. Planning make some food ahead and freeze. Is better to bake it first or I can mix, shape and freeze it to cook later?
olgak7
That’s great! It’s always so much fun to spend time with family.
Bake the meatballs and then freeze them. All you will have to do later is thaw the meatballs and make the sauce.
Oksana
This is the BEST meatballs I ever made! Olga thank you very very much for the your hard work. It is so nice for us young wives to learn precise recipes of russian food. I am glad I found your blog somewhere on facebook. Oksana
olgak7
Thanks, Oksana!
I’m thrilled that you’re finding it helpful:). It’s my pleasure to share our favorite recipes.
Welcome. I hope you’ll be able to find many other recipes that your family will enjoy.
Anna
This sounds so good for my kids (meaning my baby inside me to) so craving for these. Thank you for having this website for use. Very inspiring for myself. Love trying me recipes. With your website its so much easier. So simple love that. Thank you again.
olgak7
You’re welcome, Anna.
I hope you (and the baby) enjoy the meatballs:).
Quinn
I made these tonight using ground pork instead of beef. You’re right, they were so tender! I also added a tablespoon of Sriracha to the sauce for some kick. Served them with a spinach salad. They will be delicious reheated. Thanks, Olga!
olgak7
Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know, Quinn. I appreciate it. The Sriracha sounds like a great addition.
Devon
Made these today for my boyfriend and I. We both agree that these are the best meatballs we’ve ever had!
olgak7
That’s awesome, Devon! I’m so happy to hear that. Thanks for taking the time to write.
Athena
These were absolutely delicious. Thank you so much for the amazing recipe. I will make these again for sure 🙂
olgak7
Yay! I’m glad that they were a hit with you:).
Anna
I made those meatballs today for my hubby’s b-day, with moose meat. Every one liked them.
olgak7
Wow. I’ve never tried moose before. That’s awesome, Anna.
April
These are amazing! Just made them today!
olgak7
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, April.
Simon
These sound potentially delicious! 60+ meatballs sounds like an awful lot though. Are they so small that people eat a dozen each or is this intended to feed lots and lots of people?
Liliya
Hello Olga! I will definitely will be making these they look soo good. My question is what kind of ground beef do you use i mean percentage fat?
olgak7
I prefer ground chuck, which is usually about 80% meat, 20% fat, although I’ve used market ground beef before too and both work.
Irena
Hey Olga can I use fresh bread instead of breadcrumbs?
olgak7
Yes, you can use fresh bread, just pulse it in the food processor or mash it up with a fork really well so you don’t have big chunks of bread in the meatballs.
Polina
My family loved these!
Valerie Cooper
Hi Olga, if my family doesn’t eat garlic what can I use instead?
olgak7
Just omit the garlic, Valerie.
If that is something your family doesn’t eat, then you’re probably used to leaving it out because garlic is a popular ingredient in most recipes.
Courtney
This might be a dumb question, but how would I know if the meatballs are done in the oven? Are they fully cooked in the oven or almost fully cooked and cooked the rest of the way in the sauce? Im afraid to overlook them. It would be such a waste.
olgak7
If you make the meatballs the same size that I did (about one tablespoon each), they will be cooked through in the time that I gave in the recipe (12-14 minutes). They should be fully cooked through. To double check, you can take one meatball out of the oven, cut it in half and make sure there’s no pink and it’s fully cooked through.
Inna
These came out very delicious. My family very much enjoyed them.. Thank you for a great recipe!
★★★★★
olgak7
I’m so happy to hear that, Inna. Thank you for taking the time to write.