foodalicious

a community blog of gastrophiles for all seasons

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Sweet & Sour Slow Cooker Turkey Meatballs

Last week when Taylor and I went to the Asian market with Lynn, I spotted a bottle of chili sauce, so I picked it up. They had both hot and sweet, so I got the sweet version. I had seen this recipe on the Food Network a few weeks ago, but wasn't sure where one would buy chili sauce, so I was happy to find it. I assume it would be in the asian section of a normal grocery.

I put everything in the crockpot this morning, and we had meatball sandwiches on some whole wheat rolls with grilled onions & peppers and a little bit of shredded mozaralla cheese for dinner. It was pretty tasty and very easy.

This recipe makes a decent number of meatballs. We liked them they have just a touch of heat and a little bit of tanginess. I put my alterations in brackets below.

2 pounds ground turkey breast
2 teaspoons salt-free garlic and herb seasoning or poultry seasoning [I used veggie pepper]
1 egg white
Salt and ground black pepper
2 (15-ounce) cans tomato sauce
2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup chili sauce
1/2 cup cider vinegar [I used rice wine vinegar, b/c that's what I had]
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons dried thyme
Mashed Red Potatoes, recipe follows
Steamed Broccoli, recipe follows

In a large bowl, combine turkey, garlic and herb seasoning, egg white and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and black pepper [I used a whole teaspoon of Tony's instead]. Mix well and shape mixture into about 32 meatballs. Place meatballs in bottom of slow cooker.

In a medium bowl, whisk together tomato sauce, broth, chili sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and thyme. Pour mixture over meatballs.

Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours. Season, to taste, with salt and black pepper. [I gave the meatballs a stir about an hour and a half or two hours into the cooking on the low setting to break up some of the meatballs that stuck together. I was envisioning one enormous mega-meatball, but they actually broke apart pretty easily. I am curious how they would come out if you just left them all day without stirring.]