Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Beef meatballs simmered in a sweet and sour sauce of onions, ketchup and brown sugar. Make them cocktail size or dinner size; they are even better the second day.
From the recipe book of Sandra Mills, a Le Cordon Bleu-trained cook in our family.
Jump to: Ingredients | Instructions | Tips | Print recipe
These sweet and sour meatballs are a Jewish family classic. A pound of diced onion simmers for an hour with ketchup, brown sugar and water to make the sauce, then beef meatballs go straight into the boiling sauce to cook for another hour.
Sandra Mills notes they taste better the second day, once chilled and the fat lifted off the top. Her family likes them over rice for dinner; make them small for a cocktail party.
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1 pound of onions (2 large), diced
- 2 cups Heinz ketchup
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 5 cups of water
Meatballs
- 2 pounds of hamburg
- 1 medium onion, diced fine
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Simmer the sauce. In a large pot, combine the diced onion, ketchup, brown sugar and water. Simmer for 1 hour.
- Mix the meatballs. Mix the hamburg, onion, eggs, bread crumbs, ketchup and water together.
- Cook. Form into meatballs and drop them into the pot of boiling sauce, small for cocktail size or large for a meal. Simmer for at least an hour more.
- Serve. Serve over rice for dinner. They taste even better the next day, chilled with the fat removed from the top and reheated.
Tips
- The 5 cups of water is handwritten into the typed page in Sandra's book.
- Ground beef should reach 160°F.
More jewish recipes
All jewish recipes | All recipes | Cooking guide and safe temperatures