If you find yourself with leftover Thanksgiving cranberry sauce, here is what to make with it: jalapeno cranberry meatballs! This easy 20-minute recipe combines 7 ingredients together for a delicious, tangy BBQ meatball. They make a perfect appetizer or dinner addition for an easy weeknight meal!
Jalapeno Cranberry Meatballs Using Cranberry Sauce
After Thanksgiving, I always find myself with lots of leftover cranberry sauce. I love adding it to yogurt bowls with homemade granola and to oatmeal breakfast bakes. This year, I wanted to mix it up and make a savory dish of cooked meatballs with loads of flavor.
Inspired by amylu cranberry jalapeno meatballs, the tangy sweet cranberry sauce paired with barbecue sauce and mined jalapenos was the perfect combo!
The recipe makes a big quantity, so if you’re looking to prep these in advance or freeze them for a later day, be sure to read below for storage and freezer tips!
You can also reduce the recipe by half to use just 1 pounds of ground beef. It’s a super versatile recipe!
What to serve spicy cranberry jalapeno meatballs with
These cranberry cocktail meatballs are fantastic on their own as a pre-dinner party appetizer. They go well with my lemon dill yogurt sauce and look great next to a Christmas tree charcuterie board.
The first time I made these I paired them with my kid-friendly butternut squash mac and cheese recipe. I added the homemade cheesy pasta into a large casserole dish and topped it with the cooked meatballs. This main course was such a delicious meal!
Here are more great recipes to pair with these amazing dish:
Serve tapas style and pair these BBQ meatballs with roasted red pepper pesto, pita, and a whole mezze board.
Bring them to a potluck along with a green salad, sweet skillet cornbread, the best broccoli salad, and chocolate chip pretzel cookies.
Pair with one of these roasted veggie sides for a delicious and nourishing meal!
- Roasted broccoli and carrots
- Maple roasted whole carrots
- Maple cinnamon roasted butternut squash
- Roasted sweet potato fries
Simple ingredients you’ll need for cranberry sauce meatballs
Scroll down to view the recipe card below for the full ingredients list, nutritional information, and step-by-step instructions.
- lean ground beef
- cranberry sauce
- bbq sauce
- egg
- oat flour
- jalapeño
- sea salt
- black pepper
- granulated garlic
How to make tasty party meatballs
Step 1: Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
Step 2: In a large bowl mix together the ground beef, 1/4 cup cranberry sauce, 1/4 cup bbq sauce, egg, oat flour, minced jalapeno, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Step 3: Using a small scoop, scoop the meatball mixture and roll it into balls (will make around 36 small meatballs). Distribute evenly between the prepared baking sheets.
Step 4: Mix the remaining cranberry sauce and barbecue sauce together and set aside.
Step 5: Bake the meatballs for 10 minutes, and remove the pans from the oven. Combine the cooked meatballs in 1 pan in a single layer, drizzle the cranberry BBQ sauce over the top, and give it a gentle stir. Bake for 3 more minutes and then serve!
See this perfect party appetizer in action!
The finished product video can be watched below, or on my YouTube channel!
Can you make these in a slow cooker?
Definetly! Meatballs cook really well in a slow cooker over low heat. For this delicoius recipe, if you have the time, I suggest making and freezing the meatballs fully before adding to the crockpot.
The reason to use frozen meatballs is so that they keep their shape better when added into a pile. While you can add the freshly made meatballs in, they won’t retain their shape as well.
You can also cook the meatballs for the first 10 minutes as the recipe states, and then add it into the slow cooker to finish with the sauce.
These crock pot cranberry meatballs are fantastic to make in advance and have hot and ready to serve as a great side when guests arrive!
PS – You can totally use your instant pot for this too!
How to meal prep this recipe
Meal prep these meatballs by mixing the meatball mixture fully in advance. You can also shape the meatballs and have them waiting in the fridge to bake when ready.
Another way to meal prep meatballs is by fully baking them and allowing them to cool. They keep well in the fridge or freezer (those instructions are below) and reheat beautifully!
How to store spicy cranberry meatballs
Homemade meatballs store really well and freeze great too!
Once your meatball are cooked and cooled to room temperature, add to an airtight container and keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat in the oven at 300 degrees F until warmed through.
To freeze this delicious recipe, add the cooled meatballs to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and place in the freezer until fully frozen. Once frozen solid, add to a freezer bag, labe and date it, and keep frozen for up to 6 months.
You can rewarm from frozen or add to a slow cooker for tasty crockpot meatballs!
Substitutions
Below you’ll find a list of substitutions that will work well in this cranberry jalapeño meatballs recipe.
If you try something different out, please leave a comment below letting us all know how it turned out!
Lean ground beef – You can use any type of ground beef for this recipe, along with other meats! Ground pork, ground turkey and ground chicken are all delicous options that will work well here. Depending on the leanness of the meat that you use, you may want to drain the excess fat off the pan. Be sure to use a rimmed baking sheet to help with this!
Cranberry sauce – While this recipe was built around using leftover thanksgiving cranberry sauce, don’t feel limited to that! If you find yourself with a can of whole berry cranberry sauce, open it up adn enjoy anytime of the year! Get more spicy and swap in chili sauce instead of cranberry sauce.
BBQ sauce – A mixture of ketchip and brown sugar is a good alternative to bbq sauce.
Oar flour – Bread crumbs or panko bread crumbs are good alternatives to oat flour. If you need to keep these meatballs gluten free, opt for a gluten free breadcrumb.
Jalapeno – For a medium heat meatball, use 1 jalapeno. For more heat, add more of choose a spicier pepper to use.
Granulated garlic – Fresh garlic is a good alterntive here. You can also swap in onion powder for the dried garlic.
More perfect side dish recipes you’ll love
Jalapeno Cranberry Meatballs using Leftover Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 lb lean ground beef
- 1/2 cup cranberry sauce divided
- 1/2 cup bbq sauce divided
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup oat flour
- 1 jalapeño minced
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl mix together the ground beef, ¼ cup cranberry sauce, ¼ cup bbq sauce, egg, oat flour, minced jalapeno, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Using a small scoop, scoop the meatball mixture and roll it into balls (will make around 36 small meatballs). Distribute evenly between the prepared baking sheets.
- Mix the remaining cranberry sauce and barbecue sauce together and set aside.
- Bake the meatballs for 10 minutes, and remove the pans from the oven. Combine the cooked meatballs in 1 pan in a single layer, drizzle the cranberry BBQ sauce over the top, and give it a gentle stir. Bake for 3 more minutes and then serve!
Nutrition
If you try this spicy cranberry sauce meatball recipe, I’d love it if you left a star rating and comment below letting me know how it turned out!
XO
Heather
2 comments
I just made these meatballs and talk about FLAVOR explosion! At first I wasn’t sure how the BBQ Sauce and Cranberry Sauce would work together – but it’s genius. Have you ever tried using different meats like turkey or chicken? This recipe is definitely going into my party favorites list!
Awesome, so glad you enjoyed it! Yes, for SURE you can use another ground meat – turkey or chicken would both work well. Pork too!