Homemade Meatballs with Apple Glaze
Homemade Meatballs for Fall! When was the last time you made a good Meatball Recipe? These Spiced Apple Swedish Meatballs are a hit with the young and old, and perfect for all your fall festivities!
Why We Love These Spiced Apple Swedish Meatballs
Swedish meatballs are one of my absolute favorite comfort meals. The cozy spices and savory meat would be perfectly balanced with a little hint of apple, so I created these Spiced Apple Swedish Meatballs!
They are perfectly easy to make and can be served as a meal or an appetizer. For ease, I like to make a bunch of them by baking them in the oven, but they can be browned in a pan too!
Meatballs were all-the-rage just a couple generations ago. Then it seems like every Swedish Meatballs Recipe dropped off the face of the planet, never to be seen again.
Well, I find that completely unacceptable. We need to bring them back, and fast!
I recently ate some barbeque sauce made with Musselman’s Apple Butter and fell in love.
It got me thinking about all the savory dishes that could benefit from a healthy dose of apple butter. After some experimentation, I’m starting to believe that anytime you add “spiced apple” flavor to a dish, you’ve improved the original.
Like this Homemade Meatballs Recipe, for instance.
These Spiced Apple Cocktail Meatballs have become a new family favorite. They are ultra tender and savory-sweet, with an unexpected pop of spiced apple flavor from the apple butter.
My kids devoured them one night at dinner, then asked for the leftovers at breakfast.
I wouldn’t allow them to eat cocktail meatballs for breakfast, so they asked to take them to school in their lunch boxes. They finally finished off all the meatballs, as an after-school snack that same day.
Homemade Meatballs with Apple Glaze
I’ve never seen anyone so ravenous for a Baked Meatballs Recipe. It had to be the apple butter.
Musselman’s apple butter is slow-cooked in order to caramelize the natural fruit sugars and develop an intense apple flavor. It’s considered America’s favorite apple butter brand because it’s exceedingly rich and smooth. To top it all, it’s dairy free, gluten free, fat free, sodium free, cholesterol free, and preservative free.
We’ve polished off several jars of Musselman’s Apple Butter in the last few weeks making spiced apple cocktail meatballs, apple butter stuffed mushrooms, apple butter BBQ sauce, and of course, eating it on toast. It really does give savory dishes that little “spiced apple” extra something.
Apple butter just might be my new go-to secret ingredient.
Thank goodness we’ve brought Cocktail Meatballs back with this Spiced Apple Swedish Meatballs Recipe.
…Now if only I could get my hands on that beehive wig!
Other Spiced Apple Favorites:
- Apple Celery Root Gratin
- Apple Cheddar Palmiers
- Apple Yeast Bread
- Spicy Apple Butter BBQ Sauce ~ Musselman’s
- Savory Apple Pizza ~ TheKitchn
- Roasted Squash Soup with Apple Butter and Bacon ~ A Baking Life
Homemade Meatballs Recipe with Apple Glaze
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup grated red onion
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 pound pork sausage
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 cups panko bread crumbs
- 1 cup Musselman’s Apple Butter divided
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 2 tablespoons honey
- Cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degree F and line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil. Place a skillet over medium heat and melt the butter in it. When the butter has melted, add the grated onions and saute for 3-4 minutes, until soft.
- In a large bowl, mix the sausage, ground beef, panko, 1/2 cup apple butter, sour cream, eggs, salt, pepper, and allspice. Add the onion, once it cools. Get your hands in it and mix well, until evenly combined.
- Measure out the meatballs into one ounce portions. Roll tight balls and place them on the baking sheet, close together, but not touching. You should have 40-45 meatballs.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the remaining 1/2 cup of apple butter, with beef broth, honey, and 1-2 dashes of cayenne pepper. Whisk well.
- After 15 minutes, remove the meatballs from the oven. Pour the sauce over the top, making sure to cover each meatball, and place back in the oven for 5-7 minutes.
- Once cooked through, shake the baking sheet a little to loosen the meatballs and serve warm.
Nutrition
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Musselman’s Apple Butter. All apple-licious opinions are my own.
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These look delicious… could they possibly be put in the crock pot throughout the day?
Hi Alex, I bet you could! Let me know how it goes if you try it. :)
Any update on trying these in the crockpot? I was going to try that this weekend and was hoping for some tips! Extra sauce needed? Less time in oven? Thanks for the help!
Hi Sommer I manage a small town Grocery store Deli and will be having a Holiday Open House 2nd week in Nov. Would love to make these to serve. Could I just make the sauce and use frozen meatballs? What do you recommend? Can’t wait to try these. My customers love Swedish Meatballs for luch but they are brought in frozen with sauce already. I think they would really enjoy these.
Hi Taree, You could try that if you have a brand of frozen meatballs you like. Good Luck!
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Love meatballs – this was a tasty twist
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I made these meatballs for my husband and Dad this past weekend. (While they were watching football of course! ) They were a big hit !! I was a little unsure about the apple butter, but that’s what made them so delish !! I will be making them as an appetizer on Thanksgiving this year. Thanks so much for the great receipe!
Margaret, I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed them! :)
These meatballs sound scrumptious! I just made a big batch of apple butter in my crockpot. I hope I have enough left to try these out! I have made them with grape jelly & chili sauce, kind of a spicy sweet ands our but these sound mellower yet
full of flavor. Good comfort food. You are always so creative!
What a fun combination of flavors! I bet it is darn scrumptious!
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I can’t wait to try this recipe. But in your comments, you mention apple butter stuffed mushrooms. Can you share that recipe too? Sounds interesting!! Thanks.
LOVE this, Sommer! Looks like an awesome recipe, and your photos are great!
These look so so good. Do you think I could substitute something else for the Apple Butter (can be heard to find in Australia)? What would you suggest?
Can you buy apple sauce? I’d trying subbing apple sauce and some extra spices, like cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.
Oh my. These meatballs reminds me of the Ikea swedish meatballs. So temptingly delicious :)
OK, I love cocktail meatballs, too… I never make them but I always hover around them at parties!! I never would have thought to add apple butter but I guess I need to keep some on hand! Thanks for sharing, these look great!!
These are the perfect party food!