Just 3 ingredients to make a delicious appetizer that’s holiday perfect! These Slow Cooker Cranberry meatballs take no time to prep and heat up perfectly in a couple of hours on a high setting. So tasty, it would be an instant hit for your Christmas or New Year’s Eve Parties!
The holiday season is a busy time indeed! This year has been quite a challenging one for me personally. Not only because I had to battle a nasty cold (or was it the flu?) which I got right after Thanksgiving.
I knew I had to prepare for back-to-back Christmas parties plus other hospitalities which involved preparing meals for sweet ladies of our church who were both due to give birth this month!
I am happy to note that as of this writing, they’ve both delivered the cutest babies! Thankfully, amid all the holiday chaos, I managed to make some meals for them too.
Because of all this busyness, I needed to find party food that didn’t require much preparation at all. After all, I’m not just cooking one dish but usually 2-3 at a time. One has to be crazy easy to be included in the menu.
Thankfully, I remembered this easy recipe for cranberry meatballs which involved only 3 ingredients! Now that’s my kind of dish for the holiday season indeed. No fuss, hardly any prep, and yet so absolutely yummy!
You only need cranberry sauce (jellied or whole), chili sauce, and frozen but cooked meatballs! Easy, right? Simply combine and dump in the crockpot for the easiest and tastiest appetizers!
Because I’m Asian, I opted to use the Asian sweet chili sauce which worked quite well too. I adjusted the amount because it’s spicier than American chili sauce. Whichever sauce you use, it’s guaranteed to be delicious! It’s the combination of all these ingredients that results in a very flavorful dish!
Can you cook frozen meatballs In a Slow Cooker?
Yes! I’ve done these many times already so they’re guaranteed to work. The best part, there’s no need to thaw the frozen meatballs. Into the crockpot, they go frozen!
For this particular recipe, simply place your frozen meatballs right into your slow cooker. Then cover it all over with your sauce made from cranberry and chili sauces.
What can I serve with these Slow Cooker Cranberry Meatballs?
These meatballs are the perfect party appetizers and are great on their own. However, they can certainly be served as a main dish too. Serve it with mashed potatoes, over pasta, and certainly with rice (for my family!). You can also use these to make a festive holiday meatball sandwich!
FOR FULL RECIPE & INSTRUCTIONS and to PRINT, SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW.
Just 3 ingredients to make a delicious appetizer that’s holiday perfect! These Slow Cooker Cranberry meatballs take no time to prep and heat up perfectly in a couple of hours on a high setting. So tasty, it would be an instant hit for your Christmas or New Year’s Eve parties!
WHAT ARE THE INGREDIENTS FOR SLOW COOKER 3-INGREDIENT CRANBERRY MEATBALLS MELTED?
- 28 oz (approximately) fully cooked homemade or storebought frozen meatballs
- 14 oz canned Jellied Cranberry Sauce, can also use whole-berry canned cranberry sauce.
- 12 oz bottle Heinz Chili Sauce
HOW DO YOU MAKE THESE SLOW COOKER 3-INGREDIENT CRANBERRY MEATBALLS MELTED?
- Mix the cranberry jelly and chili sauce in a bowl. Stir until well combined. Heating the mixture to make sure it’s fully mixed is an option.
- Place the cooked frozen meatballs into the slow cooker or crockpot. Pour the sauce mixture on top. Stir and try to coat all the meatballs with the sauce.
- Heat on HIGH for 2 hours or LOW for 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Once fully heated through, let simmer on LOW or WARM setting. These meatballs may be served straight from the slow cooker.
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SLOW COOKER 3-INGREDIENT CRANBERRY MEATBALLS
Ingredients
- 28 oz fully cooked homemade or storebought frozen meatballs, (weight may vary between 26-28 oz depending on the brand)
- 14 oz canned Jellied Cranberry Sauce, can also use whole berry canned cranberry sauce
- 12 oz bottle Heinz Chili Sauce
Instructions
- Mix together the cranberry jelly and chili sauce in a bowl. Stir until well combined. Heating the mixture to make sure it's fully mixed is an option.
- Stir until well combined.
- Heating the mixture to make sure it's fully mixed is an option.
- Place the cooked frozen meatballs into the slow cooker or crockpot.
- Pour the sauce mixture on top.
- Stir and try to coat all the meatballs with the sauce.
- Heat on HIGH for 2 hours or LOW for 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Once fully heated through, let simmer on LOW or WARM setting. These meatballs may be served straight from the slow cooker.
Notes
Nutrition
Last updated on December 5th, 2023 at 09:10 pm
Oh wow, only 3 ingredients? These quick, easy and flavorful meatballs are perfect for a party or game day.
Simply cannot beat a 3 ingredient recipe like this – so tasty too! And perfect for game day snacking!
Absolutely perfect for feeding a crowd at a party and so easy too. What a delicious idea.
Well, weren’t these delicious! So good! And such an easy way to make your ordinary meatballs extraordinary! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Never in my life did I think cranberries went with meatballs. Boy was I wrong!
Can’t wait to make these.