Cocktail Meatballs – Appetizer for Entertaining & More

My Cocktail Meatballs are one of the best things to serve at a party! They’re so delicious; you’ll find it hard to eat just one. These meatballs are juicy and perfectly seasoned. They’re topped with a savory sauce with the perfect hint of heat.

The best part about this recipe is that you can serve it to guests with dietary needs since it’s free of gluten, sugar, and dairy. You can also serve these cocktail meatballs over gluten-free spaghetti with homemade sauce!

Why Grass-Fed Beef?

The great thing about healthy living is that you don’t have to eliminate your favorite foods, especially if your body thrives on them. For some, red meat is a staple! We recommend choosing grass-fed beef over grain-fed. I always try to get pasture-raised organic grass-fed beef. Here’s why.

Lighter in Fat

Grass-fed cows are fed a natural diet, so their meat contains less fat. This creates cleaner tasting dishes, but it also benefits your body. Grain-fed cows are often provided with more than just corn. Their diets contain soy, GMOs, and synthetic materials that fatten them. Animals fed this way tend to suffer health consequences due to unnatural growth patterns.

Grass-fed beef is lighter in calories, and the fat it does contain is full of omega-3s. (1)  These fatty acids can do various things, possibly improving your mental health and treating autoimmune conditions. (2,3)

Contains More Nutrients

Grass-fed beef may be leaner, but it’s more nutritionally sound. This variety contains more beta carotene than grain-fed beef, which your body converts to vitamin A and is ranked higher in vitamin E. (4)

Vitamin A is a wonder nutrient that plays an integral part in ocular health and your ability to recover from illnesses. It also supports bone health, making your bones less susceptible to fractures and breaks. Vitamin E is a fantastic antioxidant that fights against oxidative stress brought on by free radicals. (6) This process can affect everything, from how your body feels to how fast you age!

Healthy Meatballs Ingredient 101

This delicious appetizer uses simple ingredients to create unique, protein-packed meatballs! Here’s what you need to get cooking.

Grass-fed Ground Beef: This ingredient can easily be found in most grocery stores. You can also find it at meat lockers or even create a relationship with a local farmer. This beef is a little more expensive than regular ground beef, but the health benefits are worth the trade-off!

Onion: Adding a little minced onion creates an amazing, moist meatball. Onions contain the same cancer-fighting sulfur compound as cruciferous veggies. If you don’t have fresh onion, you can always use dried minced onion and achieve a similar result.

Pasture-Raised Organic Egg: When using lean meat, you need a binder to keep the meatball from falling apart. Eggs do just that and add a significant boost of protein! We recommend using pasture-raised organic eggs when possible. Of course, farm-fresh will do the trick as well!

Sea Salt: Your body needs an adequate amount of sodium to thrive, but it needs the right salt! Traditional table salt has been stripped of most nutritional benefits. We love using Colima sea salt that’s hand-harvested. This gentle process leaves the good stuff intact. Plus, it tastes incredible and adds a gourmet flair to any recipe. You can also use pink Himalayan salt and experience similar health benefits.

Liquid Aminos: We use Organic liquid aminos in place of Worcestershire sauce. We also use this ingredient instead of soy sauce. It gives the meat a delicious flavor without adding excess sodium and soy. This product is found in most stores, but you can also find it online!

Gluten-Free Bread Crumbs: Meatballs are better with the addition of breadcrumbs. You can purchase them ready-made from the store, but I like saving the heels of gluten-free bread and processing them into fine crumbs. This is an easy way to implement low-waste practices in your home!

Unsweetened Almond or Coconut Milk: We use this non-dairy milk in many recipes. It tastes amazingly smooth, and you avoid hormones that come with pasteurized dairy. When purchasing this ingredient, be sure to grab the unsweetened variety. You would be shocked at how much sugar they can sneak into these products!

Herbs: Carefully chosen herbs take this recipe to a whole new level! Parsley and rosemary are a classic combination, and they both bring out the flavor of the meat. I love using fresh herbs from my garden, but you can always use dried if not in season.

You can also use Italian seasoning (but not if you’re nursing!) or Herbes de Provence, my all-time favorite. If I’m using Herbes de Provence, I usually omit the rosemary but keep the parsley.

Organic Chili Sauce or Barbeque Sauce: These meatballs are smothered in a two-ingredient sauce. The first ingredient is unsweetened or naturally sweetened chili or barbeque sauce. This gives our meatballs the perfect amount of heat without being overpowering.

Great brands of sauces include Primal Kitchen and Organicville. You can also make your own sauce, which is always a tasty option!

All-Fruit Grape Jelly: This ingredient adds a hint of sweetness to the meatball sauce. We’ve experimented with a few different flavors but found that grape is the best choice! All-fruit jelly is the best option as it is free of added sugar. You can usually find all-fruit jams at your local grocery store.

Trusted brands of grape jelly include Polaner All-Fruit or St. Dalfour jelly.

Make Cocktail Meatballs

These meatballs are easy to throw together. They can even be made ahead of time and frozen until the day of the event! This makes party prep a breeze.

Step One: Make the Meatballs

Preheat the oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, mix the ground beef, onion, egg, sea salt, aminos, bread crumbs, almond milk, white pepper, parsley, and rosemary until well combined. Shape the mixture into 1-inch balls.

You can also pulse your mixture in a food processor, which is our favorite method.

Step Two: Bake the Meatballs

Place on cookie sheets and bake for 30-45 minutes. Cooking time will vary based on the size of the meatballs. Small meatballs tend to take only 20 minutes. Check the meatballs after 15 minutes.

After they’re done cooking, you can freeze them in a glass container until needed.

Mama Z Pro Tip: I make two different size meatballs. Guests can then choose which meatball fits their preference, and they are easier to fit in the crock-pot!

I use large and small cookie dough scoops to make this a breeze.

Step Three: Make the Sauce

Heat the chili sauce and jelly in a skillet and constantly stir until the jelly is melted. Add meatballs and stir until coated. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

Hamburger Patty Variation

This recipe also makes a fantastic burger! We love putting our burgers on gluten-free buns or a bed of lettuce! Large Romaine lettuce leaves make a great bun for those who want an extra boost of veggies.

I like making homemade buns when we have friends over. I make them using my dinner roll recipe, and I form them using the same press I use for the burgers. Spray the press before adding the dough so nothing sticks!

This ensures that the bun-to-burger ratio is perfect! The recipe makes 12 buns, so it’s perfect for entertaining! We always serve them with our homemade ketchup and honey mustard.

I use my kitchen scale to make ¼ lb burgers for the kids, ⅓ lb burgers for Mom, and ½ lb burgers for Dad. I also use a burger press from Tupperware to make them the same thickness. Weigh the burgers before you press them, so the tool isn’t included in the weight. This is the perfect recipe for cookouts and Summer picnics!

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