Teriyaki Pork Meatballs
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These Teriyaki Pork Meatballs are perfect for meal prepping, and are even better when paired with rice. They’re pan-seared in a skillet, then baked to perfection and coated in the most delicious sticky-sweet teriyaki sauce.
Why you’ll love this recipe:
Cooked to perfection: They’re seared over the stove then baked in the oven to ensure doneness.
Flavorful: The Asian teriyaki sauce is out-of-this-world delicious, but also made with ingredients you already have on hand.
Pairs well with sides: Pork meatballs taste even better when paired with rice or roasted vegetables.
Recipe highlights:
- Serves: The recipe makes 18 meatballs, which in my opinion is 4-5 servings
- Method: Stovetop and oven
- Tools: Oven-safe skillet
- Difficulty: Easy/medium
Teriyaki pork meatballs are basically the perfect meal prep recipe. I typically don’t do a ton of meal prepping, but I must admit that having meatballs on hand is a good idea.
Speaking of meal prep, be sure to check out my other meatball recipes, like my baked chicken meatballs and paleo turkey meatballs.
These Asian pork meatballs are made with ground pork (duh!) and coated in the most delicious teriyaki sauce. It’s sticky and sweet and gives these meatballs a ton of flavor, making it, along with my ground pork stir fry and teriyaki chicken, one of my favorite weeknight dinners.
Pork Meatball Ingredients
- Pork: The recipe calls for ground pork, but you can absolutely substitute it for your favorite ground meat, like ground beef, turkey or ground chicken.
- Soy sauce: I recommend low sodium soy sauce, but you could also use tamari, which is a gluten free soy sauce alternative. Coconut aminos will also work, though if you do that, I recommend using less maple syrup so the sauce isn’t too sweet.
- Breadcrumbs: The breadcrumbs help to hold the meatballs together, plus they add a little extra flavor. I like using plain Panko breadcrumbs, and I actually tested these with gluten free panko breadcrumbs and they worked out great! If you can’t find Panko/want a sub, any sort of breadcrumbs will work, just make sure they’re plain vs. Italian flavored.
- Maple syrup: The maple syrup adds a hint of sweetness to the sauce, and it pairs perfectly with soy sauce, but you could also use honey. Basically, you just want some sort of sugar to help create the correct flavor.
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch is *key* if you want the sauce to thicken (which you do!). Once the cornstarch is mixed with the other sauce ingredients then heated, it’ll thicken the sauce. If you’re looking for a substitution, give arrowroot a try.
- Egg: I always make these meatballs with an egg, but if you want to keep them egg-free, simply use a flax egg instead. Combine 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal with 2.5 tablespoons of water and let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes until the flax absorbs the water.
How to Make Teriyaki Pork Meatballs
Step 1: Cook the rice. If you’re pairing these meatballs with rice (which I recommend!), cook the rice over the stove according to the package instructions. At this point you should also preheat the oven to 400°.
Step 2: Add ingredients. Next, add all of the pork, onion, scallion, garlic, egg, and breadcrumbs to a large bowl, then use a spoon or your hands to mix everything together, being careful not to over-mix.
Step 3: Make the meatballs. Use your hands to form the pork mixture into approximately 18 meatballs, placing them directly into a large oven-safe skillet. You may have to do this in batches depending on the size of your skillet.
Step 4: Pan fry. Next, spray the skillet with nonstick spray then sauté the meatballs for 3-5 minutes or until they’re golden brown on all sides. Place the whole skillet into the oven and bake the meatballs for 15-20 minutes, or until they’re cooked through.
Step 5: Make the sauce. While the meatballs are baking, whisk all of the sauce ingredients together in a bowl or glass measuring cup.
Step 6: Combine. Once the meatballs are baked, place the skillet back on the stove over medium-low heat and add the minced garlic. Sauté for 1-2 minutes, then add the sauce and stir until the sauce thickens and the meatballs are coated in the sauce.
Erin’s Expert Tips
- Do a taste test before cooking the meatballs. Yes, I’m serious, but I don’t mean that you should eat raw meat. Instead, form a mini meatball and fry it up in a skillet, then taste it and adjust the seasonings as needed. With that said, remember that with this recipe, the majority of the flavor comes from the sauce, so the end result WILL be flavorful.
- Storage: Store leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- To freeze: I recommend waiting to add the sauce! Otherwise, the meatballs will get soggy in when you thaw them. Simply cook the meatballs, wait for them to cool, then transfer them to a freezer-safe bag for up to 2 months. NOTE: If you’re storing in a container, use parchment paper in between the layers so they’re easier to thaw.
My Pro Tip
Recipe Tip
Don’t over-mix the meat. What does this mean? If you over-work the meat, the end result will be dry, tough meatballs, which we don’t want. The same thing applies when actually forming the meat into meatballs. Form them gently, and resist the urge to pack the meatballs too tightly.
Yep! You actually have a few options. First, you can mix the meat and then cover the bowl and leave it in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours and then make the meatballs.
Or, you can completely cook the meatballs and store them in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, and then make and add the sauce right before you’re ready to eat them.
Besides white rice, you could serve pork meatballs with Instant Pot broccoli, honey sriracha brussels sprouts, Instant Pot fried rice, or Instant Pot coconut rice.
More easy pork recipes
If you made this recipe, be sure to leave a comment and star rating below. Thanks!
UPDATE NOTE: This post was originally published in February 2020. It was updated with new text in September 2024.
Teriyaki Pork Meatballs
Video
Ingredients
for the meatballs:
- 1 lb. ground pork
- 2 tbsp yellow onion, minced
- 1 scallions, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup plain panko breadcrumbs, regular or gluten free
for the sauce:
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1/2 tsp ginger, grated
- 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch, or arrowroot
- scallions and sesame seeds, optional; for garnish
Instructions
- If you're pairing these meatballs with rice (which I recommend!), cook the rice over the stove according to the package instructions. At this point you should also preheat the oven to 400°.
- Next, add all of the pork, onion, scallion, garlic, egg, and breadcrumbs to a large bowl, then use a spoon or your hands to mix everything together, being careful not to over-mix.
- Use your hands to form the pork mixture into approximately 18 meatballs, placing them directly into a large oven-safe skillet. You may have to do this in batches depending on the size of your skillet.
- Next, spray the skillet with nonstick spray then sauté the meatballs for 3-5 minutes or until they're golden brown on all sides. Place the whole skillet into the oven and bake the meatballs for 15-20 minutes, or until they're cooked through.
- While the meatballs are baking, whisk all of the sauce ingredients EXCEPT the garlic together in a bowl or glass measuring cup.
- Once the meatballs are baked, place the skillet back on the stove over medium-low heat and add the minced garlic. Sauté for 1-2 minutes, then pour in the sauce and stir until the sauce thickens and the meatballs are coated in the sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
UPDATE NOTE: This post was originally published in February 2020. It was updated with new text in April 2022.
This is our “go to” for Asian dinner night. Depending on your salt sensitivity you might reduce the soy sauce an increase the syrup just a little.
I’m so happy you’ve been loving the meatballs!
The printed recipe doesn’t not call for soy sauce IN the meatball mixture but when you watch the video there is soy sauce in there … I should have watched the video I guess… will see how they turn out.. 🙂
I apologize for the confusion! The recipe in the recipe card is the correct recipe.
Unfortunately I made all the meatballs following the recipe card to the letter … and there is no mention in the ingredient list for the meatballs to add soya sauce (and also not mentioned in the explanations either!). So I had to wing it and redo all the meatballs adding some soya sauce….Please update the recipe card….
Hi Christine! The recipe card is correct as written… the original recipe from years ago had soy sauce in the actual meatballs, but after retesting them (and after complaints of the meatballs being too salty), I omitted the soy sauce in the meatballs and instead have only included it in the sauce.
These are amazing !!! I followed the recipe as is . Made it the night before and it was some hard not to test more than one !
Definitely delicious
Excellent recipe! I added sea salt, dried basil and crushed red pepper to the meatballs and dried basil to the sauce. I love how thickened and sticky the sauce became. Next time I may double the sauce so that I have some more to drizzle over the rice. I see this becoming a go-to recipe, and it’ll be easy to make the meatballs in bulk and store them raw in the freezer.
I’m so happy you liked the meatballs!
why does the recipe call for 3 cloves of garlic in the sauce but also say to saute the garlic with the meatballs and then add the sauce? Which is it?
Apologies for the confusion! The recipe has been updated 🙂
It says a lot for a recipe when my 3 nephews eat a meal and ask for seconds!!
Question when it comes to freezing – can you make the sauce and freeze it or do you recommend making sauce the day you plan to eat the meatballs?
Good question! Freezing the meatballs with the sauce should be fine, but you might just have to add a little more liquid to thin the sauce out when reheating!
Easy to make and delicious 👍
Can these be made with beef? My husband was wondering if these can be made with beef?
Yes!
Can the meatballs be placed in an oven safe dish instead?
That should work!
Enjoy these over rice tonight. Great flavor and easy to make. This recipe will be repeated in our home.
I’m so happy the meatballs were a hit!