Sesame and Scallion Asian-Inspired Meatballs

Here’s another must-make meatball recipe — Sesame and Scallion Asian-Inspired Meatballs!

Meatballs are something I love making for dinner for my family. Whether making them Italian-inspired, Asian-inspired, or any other flavor, they are always a hit around the dinner table! Here, I decided to season the meatballs with various ingredients including sesame oil, ginger, and garlic. Let me just tell y’all, even without the sauce these meatballs are packed with flavor!

But, the sauce on these meatballs is seriously insane. With more sesame oil and garlic, plus coconut aminos, honey, and more, the sauce comes together beautifully to coat the meatballs. I love serving these meatballs over prepared rice to soak up extra sauce too — yum!

While it, of course, takes a bit of time to roll all of the meatballs, this recipe does come together quickly once the meatballs are formed! You simply brown the meatballs then set aside while you make the sauce. Once the sauce is ready, you’ll nestle the meatballs back into the sauce until they are cooked through.

You’ll see that I make a quick slurry of tapioca and chicken broth that I add to the sauce at this point as well. This just helps to thicken the sauce ever so slightly to help coat the meatballs! To finish the meatballs, I add green onions and sesame seeds.

You can serve these meatballs however you prefer, but I love serving them with rice and steamed broccoli as shown here! You can also use cauliflower rice if preferred.

I hope you enjoy these Sesame and Scallion Asian-Inspired Meatballs!

For more Asian-inspired meatball recipes, check these out!

Sichuan-Inspired Wonton Meatballs in Chili Oil

Baked Mongolian Beef Meatballs

5 from 16 votes

Sesame and Scallion Saucy Asian-Inspired Meatballs

Total: 40 minutes mins

Servings: 4

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Ingredients 

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For the Meatballs:

• ▢ 1 ½ pounds ground beef
• ▢ 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• ▢ 1 tablespoon coconut aminos
• ▢ ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• ▢ 1 egg
• ▢ 3 tablespoons tapioca flour
• ▢ 2 green onions finely chopped
• ▢ 4 cloves garlic minced
• ▢ ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
• ▢ ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ▢ 2 tablespoons avocado oil

For the Sauce:

• ▢ 2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• ▢ 3 cloves garlic minced
• ▢ ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• ▢ 1/3 cup coconut aminos
• ▢ ¼ cup honey
• ▢ 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• ▢ ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons chicken broth divided
• ▢ 1 teaspoon tapioca flour
• ▢ 6 green onions cut into 2-inch pieces on the diagonal, plus more for garnish
• ▢ 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, plus more for garnish

Serving Suggestions:

• ▢ prepared rice (basmati, brown or cauliflower rice)
• ▢ steamed broccoli

Instructions 

Assemble and Prepare the Meatballs:

• In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, toasted sesame oil, coconut aminos, crushed red pepper flakes, egg, tapioca, green onions, garlic, ginger, salt and pepper. Mix until very well combined. Roll into 1-inch round meatballs.
• Heat the avocado oil in large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the meatballs in a single layer (you will likely need to do this in two batches to not overcrowd the skillet) and brown the meatballs on two sides until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. The meatballs do not need to be cooked through, just browned, as they will continue to cook in the sauce. Set the browned meatballs on a clean plate and continue until all the meatballs are browned.

Make the Sauce:

• Wipe down the skillet and add now let’s make the sauce. Add the toasted sesame oil, garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, coconut aminos, honey, rice vinegar and ½ cup of the broth to the skillet and whisk until well combined. Bring to a simmer and reduce the heat so that it is lightly simmering, about medium-low heat.

Finish the Meatballs:

• Nestle the meatballs back into the sauce, cover and cook until the meatballs are just cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Remove the lid and in a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 2 tablespoons of chicken broth along with the tapioca flour until well combined. While gently stirring, stir in the slurry into the sauce with the meatballs.
• Sprinkle the green onions and sesame seeds over the top of the meatballs and continue to cook, uncovered and lightly simmering, until the sauce thickens and the green onions are slightly tender, about 4 more minutes.
• Serve the meatballs as desired.

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Author: Alex Snodgrass

Servings: 4

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Photography by Eat Love Eats.