Hoisin meatballs! Glaze these pork meatballs for a healthy meal prep for lunch, dinner, or even a high-protein, gluten-free snack!
Perhaps you've used hoisin sauce before. It's sweet, thick, tangy, and delicious and used a lot in Chinese cooking. It also happens to be gluten-free (usually, although read the labels if that's a concern), and serves well as a glaze for these really flavorful pork meatballs that you can easily meal prep. Because, you know, meatballs, right?
Hoisin Glazed Meatballs Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground pork
- ¼ cup finely minced green onion
- ¼ cup finely minced cilantro
- 1 Tbsp. fresh minced garlic
- 1 Tbsp. fresh minced ginger
- 1 ½ Tbsp. fish sauce
- 2 tsp. sugar, or sweetener of choice
- 1 tsp. lemon zest
- 1-2 Tbsp. avocado oil
- Gluten-free hoisin sauce
- Cooked brown rice noodles, optional, for serving
- Sliced fresh veggies such as peppers, carrots, etc., optional, for serving
How to Make Hoisin Glazed Meatballs
These come together quickly in a big bowl. Love that. Combine the ground pork plus everything up to the lemon zest—the green onions, garlic, ginger, cilantro, fish sauce, sugar, and lemon zest. Cook them in a skillet with hot avocado oil until they're browned all the way around. Then, drain them, and get them ready to meal prep. These smell SO good when they're cooking!
How to Store and Serve Hoisin Glazed Meatballs
These are so awesome to meal prep. We love popping them into prep containers with some cooked rice noodles and sliced fresh veggies. Regular rice or cauliflower rice would be great here, too. Other noodles such as soba or even regular spaghetti works in a pinch.
You can eat these at room temperature, cold, or hot; all three ways are equally good. But having that flexibility is helpful for this healthy meal prep because that means you can take them with you and eat them for lunch, and not have to worry about reheating. Keep them in an airtight container in the fridge for 4 to 5 days. Reheat in the oven, a hot skillet, or the air fryer (yes, we suggest a lot of air fryer activity these days. That's because they're awesome. Check out our air fryer guide!)
Serving with some lime quarters would be really delicious, too.
Substitutions and Alterations
So, first of all, you can bake these meatballs instead. Do them on a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil (contains your messes) at 375 for about 15 to 20 minutes.
Otherwise, feel free to use beef, turkey, or chicken instead of ground pork, or combine some of these meats for extra flavor. All good.
You can make these meatballs smaller and serve them as appetizers, speared with toothpicks for serving. They'll cook faster that way, too.
Use lime zest instead of lemon zest if desired.
Skip the sugar altogether if you don't want or need it, but it does help provide some balance. You could use a granulated keto sugar if need be!
MORE MEATBALL MEAL PREP RECIPES!
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground pork
- ¼ cup green onion finely minced
- ¼ cup cilantro finely minced
- 1 tablespoon garlic finely minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger finely minced
- 1 ½ tablespoon fish sauce
- 2 teaspoon sugar or sweetener of choice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoon avocado oil
- ¼ c hoisin sauce or more as needed
- Cooked brown rice noodles optional, for serving
- Vegetables optional, fresh and sliced, for serving
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add pork through lemon zest. Use your hands to gently mix until well-combined. Shape into 16 1-inch meatballs.
- Add oil to a heavy skillet. Heat pan over medium heat. Once oil is hot, add the meatballs in a single layer, working in batches if necessary, and cook for 4 minutes. Flip and continue cooking for 10 to 15 minutes more, rotating often, or until golden brown on all sides and cooked through (internal cooking temperature should reach 160°F).
- Transfer meatballs to a paper towel-lined plate to drain briefly, then into a clean mixing bowl. Toss with hoisin sauce to taste while meatballs are still hot.
- If desired, divide meatballs into meal prep containers with cooked brown rice noodles, sliced vegetables, and extra hoisin.
