Spicy Korean Meatballs
These Spicy Korean Meatballs are award-winning and will be a huge hit at any party! Or, serve them over rice for a tasty dinner.
And now, for some more “man food.” Leave it to men’s magazines to help me out in the kitchen – just like Men’s Health has some great recipes, GQ does too!
For the Super Bowl this year, my husband wanted to make taco mac and cheese, and these K-Town Pantry Wings.
When I saw the recipe, I wasn’t expecting gochujang (Korean chili paste) to be an easy ingredient to find (or pronounce), but it turned out it was incredibly painless to locate at my local big-box store.
The wings turned out great, but I now have a pretty sizable tub of gochujang sitting in my fridge.
Not one to let food go to waste, I’ve made it my mission to use that stuff up. It’s actually pretty versatile, and has a nice spicy and smoky flavor.
A little bit goes a long way toward giving an otherwise boring dish a little Korean flair.
Along the lines of “party food” like chicken wings, I thought this stuff would work in meatballs, too (and you know I love an Asian meatball, like General Tso’s meatballs and my tomato ramen with meatballs). A quick trip to the store later, and I was a meatball-making machine.
The only bad thing? An unfortunate meatball assembly incident: I was making meatballs while happily listening to my kitchen radio. But then, it happened – Nickelback came on. “Noooooooo! Please noooooo!” I cried to myself.
With my hands covered in meatball stuff, I had no choice but to attempt to use one of my feet to turn off the radio. This only resulted in me almost falling over, and having to grab the counter with dirty hands, which only made a bigger mess.
Lesson learned: ALWAYS plug in your Ipod when you are doing a messy kitchen task. Never trust the regular radio.
You’ll notice some fried rice lurking in the background of these photos. I made it with kimchi. Click HERE for that recipe!
Update 10/2/13: These Korean Meatballs are award winning!
This recipe was chosen as the winner of Food52′s “Your Best Spicy Recipe” contest and professionally photographed by James Ransom. I’m so happy and proud of my little meatball recipe that could.
Click here to read my Winner’s Q & A.
Psst – this gochujang sauce is also delicious on air fryer turkey meatballs.
Spicy Korean-Style Gochujang Meatballs
These Spicy Korean Meatballs are award-winning and will be a huge hit at any party! Or, serve them over rice for a tasty dinner.
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
- 3 green onions, very thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons gochujang (Korean chili paste)
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 2 tablespoons canola oil, for pan-frying
For the Glaze:
- 1/3 cup apricot preserves
- 2 tablespoons gochujang (Korean chili paste)
- 1-1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
For the Garnish:
- Sliced green onion
- Toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In large bowl, combine all meatball ingredients except oil. The key to good meatballs is not to overmix them. Just gently combine the ingredients until everything is evenly distributed. Form the mixture into golf-ball sized meatballs.
- Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. In batches (don’t crowd the pan!), brown the meatballs on all sides. Transfer meatballs to rimmed baking pan and transfer to oven. Bake 10 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F.
- Meanwhile, in small saucepot, combine all glaze ingredients. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until mixture is slightly thickened.
- To serve, brush meatballs with glaze and sprinkle with green onion and sesame seeds.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 5 meatballsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 613Total Fat: 32gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 20gCholesterol: 147mgSodium: 1876mgCarbohydrates: 45gFiber: 2gSugar: 22gProtein: 37g
These meatballs look delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.blogspot.com
You’re welcome, Paige. Thanks for reading!
The meatballs look and sound delicious and I love how you built a recipe from the one ingredient, The photo’s are amazing too!
Thanks so much, Suzanne. Now I just have to find about 10 more recipes with gochujang, because there’s still so much of it left 🙂
These meatballs ARE amazing! SPICY but so delicious! Thx for posting on Pinterest 🙂
You can use gochujang is soooo many things! I like salad dressing, like if you make a Hoi Sin dressing for Chinese Chicken Salad throw some in. Add some to give teriyaki chicken some kick. My favorite to add it to: Chili, yep good old bean and ground beef chili, gives it a great depth/layer of flavor.
Eddie, thank you SO MUCH for all of these awesome ideas. 2 months later, that tub of gochujang is still lurking in the back of my fridge, trying to intimidate me. I’m going to try ALL of your ideas though – thanks!
You can use gochujang is soooo many things! I like salad dressing, like if you make a Hoi Sin dressing for Chinese Chicken Salad throw some in. Add some to give teriyaki chicken some kick. My favorite to add it to: Chili, yep good old bean and ground beef chili, gives it a great depth/layer of flavor.
Eddie, thank you SO MUCH for all of these awesome ideas. 2 months later, that tub of gochujang is still lurking in the back of my fridge, trying to intimidate me. I’m going to try ALL of your ideas though – thanks!
What are apricot preserves? Is that like apricot jam?
Hi Cayden – I believe it’s very similar to jam (and you could certainly use jam in this recipe). I used Smucker’s brand preserves: http://www.smuckers.com/products/fruit-spreads/preserves/apricot-preserves-18
Hi. I love your recipes. I’ve made the meatballs several times and they are delicious. Just curious do you use the entire green onion or just the green parts? Thanks, I’m making these today.
Hi Chris! Thanks for stopping by. I use the whole onions. Enjoy!
I love to try it.. But what is the other substitute for apricot preserves if it is not available here in my place.. I’m Tintin from thailand.
Hi Tintin! You can use just about any kind of jam, jelly or preserves in place of the apricot preserves. So far, people have told me they’ve made them with peach, grape, and even strawberry jam/jelly/preserves! Whatever you can find!
Just made these this evening! Deeeelish!!!
So glad to hear you liked them, Alison! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
I can SO relate to the Nickleback-radio-meat-hands story. I have BEEN THERE! That’s so funny. I just stumbled upon this blog because I was thinking about making some kind of korean meatball. Looks great. cheers!
hahaha yes! This blog post is now almost four years old, and I’m STILL hearing Nickeback on the radio. WHY, UNIVERSE, WHY?!?!?
In all seriousness, I’m so glad you found me, Adriane, and I hope this meatball recipe is a hit for you!
Hi I was on here looking for gojuchang recipes because like you, I have a giant tub in the fridge staring back at me. The meatballs look delicious, can’t wait to try them. Just wanted to let you know I laughed out loud at the Nickelback incident hahahah. Thanks for sharing!
Good luck using up your gochujang! It can be a daunting but delicious project. And I really learned my lesson after that Nickelback incident. When I’m cooking now, I either put on NPR or Spotify. Zero chance of Nickelback!
Hello… I have a general question regarding Korean recipes calling for sesame seed oil. Can you tell me if the recipes typically use regular or toasted sesame seed oil or if it isn’t specified, which would you typically use
Thanks so much
Hi Nick – there isn’t any sesame oil in this recipe. If I’m making somebody else’s recipe, I typically use whatever the recipe calls for.
Hi Lori… I made your meatballs, per your recipe, in my Vortex air fryer. I cooked them at 375 for 8 minutes and flipped them and cooked them for another 5. I then put together the glaze in a small saucepan and then transferred the glaze and meatballs to a frypan to glaze them on my stovetop. They were off the charts delicious. I always take pictures of my finished foods to share with friends, family and strangers and everyone I showed was awed. Actually, they looked almost as good as yours!
With regard to sesame oil, I wasn’t referring to this recipe. You seem to be quite knowledgeable with your ingredients and I was asking a general question regarding sesame oil looking for your advice since I’m just getting started with Asian cooking.
Thanks
Hi Nick – I’m so glad to hear these turned out so well. I actually got an air fryer for Christmas, and now I want to try to make meatballs in it. Thanks for the inspiration!