Honey Sriracha Chicken Meatballs – an easy slow cooker favorite ideal for a party or buffet. These are spicy-sweet with the extra dimension of Hatch chile flavor. Quick to prepare and they can sit on low in the crock pot for hours!
Wow! These are awesome! I wanted to publish a recipe perfect for an Oscar party. To me, that means an easy, memorable, appetizer/dinner dish that’s more elegant than your basic Super Bowl fare. And these are perfect for that!
Not only are they easy to make, but also easy to adjust for different heat tolerance. Plus, you can do 90% of the prep (which is only a half hour) the day ahead of time. Also, they can sit in the slow cooker on low for hours – for the entire 4+ hours of Academy Awards shenanigans.
How can you adjust the spiciness? You can reduce the sriracha to 3/4 cup to make it less spicy, more sweet … or you can use mild green chiles, medium, or hot. If you use hot, these will be very spicy. Mild is the safest. You can also leave out the green chiles. Of course, I think these are much more interesting with the green chiles. I’ve made this to satisfy both chileheads and wimps by dividing the meatball mixture in half and putting the green chiles in only one half. Then I’m careful to put the spicy ones on one side of the slow cooker and the others on the other side – easier with an oblong slow cooker.
I made these with Big Jim chiles (medium) and I used 505 Southwestern Sriracha Sauce.
- 1 cup honey
- 1 cup sriracha hot chili sauce (I used 505 Sriracha)
- ¼ cup fresh lime juice (1 large or 2 small limes)
- 2 pounds ground chicken
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup diced green chiles
- Dump honey, sriracha, and lime juice into slow cooker and set it to high heat.
- Put the ground chicken in a large bowl and sprinkle the onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper over the top.
- Dump the panko bread crumbs and milk on top and stir to combine.
- Add the 2 eggs and mix.
- Stir in the diced green chiles.
- For ease of forming the meatballs, cover and chill for several hours or overnight (not necessary, they just will be firmer and easier to shape).
- Take a half cup of the honey sriracha sauce out and set aside.
- For cocktail-sized meatballs, take a tablespoon and scoop out rounded spoonfuls and place on wax paper or a flexible cutting board. For big meal-sized meatballs, make each scoop about 2 tablespoons.
- Put a bowl of cold water next to your work area and wet your hands as needed to keep the meatballs from sticking to them too much. Take each blob of meatball mixture and roll it with your hands into a ball.
- Place the meatballs into the crockpot on top of the honey sriracha sauce. You will need to layer the meatballs - several layers for 3.5 quart crockpots. Pour the half cup of sauce that you set aside over the top of the meatballs.
- Cook on low for 4-8 hours. After about 3 hours, separate the meatballs (some will be stuck together) and coat them with the sauce again. If your slow cooker runs hot, you may want to turn the meatballs after 2 hours or so.
- About a half hour before serving, pour the sauce into a saucepan and cook down over medium heat to thicken. Then pour the sauce back over the meatballs in the slow cooker.
- Serve at a buffet table in the slow cooker with plenty of toothpicks for spearing them. Or you could pile them onto a platter and spear each one with a toothpick before serving.
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