Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Meatballs

Name: Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Meatballs
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 240 min
Ingredients: 30 frozen pre-cooked meatballs (found in the freezer section); ½ cup ketchup; 2 tbsp honey; 2 tbsp soy sauce; 1 tbsp brown sugar; 3 garlic cloves minced

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These Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Meatballs are hearty and flavorful. Combining sweet and savory makes these meatballs taste absolutely delicious. And they’re so easy to make!

I literally don’t think that this recipe could be any easier. This is one of the many reasons that I tend to come back to making these slow cooker meatballs time and time again.

slow cooker honey garlic meatball held on a fork in the air.

Honey Garlic Meatballs

I’ve always been a big fan of making meatballs. So much so that even though I typically make these for an appetizer to feed a crowd, I find myself making these for just me at times, too.

There’s nothing wrong with that, right?! I’ll happily curl up in a chair with a bowl of these slow cooker honey garlic crockpot meatballs to give my tastebuds a true treat. They’re so delicious, simple, and hardly have me putting in any real effort to make them.

Ingredients

You only need a handful of ingredients to help you make this easy slow cooker meatball recipe. Gather up these budget-friendly ingredients and you will have a delicious meal or appetizer.

frozen pre-cooked meatballs
ketchup
honey
soy sauce
brown sugar
garlic cloves

See the recipe card for quantities.

How to make Honey Garlic Slow Cooker Meatballs

Literally, such a simple recipe. just follow these easy steps and you are ready to make your meatballs.

After you purchase your frozen precooked meatballs from the store, you just need to add them to your crockpot.

The other few ingredients listed need to be combined and poured over the frozen meatballs.

Heat on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours – and that’s it!

Once the time has passed and you’re ready to start snacking, these delicious honey meatballs are going to be ready and waiting.

With just 6 simple ingredients needed, these Honey Garlic Crockpot Meatballs couldn’t be more simple. And the best part? Your slow cooker gets to do all the heavy lifting and hard work!

Ah, appetizers. They’re one of my favorite foods to make and one of my favorite foods to eat. This is because they’re usually some of the easiest recipes and some of the most flavorful, too.

So when I realized that it had been way too long and I hadn’t shared this delicious and easy crockpot meatballs recipes with you, I just had to jot it down to pass it along.

With the big football game coming up, the time is now to make a few practice runs cooking up these simple meatballs in the crockpot. I can promise you that the combination of honey and garlic make these the perfect bite-size treats!

white bowl filled with slow cooker honey garlic meatballs with one with a bite missing.

Substitutions

Don’t have the correct ingredients on hand? Or want to change something up? Here are some helpful tips for you to change this Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Meatball recipe.

Meatballs – if you prefer homemade meatballs you can use them instead.
Minced Garlic – Minced Garlic can be used instead of garlic cloves if needed.
Liquid Aminos – Liquid Aminos makes a great sub for soy sauce if you are out of soy sauce.

Variations

Want to personalize this Honey Garlic Meatballs recipe? Here are some of my tried and true tips for changing up this recipe.

Spicy – add red pepper flakes or sriracha for a spicy kick to your meatballs.
Chili Sauce – Replace the ketchup with chili sauce for extra flavor.
BBQ Sauce – Instead of Ketchup you can use BBQ Sauce instead for an even sweeter flavor.

If you love recipes like this, you may also enjoy (link similar recipe here)

Equipment

You only need two basic kitchen tools to make this dish. I don’t know about you but I love recipes that require only a few tools because that means fewer dishes for me.

slow cooker
spoon
slow cooker liner (optional)

Storage

Do you have leftover Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Meatballs? If so, have no fear you can store your leftover meatballs in the fridge for up to three days.

Tips

Want to make sure that your Honey Garlic Meatballs come out correctly? If so, here are my best tips.

It’s important to know that once you heat these meatballs to eat, you’re not going to want to freeze them again. You probably can, but I always think that once you heat food that has already been frozen once, you need to go ahead and eat it for the best flavor and taste.
Use a slow cooker liner for easier clean-up if you prefer.
If you are not using a slow cooker liner, then I suggest lightly spraying your slow cooker insert with cooking spray to make washing the pot easier.

bowl of honey garlic meatballs with a fork stuck into one meatball

More Appetizer Recipes

If you like this simple appetizer recipe, don’t forget to check out all of our other delicious options. Gathering up a delicious group of appetizers and cooking them all at once can make for some of the best meals!

FAQ

Do you have questions about Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Meatballs? Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about this recipe here.

Can I keep meatballs warm in a crockpot?

You bet! Warming up the cooked meatballs in the crockpot is one of the recipes that I love cooking with a crockpot. It keeps whatever food you’re heating up or cooking in it and warm to be able to enjoy.

How do you keep meatballs warm at a party?

The crockpot is your answer! You just need to have it on the “keep warm” setting and you shouldn’t have to worry about the temperature of the garlic meatballs again.

Should I thaw meatballs before putting them in the crockpot?

Nope, you don’t have to! Since you’ll be cooking these in your slow cooker for 4 hours, they’ll be able to have more than enough time to cook up perfectly all the way through. The only way that you’d need to thaw them is if you’re cooking them for 2 hours or less.

How long do you heat meatballs in the crockpot?

This can depend on the temperature of the crockpot but 4 hours seems like a good time to count on. You should notice that the added mixture will start to bubble a bit too which is a good visual that the meatballs are heated all the way through.

Can you overcook meatballs in a slow cooker?

You can so just keep an eye on them. Since these meatballs are precooked, you probably aren’t going to have that issue BUT 4 hours should be plenty of time to cook them up to perfection.