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sweet and sour meatballs from The Jewish Kitchen
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Grandma's Sweet & Sour Meatballs

These sweet and tangy meatballs are my family's favorite fall and winter meal. They are rich, savory and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Serve over a bed of rice or wide egg noodles for the ultimate in Jewish comfort food.
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Jewish
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 20 minutes
Servings 14 meatballs

Ingredients

For the Sauce

  • 1 small onion (or 1/2 large onion) diced
  • 1 10 3/4 oz. can condensed tomato soup
  • 1 14 oz. can jellied cranberry sauce
  • 1 /2 lemon, cut into 2 quarters used during the last 30 minutes of cooking

For the Meatballs

  • 1 lb. Kosher lean ground beef 90% or leaner
  • 1 lb. Kosher ground beef 80% or 85% lean
  • 1 large egg beaten
  • 4 slices white bread crusts removed, processed into crumbs
  • 1/4 cup dried bread crumbs, seasoned plain
  • 2 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup hot water (not boiling)
  • 2 tbsp. fresh parsley (optional) if you are not using seasoned dried bread crumbs

Instructions

For the Sauce

  1. Saute onion in large stock pot without any oil over low to medium heat until onion is translucent but not brown, about five minutes.
  1. Add soup and cranberry sauce and stir together. Cook over low heat until soup and cranberry sauce melt and combine, about another five to 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
  2. While sauce is cooking, prepare the meatballs.

For the Meatballs

  1. Place meat, eggs, dried breadcrumbs, fresh breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and parsley in large bowl. With hands, gently combine. Add warm water and combine once more. Do not over mix or meat will be tough. Before you roll the meatball, stir the sauce on the stove to make sure it is well combined. Stir often.
  2. Form 14-16 meatballs and place gently into sauce. You can layer them if you need to. Spoon a little sauce over the bottom layer of meatballs before you place additional meatballs on a top layer. Add more sauce to the top layer.
  3. Cover the pot and cook for 90 minutes-2 hours on low to medium heat, stirring every 30 minutes. During the last 30 minutes of cooking, squeeze a little of the lemon into the pot and then place the lemon quarters into the pot alongside the meatballs. Stir and cover. This allows the lemon to add a little acidity to the sauce and gives it a slight sweet and sour flavor. Remove the lemons before serving.
  4. Serve with wide egg noodles, rice, or any pasta of your choice. The meatballs are also delicious as a sandwich on fresh Challah.

Recipe Notes

For a main course, I like to serve this family style in a large serving bowl, with either buttered egg noodles, rile pilaf, or spinach mashed potatoes as an side with a salad and fresh vegetable.

As an appetizer, this recipe is always a hit. This recipe makes 30 appetizer size meatballs. Simply roll smaller size meatballs and reduce cooking time to 60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to ensure that all of the meatballs are cooked thoroughly and evenly. Serve on toothpicks with cocktail napkins or skewer two small meatballs (like a kebab) and serve on trays.