Need a recipe for the Big Game or to bring to a party? Check out these homemade Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs! This game day appetizer is sure to please any crowd!
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Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs
This gluten-free appetizer recipe is a perfect one to serve and enjoy at parties! It’s always been a huge hit in our house, we’re huge appetizer fans here!
Every Sunday is “football day” and it’s a day where we come together, make a ton of appetizers for our family and friends, watch football, and have a blast! These Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs really hit the spot and are well-loved by everyone!
Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs Appetizer Recipe
We’ve been making these meatballs for years, friends! It was a get-together with a bunch of other Army wives over a decade ago when someone first introduced me to these. My goodness, I couldn’t stop eating them, I was a mess, haha. But man, they were incredible! Surely I had to get the recipe from my friend! And it totally took me by surprise, it has WHAT in the sauce?
Tasty Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs
Yes, unbelievably enough, these tasty Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs have a combo of grape jelly and chili sauce. I was totally taken aback when my friend told me! In shock even! But truly, it’s a match made in absolute heaven, even if it sounds weird at first. Don’t hesitate making these for your next party. We love love love it so much! So now when people ask how they’re made, because they ALWAYS ask, I wait until they’ve thoroughly enjoyed a few before telling them, haha! It’s always a shock to people!
Where Can I Find The Actual Recipe Card?
If you’d rather skip all of my cooking tips, important information for this recipe, and similar recipe ideas – and get straight to the easy Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs recipe, just scroll down to the bottom, where you’ll find a printable recipe card.
Can I Use Frozen Meatballs for this Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs Recipe?
Sure, if you need to save time! Absolutely! I will say that this meatball recipe is a fantastic basic meatball recipe you can reuse for spaghetti night, if you wish! But absolutely, you could get frozen Italian meatballs to save on prep time. For me, though, you can’t quite beat the taste of a good ‘ol fashioned homemade meatball. You know?
Easy Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs for the Big Game
What do you normally serve for your Big Game spread? Do you do the ever popular buffalo wings? What about spinach and artichoke dip? For us, we love making quesadillas, both regularly cheese and chicken bacon ranch quesadillas, too! In fact, last year we experimented with jalapeño chicken bacon ranch quesadillas and they were a huge hit! We also love making spinach balls, chicken tenders for the kids, and nachos!
Tips for Serving Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs for Parties
When serving these Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs at parties, you can keep them in your slow cooker and have your guests pull them out onto their plate using a slotted spoon. You can also have nearby in a serving container some party toothpicks for them to grab each meatball individually, or have them already staked with a toothpick in the slow cooker so they stay warm and saucy for the party. Whichever way you want to serve them, it doesn’t necessarily matter, they are great in every way!
Can I Batch Cook Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs in Advance?
Oh HECK yeah you can! That’s yet another thing I am super excited to share with you about this recipe that’s going to make you want to make this for your family forever and ever .. the leftovers? They taste AMAZING! When you slow cook this meatball recipe, serve it, let it cool, then pack it up in the fridge for leftovers? The next day and the day after that? These meatballs are AMAZING. A-MA-ZING. The flavors really seep into the meat, like a marinade, and they’re even better the next day. For really real, you have to try it and see for yourself! Go ahead and make batches in advance! You won’t regret it!
Ingredients Needed to Make Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs
To make these Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs, you will need the following ingredients:
- Gluten free bread crumbs
- Milk
- Egg
- Ground beef
- Parsley
- Garlic powder
- Oregano
- Fresh ground pepper
- Fresh ground salt
- Grape jelly
- Chili sauce
Tools Needed to Make Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs
You will also need the following kitchen tools:
How to Make Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs
Pour grape jelly and chili sauce into bowl of slow cooker.
Using a whisk, mix the two until combined and blended well. Don’t worry too much about the jelly being too chunky, it’ll eventually melt and blend well. 🙂
Place gluten free bread crumbs in a large bowl. Using a whisk, whisk together milk and egg in a small bowl. Pour the egg mixture over the breadcrumbs and allow to soak for at least five minutes.
Add your ground beef to the breadcrumbs.
Season well with parsley, garlic powder, oregano, pepper, and salt over top the beef.
Using your hands, work all ingredients together, mixing until all ingredients are well combined. Knead the beef breadcrumb mixture well, ensuring all the ingredients are well blended.
Scoop out the meat mixture by the tablespoonful and roll tightly into a ball. You’ll want these to be an inch or less in size. Place each meatball in the bowl of the slow cooker, rolling each meatball in the sauce until it is completely covered. Meatballs may be stacked on each other if they do not fit into one layer (just be sure to roll them in sauce first).
Cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6 hours, stirring halfway through and at the end before serving. Turn your slow cooker to low or buffet when serving.
Get the Printable Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs Recipe
What do you think of this appetizer recipe? Is it worthy of your Big Game spread? I hope so! Check out all my other appetizer recipes that are perfect for game day!
- Spinach Balls
- Chicken Bacon Ranch Quesadillas
- Pizza bread
- Chicken Broccoli Spinach Artichoke Wreath
- Easy Garlic Pull Apart Pepperoni Pizza Monkey Bread
And if you’d like to check out another gluten-free recipe, check out my friend Sharon’s Gluten-Free Rasta Pasta recipe!
If you love this Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs recipe as much as we do, please leave me a 5-star review below and help me share this recipe on Facebook and Pinterest! If you do make the recipe, I hope you’ll share that you tried it on Pinterest! I love it SO MUCH when readers share their feedback! 🙂
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Slow Cooker Gluten Free Cocktail Meatballs
Ingredients
- ½ cup gluten free bread crumbs
- ½ cup milk
- 1 large egg
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 4 tablespoons parsley
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons oregano
- 1 tablespoon pepper
- ½ tablespoon salt
- 2 cups grape jelly
- 2 12-ounce bottles chili sauce
Instructions
- Pour the grape jelly and chili sauce into the bowl of your slow cooker.
- Using a whisk, mix the two until combined and blended well.
- Place gluten free bread crumbs into a large bowl.
- Using a whisk, whisk together milk and egg in a small bowl.
- Pour the egg mixture over the breadcrumbs and allow to soak for at least five minutes.
- Add your ground beef to the breadcrumbs.
- Using your hands, work all ingredients together, mixing until all ingredients are well combined and blended.
- Scoop out the meat mixture by the tablespoonful and roll tightly into a ball.
- Place each meatball into the bowl of the slow cooker, rolling each meatball in the sauce until it is completely coated. Meatballs may be stacked if they do not fit into one layer, just be sure to coat them well first!
- Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours, stirring halfway through and again at the end before serving.
- Turn your slow cooker to low or buffet when serving.
Do you need to brown the meatballs first? Will they hold together and not fall apart without browning?
Ours stayed together but I pack a tight meatball LOL You may absoLUTEly brown them first if it makes you feel more comfortable doing so! You can also make them ahead of time and chill them before cooking, a cold meatball stays together better in the sauce as well!
These meatballs were so tender and juicy! Love that they are gluten free too!
So easy and tasty! The whole family enjoyed it. 🙂
This celiac thanks you for this GF recipe! It was so tasty and for sure will make again.
I love these gluten free meatballs. It came out absolutely delicious, tender and juicy.
These are so good! First, I love that the meatballs are made from scratch – so much tastier than store-bought. And that sauce?!!? I wanted to lick my plate clean! Delish!
Do you think these would freeze well?