Sticky Glazed Sesame Pork Meatballs & Broccoli

Sticky Glazed Sesame Pork Meatballs & Broccoli. The flavors here may be a little new to you as a home cook, but once you make this sauce you will want Rice Wine vinegar & soy sauce in your fridge at all times. The meatballs have a ton of flavor, and the sauce is salty, sweet, sticky and packed with green onion. Serve over rice & you will have your own version of takeout. And the hands-on-cook time is barely 20 minutes.

Make the Chinese Pork Meatballs

Make sure you check the notes for substitutes if you don’t want to buy chinese five spice. But it’s so worth trying. It would be so amazing in a pumpkin or sweet potato pie!

Making the meatballs is very simple & quick. Dump everything in a bowl and mix it up. Roll the meatballs into two-tablespoon sized balls. A cookie scoop makes the process even quicker. I love to make the sesame crust, but you CAN just sprinkle the sesame seeds on while baking to shorten the cook time even more. Fry them up to get some extra flavor & and texture. The broccoli will roast very simply and everything fits on one baking sheet.

Sticky Ginger Sauce

I cooked a few recipes using rice wine vinegar & mirin and fell in love with the flavors. Everything has such a punch, but they all balance each other so swell. This sauce starts with a very quick base of sesame oil, garlic, ginger & green onion. It smells so good when you start cooking. Add your soy sauce for salty, honey & mirin for sweet, rice wine vinegar for some acid and whisk it all together with cornstarch. It will get thick and bubbly and you will want to make it for every dish/never need to order take out again!

As it starts to cool down at night, I love sitting with a bowl of this, extra sauce and lots of rice. It’s like fancy Chinese takeout & it’s so delicious.

When you make these Sticky Glazed Sesame Pork Meatballs & Broccoli, comment below. Or tag me on Instagram @quartersoulcrisis. I walk through recipes in more detail in highlights.

Sticky Glazed Sesame Pork Meatballs & Broccoli

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Hands off Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Ingredients

  

Pork Meatballs

• 1 lb ground pork*
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp chinese five spice*
• pinch salt
• 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 green onion (plus more for garnish & sauce)
• 3 tbsp seasame seeds
• 1 head broccoli chopped small
• 1 tbs sesame oil

Sticky Glaze

• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 cup soy sauce*
• 1 tbs rice vinegar
• 1 tbs honey
• 2 tbs mirin
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 2 green onions

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheet with parchment or non-stick spray. Chop broccoli & pile on one side of baking sheet. Sprinkle salt and small amount of 1tbs sesame oil. Toss & let sit. 
• Make Meatballs: In large bowl, add all meatball ingredients (1lb ground pork, 1 minced clove garlic, ½ tsp ground ginger, 1/2 tsp chinese five spice, salt, 1/4 cup Panko, & 1 chopped green onion). Mix until everything is well incorporated. Roll 2tbs sized meatballs.
• Bake Meatballs: Dip one side of each meatball into sesame seeds. In large skillet, heat 1 tbs sesame oil on medium-high heat. Place meatballs sesame side down into oil. Once sesame seeds look golden & toasty (2 mins), remove the meatballs and line them up on the other side of your baking sheet next to broccoli. Bake entire sheet 15-20 minutes.
• Make Sauce: With about 5-10 minutes to go on the meatballs, make sticky glaze. I like to use the same pan i fried the meatballs in. Add 1tsp sesame oil & heat to warm. Add garlic, ground ginger & green onion. Toss until fragrant (about 1min). Pour in 1/4 cup soy, 1tbs rice wine vin, 1tbs honey, 2tbs mirin & cornstarch. Whisk until incorporated. Simmer 5-10 minutes until it thickens and bubbles get fat and sticky. Remove from heat & immediately add in meatballs & roasted broccoli. Toss until everything is coated.
• Garnish with tons of green onion. Serve over rice.

Home Cook’s Notes

Things to Know

 

–Sub Ground Pork: w chicken or turkey if you didn’t want to do pork, but I love the pork flavor. 

– Sub Chinese Five Spice: with 1/4tsp cinnamon & 1/4tsp black pepper. It is not the exact same, but I have made them with it and it works great. 

– Sub for Mirin: 2 tbs of rice vinegar + 1 tbs of honey. But I do love having it on hand!