Instant Pot Cocktail Meatballs

An easy recipe for instant pot cocktail meatballs. Delicious homemade meatballs cooked in a rich sticky sauce are juicy and flavorful. These pressure cooker cocktail meatballs are ready for serving in 30 minutes!

This time includes everything - the prep, the active as well as passive cooking time! The sauce for cocktail meatballs is easy to put together and compliments these homemade meatballs well.

Forget about boring frozen meatballs! Preparing homemade meatballs for cooking literally takes 10 minutes, so why not make them yourself instead of buying them? You know what you put in them, which means you avoid any preservatives or artificial flavor enhancers and other additives.

These Instant Pot cocktail meatballs are made from scratch and cooked in a rich BBQ sauce. They are juicy and flavorful with a light spicy kick thanks to jalapenos added to the meat mixture.

How to make cocktail meatballs in instant pot

In a mixing bowl, combine together ground meat, seasoning and spices, egg, fresh chives and finely chopped pickled jalapeno.

I prefer using my hand to do this as it is the best way to make sure all the ingredients are distributed evenly. The quickest way to make homemade cocktail meatballs is by using the smallest cookie dough scoop.

Simply fill the scoop with meat mixture (don’t overfill) and transfer onto a tray/baking sheet/plate. I like to line it with baking parchment for easy cleaning, but you don’t have to.

Then, you just roll these into balls and brown them in your pressure cooker. You should be able to fit all of them in 1 go when using a 6-quart/6-liter instant pot.

Sauce for cocktail meatballs

I mixed together BBQ sauce, ketchup, honey and water. It’s a simple yet delicious sauce that can be sweetened with more honey, if you like.

What to eat with cocktail meatballs

I recommend serving some kind of bread on side, my favorite is a sliced fresh French baguette.

Another alternative is serving these instant pot meatballs with a little sauce in a lettuce leaf. I would go for baby romaine leaves, but butterhead lettuce might work well too.

These instant pot meatballs can be easily turned into a main meal if you serve them with mashed potatoes (I highly recommend trying Irish colcannon).

How to keep cocktail meatballs warm

The best option is to transfer these meatball appetizers into a slow cooker and keep it on the WARM setting.

I also have a tasty recipe for slow cooker sweet & spicy meatballs, in case you would like to compare more homemade meatball recipes.

Expert tips

• If you like spicy, you can add some of the jalapeno juice to the sauce.
• Ground beef can be substituted with pork, chicken, turkey or a combination of these.
• Jalapenos can be completely omitted, if you don’t like spicy appetizers.
• I combined BBQ sauce with ketchup, water and honey, but you can just use the BBQ sauce as is, if you prefer (still you will need to add water).

Party menu ideas

If you are thinking of throwing a party or family gathering and looking for other affordable appetizer recipes, I have some easy finger food ideas for you:

• Air fryer sticky chicken wings are my favorites, because they are quick to make, and everyone loves them.
• Wasabi deviled eggs will be a hit among those who like spicy appetizers and they are easy to make!
• Garlic cheddar cheese dip can be also turned into a spread! It’s so delicious on a crostini or fresh slice of French baguette. Plus, it literally takes minutes to put together.
• Ham & pickle roll-ups also tend to disappear from the plate fast, so why not give them a go!

Watch how to make instant pot cocktail meatballs

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