‘The Pioneer Woman’: Ree Drummond’s Sweet and Sour Meatballs Recipe
Ree Drummond’s sweet and sour meatballs recipe is a delicious meal idea that was featured on an episode of her show about old-fashioned comfort foods. It’s easy to see why this dish has remained a classic comfort go-to.
How to make Ree Drummond’s sweet and sour sauce
Drummond demonstrated how to make her sweet and sour meatballs recipe on an episode of The Pioneer Woman. “I’m going to start with the sauce, which I think is the best part of this dish,” she explained.
The Food Network host added pineapple juice, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, and ketchup to a pot. She stirred the ingredients together as she brought them to a gentle boil.
Drummond thickened the sauce with a slurry — she combined cornstarch and pineapple juice in a measuring cup, then added it to the pot. “A slurry is just a liquid mixed with cornstarch,” Drummond explained. “And you can stir it into a variety of sauces and it just adds a nice thickness.”
She continued, “This is sort of an Asian sweet-sour recipe and I add slurries a lot to my Asian dishes.”
How to make Ree Drummond’s ‘go-to recipe for meatballs’
As the sauce thickened, Drummond grabbed the meatballs from the freezer. “This is my go-to recipe for meatballs,” she explained. “I make up a big batch, divide them into different bags, and then they’re all ready to go.”
The Pioneer Woman star noted that the meatballs don’t need to be thawed to use in her recipe. “I add them in the frozen state, right into the pan.”
To make the meatballs, Drummond combines ground beef, seasoned bread crumbs, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, grainy mustard, whole milk, heavy cream, chopped parsley, and eggs. After she mixes it together, she rolls it into balls, places them on a sheet pan, and puts them in the freezer to flash-freeze.
Drummond cooks them in batches, allows the meatballs to cool, and packages them in freezer bags.
“The great thing is the sauce is so bubbly hot, that the meatballs don’t cool it down at all,” she explained. “They’re going to instantly start thawing and the flavors are all mixed together. I just love this kind of cooking.”
She added diced bell peppers and “for a little bit of spice,” added sriracha. Drummond placed a lid on the pot and let the sauce and meatballs simmer for 8 minutes.
To finish the dish, she added canned pineapple chunks and served the meatballs over rice with sliced green onions on top.
‘The Pioneer Woman’ star’s easy recipe is a hit
Drummond’s sweet and sour meatballs recipe has earned positive reviews, with many people commenting about the dish’s flavor and simplicity.
“Not only was this easy, but it was delicious!!” one reviewer commented. “My husband asked for me to make this recipe again. Winner, winner!!”
Another person shared, “Delicious!!! The whole family loves this recipe.”
One reviewer even compared it to getting a take-out meal. “Wanted something different for dinner and this was it! Perfect in every way it was like ordering out dinner,” they commented.
The full recipe is available on the Food Network website.
