These Grape Jelly BBQ Meatballs are easy to make in the crock pot. This recipe only takes 3 ingredients and 5 minutes to prep! Doesn’t get better than that.
These meatballs are a tried and true appetizer recipe of mine. They literally couldn’t be easier to make and everyone always loves them. Other easy go-to’s are little smokies, meatball sliders and pigs in a blanket.
Table of Contents
The Perfect Appetizer
These crockpot BBQ grape jelly meatballs are one of my family’s favorite meatball recipes. They are seriously so good and the perfect appetizer for game day! They almost remind me of sweet and sour meatballs but taste better.
My Grandpa has been making these crockpot meatballs for years and we always loved them growing up. My sister even talked him into making them as an appetizer at her wedding. Everyone loved them! Now of course my family has their actual “homemade meatballs recipe,” which are just as amazing.
The best part about BBQ meatballs is that no one would ever know how simple they are to make. Turn them into a main dish and serve them over sticky rice like I do with honey garlic meatballs. YUM!
3 simple ingredients!
These slow cooker grape jelly meatballs are so easy to make. You just need the 3 ingredients below to get started:
- Meatballs: I love getting the frozen meatballs from Costco or Kroger. They taste the best in my opinion. Homemade meatballs taste great as well if you have the time.
- Grape jelly: I keep it simple and use Smucker’s grape jelly.
- BBQ Sauce: Sweet baby ray’s BBQ sauce is my personal favorite. :) You can also make a homemade BBQ sauce if preferred.
How to Make Crockpot BBQ Meatballs
- Add ingredients to crockpot. Pour grape jelly and BBQ sauce in the bottom of your crockpot. Add in the meatballs and stir until fully coated.
- Cook meatballs in crockpot. Cook frozen meatballs in crockpot for 2 to 3 hours on high, or until warm. Make sure to stir a few times throughout.
- Serve and enjoy! Garnish with sliced green onions if desired and serve as an appetizer or main dish.
Variations
There are plenty of ways to easily mix up the flavors in this recipe. Check out some other yummy variations below:
- Sub Heinz chili sauce for BBQ sauce for an extra kick, like I did with these chili sauce meatballs.
- Replace grape jelly with 16 ounces sliced or diced pineapple for Hawaiian meatballs.
- Use 1/4 cup honey instead of jelly for a a little healthier alternative (add more or less to to taste).
- Make cranberry meatballs with leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving. Sub an equal amount of cranberry sauce for grape jelly.
- Use 2 packages of little smokies instead of meatballs.
FAQ
We love to serve them with coconut rice, green beans and fresh cut pineapple.
If you’d like to thicken your sauce, you can mix together a cornstarch slurry (about 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch and 1 Tablespoon of water) and stir it into the sauce and allow it to simmer.
This is the base of the sauce (which helps thicken it) and brings the best flavor. I promise you won’t taste the grape flavor.
More Easy Appetizers:
- Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Ham and Cheese Sliders
- 4-Ingredient Cheese Ball
- Easy 7-Layer Dip
- Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
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Crockpot Bbq Meatballs
Video
Ingredients
- 1 (18-ounce) jar jar grape jelly
- 1 (18-ounce) jar BBQ sauce
- 1 (32-ounce) bag frozen fully cooked meatballs (about 50)
Optional: Cooked rice, Sliced green onions
Instructions
- In a medium bowl or the base of a slow cooker, combine the grape jelly and BBQ sauce. Add meatballs and stir until coated in sauce.
- Cook on high 2 to 3 hours or low 3 to 4 hours. Turn the slow cooker to warm until ready to serve.
- Enjoy as an appetizer or serve over rice and top with green onions for a main dish.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Categorized as: American, Appetizers, Crockpot, Crockpot, Dairy-Free, Mini appetizers, Reader Favorites, Super Bowl
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
Thanks for this jelly meatballs!
Yes we did several times
This is so simple and tastes amazing! My family likes a little spice so I added about 2 tablespoons of crushed red pepper flakes and 2 tablespoons of Worchestershire sauce. They almost licked their plates clean!
So easy and delicious. I make it for pot lucks at work. I buy the frozen regular meatballs from Aldi.
Have been making this for years and use Sweet Baby Rays Honey BBQ sauce withe the grape jelly. Always a big hit.
I love your recipe – it was a hit! Fun and so easy to put together.
I used homemade meatballs that I had in the freezer. My family practically inhaled these, so good!
I want to try this this Sunday!! One question, which frozen meatball do you recommend? Pork, beef, mixed..???
My favorite is using all beef, but I’ve used pork lots of times!
Aldi brand regular.
We LOVE these! I now make them for every party that we have and even make them sometimes on the weekends so my boys can just go by and grab some when they’re hungry!
Simple as 1-2-3! Great for quick appy’s.
If I don’t want to use frozen meatballs, how long would I cook them in the oven before placing in the crockpot?
I would just cook them half way so they are done enough to hold their shape and they can finish cooking in the slow cooker.
I made these for a Bible study. and it was amazing!! something I added was apples that I smashed up bc I didn’t have applesauce but ya otherwise I kept it the same. Wonderful recipe and will do again.
Sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing your review!
Wanted to note that I used 36oz grape jelly + 36oz bbq sauce as well. I didn’t just double the amount of meatballs.
These are delicious 🥰 Made them yesterday for a game night and everyone loved them.
So glad you enjoyed the crockpot meatballs for game night :D
I cooked 1.75 lbs of meatballs (about 30 meatballs) in the oven, let them cool a bit, then put them in the crockpot with 1 cup of jelly and 1 cup of sweet baby rays bbq sauce. 2 hours later…omg, deliciousness. I did 1 hour on high and then 1 hour on low. Great recipe. The meatballs disappeared and everybody was talking about them!
Can I double the recipe?
Yes, as long as you have a big enough crockpot. You may just need to stir more frequently and add an extra 30-60 minutes cook time.
Can it be made with turkey meatballs?
Yes you can :)
My fiance went to the store for the ingredients and got italian meatballs instead of homestyle. Will it still taste the same?
We’ve made with Italian and they were good :)
So this is a southern staple! Great recipe. I use Italian meatballs for more flavor, as well as a dash of onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper and Lawry’s seasoning salt.
Easy and very delicious! A family party favorite.
so glad you enjoyed the crockpot meatballs!
Can the meatballs be frozen or should I thaw them before I start?
I place them in frozen :)