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.
Making this for our Girls’ Night get-together tonight. Can’t wait for everyone to try!
Hope you enjoy! These are always a hit! :)
I’m planning on making this on Saturday at a family after Christmas party. Can I cook them for 2 hours at home and the last hour at my daughter’s or should I cook them 2 1/2 hours home and put it on warm once I get there? Looking forward to eating them up!
Either way should work! :)
I make these every year but I add a bottle of chili sauce. They are real popular at our Christmas party. So easy to make.
Sounds delicious, thanks for sharing!
Really great taste and easy to make!!
So glad you enjoyed these! :)
I’m making this for tomorrow. The meatballs need to be thawed before putting in crockpot or can it be frozen.
It can be frozen! :)
I bought grape jam by mistake is it going matter?
It should work the same! :)
Can you use homemade pork sausage meatballs with this recipe?
Thanks
That should work fine! I would just make sure they are fully cooked. :)
Do you use the whole bottle of jelly and Bbq sauce?
Hi Kieanya! Yes, I use the whole bottle of jelly and BBQ sauce when I make a whole 32 oz bag of meatballs. If you are doing a smaller portion, just make sure to do equal parts jelly and BBQ sauce. :)
Everyone loves Meatballs for finger foods, how can I adjust this for Diabetics?
Hi Sandy! I have not tried substituting ingredients in this recipe but you could use a sugar free jelly and Pebble Creek BBQ Sauce (it is made with all natural ingredients and no added sugar or sweetener). Hope that helps! :)
I made the whole Costco Bag of Italian Meatballs (140 meatballs) with grape jelly (30oz plus 10 oz more BBQ was spicy hot) and BBQ sauce (27.5 oz) in the crockpot on high for 4 hours and the sauce turned into water nothing stayed on…. : (
I had left overs from the potluck that I attended. Any thoughts on why? Also, need to do something with the meatballs that I had left over, suggestions?
Hi Sonia! I’m not sure why the sauce turned watery…you could try saving some of the bbq sauce to add at the end of the cooking. I think that would thicken it up and help it stay on the meatballs better. Also, I really like these meatballs served over rice, so you could do that for dinner with a side of carrots or broccoli!
I just bought a bag of frozen meatballs ( 32 oz – 120 bitesize meatballs), what do I have to do to adjust the quantity of the jelly and the bbq sauce (or chili sauce)?Also, I had planned on cooking it on low for 6 hours. Do I have to stir often? Do you recommend me splitting the meatballs into two crock pots? (60 each?) Thank you!
Hi Kiana! Since they are bitesize meatballs and still a 32 oz bag, I would just keep quantities in the recipe the same! :) Maybe stir every 2 hours.
I will cook this tonight to bring to our pot luck at work tomorrow. I will update you :)
Hope you enjoy these! :)
Just FABULOUS…
Hope you enjoy! :)
Awesome recipe and so simple. My meatballs came out great. Thank you
I’m so glad you liked them! Thanks for stopping by Alicia!
Has anybody tried making them with vegetarian meatballs?
I haven’t but I think it would still be delicious!
I want to make this for a potluck dinner that will be feeding 60 football players n like 5 coaches. I want to know how much of this do you think I need to make?
Hi Debbie! It really depends on if you are serving this as an appetizer or a main dish and if there will be other food. I have served these meatballs over rice and I usually plan on 5 meatballs per person. But keep in mind that teenage boys eat a ton so you may need more! :)
I want to make these for our football team. We are having a potluck dinner. How much of each thing will I need to feed 60 teenage boys??
I made these meatballs for my husband’s birthday party a few weeks back. They were absolutely delicious! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe. They were super simple to make and a great combination of sweet and savory. I am featuring these meatballs on my blog, lakelifestateofmind.com, and have linked the recipe and image back to your site! I haven’t launched yet but hoping to find the courage to do it soon! Thanks again, Tiffany.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! We’ve been making them since I was a kid and they are always a hit1 Thanks for featuring on your blog too. :)