Asian Beef Meatballs

These Asian beef meatballs are full of fresh and intense flavor from grated ginger, garlic, lime, cilantro and a few drops of hot chili oil. The fresh ingredients add a lot of flavor and also keep the meatballs moist so that no sauce is needed. The meatballs make a great appetizer but can also easily be turned into a main dish when served with coconut rice.

For more meatball recipes, check out this Meatball Salad and these Baked Cinnamon Meatballs with Marinara Sauce.

Jump to:

• How to make the meatballs:
• Baking versus frying:
• What to do with leftovers:
• A few recipe tips:
• More Asian-inspired recipes:
• Full Recipe

How to make the meatballs:

Prepare the bread mix:

Step 1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a small bowl, mix together ½ cup milk and 1 teaspoon lime juice. Cut 2 slices of sandwich bread into small cubes, stir them into the milk mix and let them soak for 10 minutes.

RECIPE NOTE: The soaked bread will add flavor to the meatballs and will also keep them from getting too dense (a trick I learned from America’s Test Kitchen).

Step 2. Using a fork, mash up the soaked bread cubes.

Mix in the meat:

Step 3. In a large bowl, stir together 1 pound ground beef (90 percent lean) and the mashed bread mix.

Mix in the remaining ingredients:

Step 4. Gather the remaining ingredients:

• ⅓ cup finely chopped cilantro
• 4 teaspoons soy sauce
• 2 minced or pressed garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
• 1 whole egg

Step 5. Mix the remaining ingredients into the beef mix.

Make and bake the meatballs:

Step 6. Using a metal scoop or a large spoon, form 18 to 20 meatballs, set them directly onto non-stick baking sheets (no need to grease the sheets) and bake the meatballs until cooked through (about 20 minutes).

Make the chili oil:

Step 7. To make the chili oil, add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes to a small pan and heat until the flakes start to sizzle.

Step 8. Drizzle a few drops of the hot oil onto the meatballs and serve.

Baking versus frying:

I have done these meatballs both ways, baked and fried, and they get nicely brown and crispy either way. Since baking is much less messy, healthier and simply less work, this recipe calls for baking.

What to do with leftovers:

You can store any leftover meatballs in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of days. Heat them up in the microwave before serving.

A few recipe tips:

• If you have a metal ice cream scoop, I recommend using that to form the meatballs. That way they will all be evenly sized, plus you won’t need to get your hands dirty. (If you don’t have a scoop, use a spoon and then roll the meatballs with your hands.)
• You can easily make this appetizer recipe a main course by serving the meatballs with coconut rice. Here is a great coconut rice recipe.

More Asian-inspired recipes:

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Full Recipe