I’m kind of obsessed with meatballs. They’re easy to make, filling, they pack well for lunches, are freezer-friendly, and can be paired with so many different flavors. Plus, I just kind of think meatballs cute (is that weird?). This time I seasoned my meatballs with some garlic and ginger, and drenched them in a homemade teriyaki sauce for these super easy and delish Teriyaki Meatball Bowls. You’re going to love the simplicity of this meal, and those juicy little pork and ginger meatballs!
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Can I substitute the Pork?
I used ground pork for this recipe because it’s inexpensive and always juicy, but you could certainly use ground turkey or chicken instead. The bulk of the flavor comes in the potent teriyaki glaze that coats the meatballs, so any milder ground meat works great. Ground beef can be used, but I find the flavors work a little better with mild white meat.
How long do the Teriyaki Meatball Bowls last?
You can store these meatball bowls in the refrigerator for about 4 days. To reheat, simply microwave for about 2 minutes, or until heated through.
Can the Meatball Bowls be Frozen?
Most of the components of these bowls are freezer friendly—the meatballs, rice, and broccoli. The teriyaki sauce, however, is not. Sauces thickened with cornstarch don’t tend to hold up to freezing and thawing. So you have a few options here. You can freeze the cooked or uncooked meatballs to quickly reheat or cook on busy nights, and then make the rest of the dish fresh, or freeze the meatball bowls whole but without the teriyaki sauce. You can then make the teriyaki sauce fresh and drizzle over top after reheating the bowls.
Other Ways to Serve Teriyaki Meatball Bowls
If you love pineapple with your teriyaki, simply stir a can of drained pineapple tidbits into the sauce, or use thawed frozen pineapple tidbits. These teriyaki meatballs also make a great appetizer! Just drench them in the sauce and serve with toothpicks.
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Teriyaki Meatball Bowls
Servings 4Ingredients
PORK AND GINGER MEATBALLS
- 1 lb. ground pork ($3.49)
- 1 large egg ($0.23)
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs ($0.13)
- 1 clove garlic, minced ($0.08)
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp soy sauce ($0.02)
- 2 green onions, sliced ($0.2)
TERIYAKI SAUCE
- 1/2 cup soy sauce ($0.48)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar ($0.18)
- 2 tsp grated fresh ginger ($0.20)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 cup water ($0.00)
- 2 Tbsp corn starch ($0.06)
FOR SERVING
- 1 cup jasmine rice ($0.66)
- 2 cups water ($0.00)
- 2 green onions ($0.08)
- 1 Tbsp sesame seeds ($0.08)
- 1 lb. frozen broccoli florets ($2.59)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Begin with the meatball mixture. Add the ground pork, egg, breadcrumbs, minced garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and sliced green onions to a bowl. Use your hands to mix the ingredients until evenly combined.
- Divide and shape the meatball mixture into 16 ping pong sized balls. Place the shaped meatballs on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Baked the meatballs for about 20 minutes, or until they are golden brown and have reached an internal temperature of at least 160ºF.
- While the meatballs are cooking, begin the rice. Add the jasmine rice and water to a sauce pot. Place a lid on top and turn the heat onto high. Bring the pot up to a full boil, then turn the heat down to low and allow it to simmer, undisturbed for 15 minutes. After simmering for 15 minutes, turn the heat off and let it sit, with the lid still in place, for an additional 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.
- While the rice and meatballs are cooking, prepare the teriyaki sauce. Combine the soy sauce, brown sugar, minced garlic, grated ginger, water, and cornstarch in a medium sauce pot. Stir to dissolve the cornstarch. Place the pot over medium heat. Stir and cook the sauce until it begins to simmer, at which point the sauce will thicken and turn from opaque to a shiny sauce. Remove the sauce from the heat.
- Finally, if serving the meatball bowls immediately, cook the frozen broccoli florets according to the package instructions. If you're packing the bowls as meal prep, the broccoli florets can be added in their frozen state.
- Once the meatballs have finished baking, add them to the sauce pot with the teriyaki sauce and stir to coat.
- To build the bowls, divide the cooked rice and broccoli florets between four bowls or containers. Add four meatballs to each bowl, then drizzle the extra sauce overtop. Finish the bowls by adding sliced green onion and sesame seeds to each bowl.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Teriyaki Meatball Bowls – Step By Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Combine 1 lb. ground pork, 1 large egg, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, 1 clove of minced garlic, 1 tsp grated fresh ginger, 2 sliced green onions, and 1/2 tsp soy sauce in a large bowl. Use your hands to mix the ingredients until they are evenly combined.
Divide and shape the meatball mixture into 16 ping pong sized balls, and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake the meatballs for about 20 minutes, or until they’re golden brown and the internal temperature has reached 160ºF.
Once the meatballs are in the oven, begin the rice. Add 1 cup jasmine rice and 2 cups water to a sauce pot. Place a lid on top and put the pot over high heat. Bring the pot up to a full boil, then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer with the lid in place for 15 minutes. After simmering for 15 minutes, turn the heat off and let it sit undisturbed for 5 more minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork before serving.
Once the meatballs and rice have started, it’s time to make the quick teriyaki sauce. In a medium sauce pot, combine 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 cloves of minced garlic, about 2 tsp grated ginger, 1 cup water, and 2 Tbsp cornstarch. Stir until the cornstarch is dissolved.
Place the sauce pot over medium heat and cook the sauce, stirring often, until it comes up to a simmer. When it reaches a simmer the sauce will thicken into a shiny glaze. Remove the sauce from the heat.
If you’re going to be serving the teriyaki meatball bowls right away, heat 1 pound of frozen broccoli florets according to the package directions (or just heat in the microwave). If you’re going to be packing these bowls up for meal prep, the broccoli florets can go into the containers frozen.
By this time the meatballs should be finished baking. Transfer them to the pot with the teriyaki sauce and stir to coat.
To build your bowls, divide the cooked rice and broccoli florets between four bowls. Add four meatballs to each bowl and drizzle the extra sauce over top. Finish the bowls by topping with more sliced green onion and some sesame seeds.
As with any meal prep, if you’re packing these up for later, make sure to get them into the refrigerator right away so they can cool down as quickly as possible to maintain quality and avoid food safety issues.
What’s the best way to freeze…as a bowl with the rice or separately?
I froze it all together in one container. :)
I made these once before and was craving them. These are the best! I served them with brown rice and your crunchy Asian salad (though plain steamed broccoli is nice too). Hope I can make the leftovers last!
What’s the best way to measure the ginger? We don’t want to get too much and be overwhelmed.
This is quite gingery (I LOVE ginger), so I would suggest grating the ginger and using 1 to 1.5 tsp of the grated ginger. That’s less than what’s listed, but it shouldn’t overwhelm.
I love this recipe and it proved itself super adaptable tonight. I had to substitute a bunch of things because of having a very limited kitchen after moving–beef, not pork; white onion, not green; powdered garlic and ginger; no cornstarch and a skillet, not a pan. But they still turned out tasty! Thanks for the recipes and. For the confidence to cook with what I got.
I’ve made these meatballs twice and they are very food. Altough there is too little salt in the meatballs and the sauce is too salty for my taste. But its easily fixed by adding more water to the sauce. Thanks!
I followed this recipe using ground turkey instead of pork and it turned out excellent! Thank you!
This is an amazing recipe! I’ve made it a dozen times. It’s so delicious!!
Beth, these are a lifesaver! I’d first made them around the time of posting them, was so-so on the meatballs, but loved the sauce and took to making a double or triple batch of the teryiaki sauce with less corn starch (to keep it runnier instead of a glaze) and basically stopped buying store bought sauce. Then a couple years ago the meatball part of the recipe came to mind in thinking of what to do for make-ahead freezer meals. This became doubly important last fall when I started my first full-time teaching job while simultaneously on the job market (yay academia) and my desire to put forth effort to cook dropped dramatically. So now, I make a triple batch at the start of the semester, which takes hardly any more time to prep than a regular batch (maybe 30min instead of 20), and freeze them (on tray to keep from sticking, then dump in bag). On those days I don’t feel like cooking, they’ve become a staple, because rice cooked in rice cooker + steamer bag of stir-fry veggies + however many defrosted meatballs I’m hungry for = nutritious, flavorful, EASY dinner with hardly any effort. They’ve become a staple in our household for good reason!
Awesome!! I love it! :D I’m so glad this recipe has become so useful to you. :)
This recipe is now a favorite staple in our house! Thanks! We double the sauce cause my dad loves it so much :)
Love this recipe. So easy and my kids love it (so do I)! I’ve also used this as the basis for mini meatballs to have with tomato sauce (with obvious, but really easy substitutions). Thank you for sharing!
I made these with turkey and adjusted the cooking time to a bit less. Leftovers were not a thing between the two of us!
These were delicious! Big hit with my family. I used ground chicken, and it came out great!
1 lb of ground chicken only gave me around 16 meatballs, not 30 as mentioned in the recipe. The sauce could probably go a little lighter on the soy sauce if you want to reduce the salt intake ( or use low sodium).
I made brown rice and broccoli with it, and everyone is asking when we can have this again.
My meatballs overcooked at the 35 min mark. Would cut down my time and use about 1/2 the soy called for. May try, again
I love this idea. I’m a college student and I always make too much food for myself and end up throwing a lot of it out because I don’t eat it fast enough so finding recipes that can be frozen is a lifesaver. I have a quick question though, I’m allergic to ginger and soy; are there substitute ingredients I should/could use instead? Or would it be a problem if I just omitted the ginger and soy sauce? Just asking because this sounds delish!!
Yikes, honestly the ginger and soy are two of the main flavors here so I don’t think there’s anything that you could sub that would make it turn out quite the same. :(
I made this tonight! Great recipe! I had to double it for leftovers, but its very yummy! Thank you!