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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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.
Loved it! Made 7 big meatballs instead of tiny ones and did ground chicken instead of pork. The sauce is delicious! I cut the ginger and brown sugar. Delicious.
This recipe has become a regular rotation in our kitchen! So delicious and straightforward to make. We don’t eat beef, so substitute either ground chicken or turkey. Sometimes if we are feeling lazy, we just sauté the ground meat and use soy sauce on its own as the dressing. If you have the extra time though, making the thicker teriyaki sauce is definitely worth it. We omit the sugar and it still tastes great
Full disclosure, I made this with ground turkey instead of pork (it was what I had on hand). Oh my goodness!!! So delicious! You hit this one out of the park!!! It is now on my regular meal rotation.
The sauce and meatballs were delicious and perfect – the caramelization on the bottom from baking in the oven was so packed with flavor. I would probably make the meatballs smaller next time to be more bite-sized (personal preference!) and even with the recipe as written we had made 20 of them. I would also probably make 1.5-2x the rice for a better ratio of rice to meatball. :) Will definitely be making this again!
This recipe was so good! I’ve made so many budget bytes recipes and this is one of my new favorites. I usually get tired of eating leftovers when I meal prep but I was craving this every night :)
Loved it, mostly. Followed the recipe to the letter just to get a sense of what to change, and was very satisfied. Only complaint was that the sauce was too sweet. Will most likely cut some brown sugar next time.
Not my favorite. If I tried again I would use low sodium soy sauce and half the sugar. Also add more water. The sauce was to salty and thick for my liking.
Great for a weeknight dinner! Comes together quickly and it’s very tasty. I was short on time, but next time I’ll buy fresh broccoli and roast it rather than using frozen – the frozen broc was watery enough that it diluted the flavor a little.
I already had my own meatball recipe but after trying out dozens of teriyaki recipes I almost gave up. This is hands down, the best sauce recipe I’ve tried yet. Only used half the sugar though. But it’s a keeper for sure!
Great recipe but I use ground chicken instead of ground pork, cuts down on the grease and saltiness, much healthier and overall better flavor.
Great flavor and super easy to make. My family loved it and I told my friends about it too.
Thanks for the recipe!!
These are delicious. My kids even devoured them. The only change I made (we try not to consume a lot of salt), was to lightly drizzle the teriyaki sauce over the meatballs instead of soaking them in it. I made this twice in two weeks, plus leftover meals. This is definitely a keeper!
Loved the combination of meatballs and Chinese flavors!
I had a problem with the teriyaki sauce though, maybe the six sauce I get in Europe has a lot more salt than it did in the US, but I das to add 2 additional cups of water to get to a salt level that was edible.
It still has a ton of flavor, so now I just have 3 cups of leftover teriyaki – could have gone worse ;)
These are amazing and so easy to put together! I had ground pork and some ground beef in the freezer that needed to be used so I quadrupled the meatball recipe using 2 lbs ground pork and 2 lbs ground beef. We ate one batch and froze the rest for later. The sauce is the bomb! Next time I will double the sauce recipe to drizzle over the rice.
Yum! This was my first time cooking meatballs. I was surprised how easy they were to make. And they tasted delicious. The sauce was really good, but next time I make it I’ll look for a way to reduce the saltiness. But overall an amazing recipe and I can’t wait for leftovers.
We use a low sodium soy sauce. It makes a huge difference.