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.
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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 or add brown sugar with chili sauce for cocktail 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
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.
Last step: Please leave a comment and rating after you make the recipe.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
anne hennelly
I have been making these meatballs for years. My cousin gave me the recipe. She said to use original KC Masterpiece bbq sauce. I’m not sure if that bbq sauce is local or is national. But they were delicious! They are always gone right away. Can’t wait to make them for my church Christmas party this year.
Anna-Maria Darton
I am so excited to try this recipe. I’m sure my son will love this on rice just like you said. ?
Sandi mathis
I also add a can of crushed pineapple. Tastes great over rice.
Maria
I am so excited to try these today. Just popped them all in my slow cooker before I left for work. Will it make a difference if I leave it on low heat and let it cook close to seven hours?
Laura Capello
Six hours on low should work! Hopefully that extra hour will make it ok!
Christopher Battaglia
Did it wind up being okay cooking for 7 hours?
Gayle Haskell
I’ve made the grape jelly meatball recipe for many years but i use Chili sauce
(next to the Ketchup) instead of the BBQ sauce. Very sweet and enjoyable but
sometimes i add a TBL spoon of yellow mustard to tame the sweetness down a little bit. ( a lot of sugar combined in these two ingredients )
I also like Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce the best. It’s a good division between the
Robust flavors of most other sauces and the Honey sweet sauces.
Try my recipe and see if this could be an alternate to your recipe in a pinch.
I’ll try your recipe this weekend.
Thanks for sharing.
Jamielyn
Sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing! :)
Eileen Krohn
yumm, Love your stuff!
Hannah
Anyone know what the weight watchers points would be for this?
Laura Capello
Hi Hannah! It would depend on the type of meatballs you use. I’d recommend making a recipe on their website or on the app, to figure out the points value for what you’d consider a serving to be. (I can relate!)
carole
I’ve always used apple jelly. I’m going to try grape next time
Nikki
Hi! Thanks for the recipe. Just made them tonight and wanted to ask if there was a way to make the sauce any thicker? It provided a great flavor, but my husband and I were hoping for it to be a bit more like syrup than marinade. Thanks!
Laura Capello
Hi Nikki! By the end of the cooking time, the sauce should be thicker and more sticky than a marinade. If it was still thin for you, your crock pot may not be working optimally. If you don’t want to replace it, try decreasing the jelly and bbq sauce to 13 ounces each and see if that helps. :)
Chosen
This looks good. I am from Australia and has not tried it yet and cant wait to do it. Would grape jam be ok to use instead of jelly? I am not sure if we have grapes jelly here. The cooking though takes a lot of time. Can this be cooked in oven too? Thanks
Laura Capello
Hi Chosen! I think grape jam would be a lovely substitute if jelly is not available. You could cook this in the oven, but keep an eye on it to make sure the meatballs cook through and the sauce doesn’t burn. :)
Vicky
Would this work with chicken wings?
Laura Capello
Yes, I think that would be delicious!
Lauren @ Rustic Honey
I have to try these! They sound and look delicious! My family has a similar bbq meatball recipe but I know for sure it wouldn’t beat the ease of this one! This would be a good recipe to keep ingredients on hand for unexpected parties! Thanks for sharing! :)
Jamielyn
These are definitely an easy party appetizer! I hope you enjoy them when you give them a try! :)
shannon
Wld it make a difference in bbq sauce, like if I used honey bbq instead of regular bbq sauce?
Jamielyn
It should turn out the same, just with a little different taste! :)
Jo Bromwell
Thank you for sharing! I am trying this today, for my sons 34th Birthday Celebration! Recipe so simple! I have had these before and they are delicious! So I know this will be a winning appetizer.
Jeff B
I love these but every time I’ve made them in a crock pot the meatballs end up soaking in a watery/greasy bath at the end. The jelly and cocktail sauce gets really watered down and doesn’t stick to the meatballs like I see in the photos. I use good quality frozen meatballs. I’m thinking I might have to cook the meatballs, drain off the liquid and then add the jelly and cocktail sauce and heat another hour or so. Have you seen this before? There really isn’t many things that can go wrong here but I’m kinda scratching my head wondering what’s going wrong.
Jamielyn
Hi Jeff! I’ve never had a problem with the sauce being watered down. I would try cooking them over the stove, that is how my grandparents originally made the recipe. Or you could add half of the sauce later. :)
chantel
I’m having quite a bunch at a bday party this weekend. I have a 32oz bag of frozen meatballs but i’m thinking of adding another bag. Would I have to double all the ingredients or would that be a lot?
Jamielyn
Hi Chantel! You would probably need to use two crockpots to double the recipe! :)
Laura at Creative Supergirl
I am getting ready to try these. Two of my mother’s friends were raving about these meatballs. I plan to make them for a party in a couple of weeks but wanted to try them out first. I’ve heard amazing things but I’ll find out tonight!
Jamielyn
Hi Laura! I hope you enjoyed these. They are so simple and delicious! :)
Stacey
These were a big hit at my work potluck today! Thank you for sharing
Jamielyn
I’m so glad they were a hit! :)