Recipe · Appetizers

Grandma's Sweet Party Meatballs

My grandma called these Swedish meatballs, but they're really more like a party appetizer meatball with a sweet sauce.

Grandma's handwritten recipe card for Swedish meatballs
The original recipe card

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Appetizers

Grandma's Sweet Party Meatballs

A family recipe from my grandma. From my grandma's recipe binder.

Prep time30 min
Cook time1 hr 30 min
TotalAbout 2 hr

Times are estimates based on the steps.

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs ground beef or ground turkey
  • 6–8 Ritz crackers, crushed
  • 1 package onion soup mix
  • 12 oz Heinz chili sauce
  • 7 oz grape jelly
  • 4 large onions, julienned (sliced into thin strips, not diced)

Steps

  1. Slice the onions into thin strips. Put them in a large pot over low heat and let them stew until soft. Add a little water if the pot gets dry.
  2. Heat the grape jelly and chili sauce together in a saucepan, stirring, until hot.
  3. In a big bowl, mix the meat, crushed crackers, onion soup mix, and a few spoonfuls of the hot jelly and chili sauce. Roll into meatballs.
  4. Add the meatballs to the pot a few at a time, setting them on top of the onions. Gently shake the pot as you go. Cook for 1 hour.
  5. Pour the rest of the hot jelly and chili sauce over the meatballs and keep cooking for 30 more minutes.
My tip

This works with either ground turkey or ground beef.

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