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Nanny’s Sweet and Sour Meatballs are a family staple holiday recipe, made a little bit cleaner! We love this slightly sweetened sauce paired with the gluten-free meatballs for a perfect holiday meal.
Last week I talked a little about Passover and my family. Specifically my nanny (also known as grandma). This little lady (little, like me), is extremely special to me. She is also a mean cook in the kitchen. I’ve learned many tricks of the trade from her, especially when it comes to Holiday cooking. I also dedicated my cookbook to her! If you’ve made Nanny’s Potted Chicken, you already know how fabulous her cooking is!
When she gave me her Swedish Meatballs and Rolled Cabbage recipe, I knew it was something I wanted to adapt to be a tad cleaner. After a few trial and errors, I’ve made a sauce almost identical to Nanny’s. Note: We used to call these Swedish meatballs in our family, but sweet and sour is way more appropriate!
If you like this passover recipe, check out these others:
- Classic Chicken Soup (Slow Cooker & Instant Pot)
- Chocolate Matzo Crack: 3 Ways (Gluten-Free!)
- Honey Glazed Carrots
- Traditional Charoset (for Passover!)
- Gluten-Free Matzo Lasagna
- Healthy Coconut Macaroons
- Simple Brisket
Nanny's Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Ingredients
Sauce:
- 2 teaspoons oil of choice
- 1 cup cremini mushrooms mined
- 1 28 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup fresh pineapple juice
- 1/2 cup crushed pineapple
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon dried minced onion
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- A squeeze of lemon juice
- 1/2 tablespoon fine sea salt more to taste
Meatballs:
- 1 lb. grass-fed ground beef *see notes
- 2 tablespoon almond flour
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, until they start to caramelize and brown.
- Add the rest of the sauce ingredients to the pan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes, taste and adjust spices as necessary.
- In a bowl, combine meat, almond flour, egg, salt, and pepper. Mix well and roll into balls.
- Gently add the meatballs to the simmering sauce. Use a spoon to spoon sauce over meatballs to cover them in the sauce as they cook.
- Let simmer over medium-low heat for an additional 15 minutes, or until the meatballs are fully cooked and no pink remains. Serve warm.
I made these tonight for supper, using an equal mix of beef and pork, and they were delicious!!! I think they’re my new favourite meatballs! They are also toddler approved as my 14 month old ate about 6 of them! We will be adding these to our meal rotation for sure.
I’m going to make this weekend for Hanukkah. I’m laughing because my grandmom’s recipe is the same as Nanny’s – tomato sauce, sauce Arturo and cranberry. I’m excited to try them. Thank you!!
Enjoy!!!!
Wow new family favorite, especially my husband who couldn’t get over the ingredients. I must admit I grabbed a meal plan and didn’t look at the individual recipes just the pictures. I’m so glad I did because I would have never picked this recipe based off the ingredients. Really good and really easy to make.
You have no idea how much this touched my family’s heart – you know how special nanny is to us! 🙂 So happy you enjoyed it!
I’ve made a few recipes from this blog now, which have all turned out really well! These were delicious, I was never a big fan of actual meatballs but my mom is and we both loved these.
These were good, thank you! Easy to make, had them simmer for a long time for the sauce to thicken.
Hi Lexi,
The pineapple juice is missing the unit of measurement. Just wanted to be sure of what it should be before I started playing around with this recipe. 🙂
Sabrina
is that 1/2 cup pineapple juice or 1/2 of a pineapple juiced?
The recipe calls for 2 cans of tomato sauce. How many ounces per can ?
I’d love to try these this weekend. Ideas from any one on what to serve as sides??
Can definitely serve 3-4 depending on how much they’ll eat- but you can always make more than 1 lb. of meat!
Hi Lexi – I was actually wondering what else to serve with the meatballs.
Good morning! I can’t wait to try these. I’m sorry to bother but what size can of tomato sauce do I need? I see it says 2 but not the ounces/per can. Thank you!
These look delicious! Can’t wait to make them!
Wow, these Swedish meatballs look so flavorful and delicious! Thank you for sharing!
My family makes swedish meatballs and I LOVE them but they are not healthy at all!!!!! The traditional cream sauce kind of kills the health factor! I love this variation of meatballs! I will definitely have to try it!
Hi Lexi! Where do you get your dried cranberries?
Swedish Meatballs look awesome! Great Job!
YUMMY!! I love Swedish meatballs! I really love any type of meatballs!
These meatballs look delicious! Great post thanks
Yum, Lexi!!! I have been craving for this type of meatball but so many contain sugary, pre-made sauces that I would rather keep out of our kitchen. Leave it to you to whip up a recipe! Thanks much and can’t wait to make these 🙂