Slow cooker BBQ meatballs
Frozen meatballs turn sticky and glossy in a tangy barbecue sauce while you do nothing, then pile onto fluffy rice.
- 250 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 6
- About $1.40 a serving
- 630 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1 lb 8 oz frozen meatballs
- 1 cup bbq sauce
- ½ yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 cups long-grain white rice
- 2 stalks green onions, sliced (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 3 cups water
- ½ tsp salt
Each serving has about 630 calories, 21 g protein, 78 g carbs and 25 g fat, and costs about $1.40 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the frozen meatballs in the slow cooker.
Stir the barbecue sauce, onion, vinegar and garlic powder together, pour it over the meatballs, and stir to coat.
Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 to 2½ hours, stirring once halfway, until the meatballs are hot all the way through.
Timer: 240 min
Dolly’s tip: Frozen meatballs are already cooked. You’re heating them until they’re hot in the middle and glossy with sauce.Food safety: Rotisserie chicken, deli meat, canned tuna and cooked shrimp are already cooked. Keep them cold until you use them, and heat them until steaming hot if the recipe warms them.
About 30 minutes before serving, the rice in a strainer until the water runs mostly clear.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Put the rice, water and salt in a medium and over high.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low and cook 18 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 18 min
Dolly’s tip: Don’t lift the lid. The steam trapped inside is doing the cooking.Take the pan off the heat and let it sit, still covered, 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
Timer: 5 min
Spoon the meatballs and sauce over the rice and scatter green onions on top.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
