Buy Now → Slow Cooker Bourbon Whiskey BBQ Meatballs
The easiest appetizer you’ve ever made, these meatballs will have your friends and family asking for seconds (and the recipe)!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Total Time: 2 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 26 (1 oz.) meatballs 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 3/4 cup bourbon whiskey
- 3/4 cup chili sauce
- 1/2 cup apricot preserves
- 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- Kosher salt
- fresh cracked pepper
- 26 oz. bag Italian or traditional style frozen meatballs
- thinly sliced green onion for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Combine whiskey, chili sauce, apricot preserves, BBQ sauce, worcestershire, apple cider vinegar, chili powder, garlic powder and a large pinch of salt and pepper in a medium slow cooker.
- Add frozen meatballs and stir until meatballs are coated in sauce.
- Cover and cook on high for 2 hours (or low for 4 hours) or until meatballs are heated through.
- Garnish with sliced green onion if desired and enjoy!
Equipment
Buy Now → Notes
Those little bottles of liquor that you’ll find near the check out in the liquor department are 1/4 of a cup. So you’ll need three of those small bottles for this recipe. Better make it four bottles though, so you can make yourself a cocktail while you’re hard at work in the kitchen!
Try a flavored whiskey for more dimension. I’ve tried peach and apple whiskey in this recipe and both turned out great. Classic whiskey is delish but feel free to switch up and add some more flavor in there!
To make these meatballs ahead of time just mix the sauce ingredients in the crock pot insert and stick it in the fridge until about 2 hours before you’d like to serve them. Then stir in the frozen meatballs, crank it up to high and let the slow cooker do all the work.
