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GET IT NOWMy Asian Meatballs Are Sweet, Sticky, And Juicy, With No Refined Sugar
These Asian meatballs are my Asian-inspired twist on turkey meatballs. They’re by no means authentic to any specific cuisine, but they’re sweet, sticky, and a fusion of the flavors I love from several regions. Here’s why you should try them:
- Sweet, savory, and sticky sauce – A.k.a. the best part. My Asian meatball sauce is made with coconut aminos (I prefer it because it’s a little sweeter than soy sauce), sesame oil, and blackstrap molasses for a punch of umami, savory, salty, and sweet all in one.
- Tender and juicy, but lighter – These Asian turkey meatballs are lighter than beef ones, but they still stay super moist and juicy. The key is the timing, as I’ll explain below.
- No refined sugar – Many sticky sauces have a lot of sugar, but not this one. Mine has less than 5 grams per serving.
- Ready in 30 minutes – These come together fast with simple ingredients. I love serving them over cauli rice or zoodles for a healthy weeknight dinner, but they also make such a fun toothpick appetizer.
If you’re bored with regular meatballs and like sweet, sticky sauces, this Asian meatball recipe is for you. Make it with me!
“This was SOOOO good!! I substituted about a tablespoon of fresh grated ginger for the ground ginger in both the meatballs and the sauce. Perfect meal! My daughter had them over white rice, and I had them over cauliflower rice. Will definitely make these again!”
-Chrissy
Ingredients & Substitutions
Here I explain the best ingredients for my Asian meatballs recipe, what each one does, and substitution options. For measurements, see the recipe card.
Asian Meatballs:
- Ground Turkey – I use 93/7 lean ground turkey for these Asian meatballs. If you use 99/1, I recommend adding 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil to the mixture, so they don’t turn out too dry. You could also use ground beef, chicken, or even ground pork.
- Binders – I originally made these with pork rinds as the binder, but honestly, they’re too salty with this sauce. Now I prefer either breadcrumbs (I use these gluten-free ones) or almond flour with an egg, which keep the meatballs tender while letting the sauce shine.
- Coconut Aminos – My go-to soy sauce substitute, because it’s slightly sweeter, less salty, and naturally gluten-free. If you do want to use soy sauce, I highly recommend reduced-sodium, otherwise the sauce will turn out too salty.
- Blackstrap Molasses – This is optional, but I always add it because it gives the Asian turkey meatballs a deeper flavor. You can swap in a tablespoon of my Besti Brown Sweetener for a similar effect.
- Green Onion – For a pop of flavor and color at the end. You can also add sesame seeds (like I did in these pictures), chopped cilantro, or even a little red pepper flakes for some heat.
- Spices – I use ground ginger, sea salt, and black pepper. Feel free to grate 2-3 teaspoons of fresh ginger instead if you prefer.
Asian Sauce:
- Coconut Aminos & Blackstrap Molasses – These are the base of the sauce and give it that sweet-savory flavor with a rich, slightly caramelized finish. The molasses is optional, but I highly recommend it for the best depth of flavor and glossy color.
- Sesame Oil – Gives the sauce that deep, rich flavor. There’s nothing else quite like it.
- Spices – The same ones I use in the meatballs: Ground ginger, garlic powder, and black pepper.
How To Make Asian Meatballs
I have step-by-step photos here to help you visualize the recipe. For full instructions with amounts and temperatures, see the recipe card.
- Mix the meatball ingredients. In a large bowl, stir together all meatball ingredients except ground turkey: breadcrumbs or almond flour, egg, green onion, coconut aminos, salt, ground ginger, black pepper, and molasses (if using). Add the turkey and mix until just combined.
- Shape the meatballs. Use a small cookie scoop to make 1-inch meatballs. Using your fingertips, place them on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake, then broil. I stop baking these Asian meatballs once they’re just barely cooked through, then switch the oven to broil and broil until browned.
- Make the sauce. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, whisk together the sauce ingredients: coconut aminos, sesame oil, ground ginger, garlic powder, black pepper, and molasses (if using). Simmer until reduced and thickened.
- Toss & serve. Toss the Asian meatballs in the sauce right before serving. I garnish them with additional green onions and sesame seeds.
My Recipe Tips
- Don’t overmix. I stir together everything except the ground turkey first, then add it in and mix just until combined. This keeps the meat tender.
- Handle the meatballs gently. I shape them with my fingertips, so they don’t warm up too much in my hands, which helps keep them juicy.
- A meat thermometer is the easiest way to avoid overcooking. I switch to broil when my Asian meatballs reach 155-160 degrees F, then they finish to 165 (and get nice browning!) under the broiler. If you bake to 165 before broiling, they can dry out by the time they brown.
- Feel free to fry the meatballs instead of baking. For 1-inch ones, it usually takes me 7-8 minutes total, turning occasionally.
- Don’t reduce the sauce too much, or it will become hard and too gooey. It’ll get thicker as it cools from hot to warm. I take it off the heat when it’s a little thinner than I want.
- Depending on your coconut aminos or soy sauce, the sauce can be salty. If your coconut aminos (or soy sauce) is on the saltier side, I recommend reducing the salt in the meatballs to 1/2 teaspoon. Or you can replace a little of the aminos with low-sodium broth, which is less intense.
- For a sweeter sauce, add 1-2 tablespoons of honey. I used my Wholesome Yum Zero Sugar Honey when I tested this.
- This Asian meatball recipe is best tossed right before serving. The sauce soaks into the meatballs quickly, so I wait until the very end to coat them.
- You might prefer to double the sauce. Some readers have told me they prefer more, so feel free to double it! It will take longer to reduce, or you can use a bigger pan.
Asian Meatballs
My Asian meatballs with ground turkey have a sticky, sweet and savory glaze with simple, natural ingredients. An easy 30-minute dinner!
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Ingredients
Tap underlined ingredients to see the ones I use.
Meatballs:
Asian Sauce:
Instructions
Tap on the times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer.
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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (204 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.
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In a large bowl, stir together all meatball ingredients except ground turkey: binder, egg, green onion, coconut aminos, salt, ground ginger, black pepper, and molasses (if using). Add the turkey and mix until just combined. Do not overmix.
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Use a small cookie scoop to scoop 1-inch balls. Using your fingertips, place them on the prepared baking sheet.
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Bake for about 10 minutes, until just barely cooked through. Switch the oven to broil. Broil for 1-3 minutes, until browned.
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Meanwhile, in a small 1-quart saucepan, whisk together the sauce ingredients: coconut aminos, sesame oil, ground ginger, garlic powder, black pepper, and molasses (if using). Simmer for 10-15 minutes, until reduced and thickened. The sauce will thicken further as it cools, so don't reduce it too much, or it will become too hard and gooey.
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Toss the Asian meatballs in sauce right before serving. Garnish with additional green onions and sesame seeds if you like.
LAST STEP: Leave a rating to help other readers, or tag me @wholesomeyum on Instagram. I’d love to hear from you!
Maya’s Recipe Notes
Serving size: 6 meatballs
- Tips: Check out my recipe tips above to help you get the juiciest Asian meatballs and the perfect sticky sauce.
- Storage: Leftovers keep well in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-5 days.
- Meal prep: You can roll the Asian meatballs ahead of time and store them raw in the fridge for up to 2-3 days.
- Reheat: I like to warm them up on the stove or in the air fryer, so they stay juicy. The microwave works if you are in a rush.
- Freeze: These meatballs freeze well, but the sauce doesn’t. Just cook, cool, and stash them in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.
- Note on nutrition info: The optional blackstrap molasses is not included in the nutrition calculations, but doesn’t change them much, because it’s a very small amount.
📖 Want more recipes like this? Find this one and many more in my Keto Freezer Meal System!
I provide nutrition facts as a courtesy. Have questions about calculations or why you got a different result? Please see my nutrition policy.
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Asian Meatballs
Serving Ideas
These saucy Asian meatballs are great on their own as an appetizer. To turn them into a meal, serve them with:
- Rice – I usually plate these over cauliflower rice or cauliflower fried rice, but you can do classic fried rice, too.
- Salad – My Asian-inspired salad or smashed cucumber salad goes really well with these Asian turkey meatballs.
- Veggie Side – My quick veggie stir fry, simple roasted broccoli, or roasted bok choy rounds out the meal perfectly.
54 Comments
Debbie
1Very delicious. I think it needs more sauce though. Next time I will double that.
GJA
1Great recipe, simple, easy, quick and tasty. I used ground flaxseed instead of pork rinds or almond flour. This adds Fibre and compliments the nutty flavor of the sauce.
Marilyn
1We love this recipe! It really makes ground turkey, which can be very boring, taste great. It is so flavorful. I should double the sauce.
Diane
1This was delicious! I served it with cauliflower fried rice. I doubled the sauce recipe but not sure I really needed to. I will definitely make again!
Chrissy
1This was SOOOO good!! I substituted about a tablespoon of fresh grated ginger for the ground ginger in both the meatballs and the sauce. Perfect meal. My daughter had them over white rice and I had them over cauliflower rice. Will definitely make these again!
Debra Dusseault
1The Turkey meatballs came out really good. I made them tonight for New Years eve. The family loved them. Your website is really awesome. It’s cheerful and practical with great ideas and terrific recipes. Thank you.
Jeanne Curran-Sarto
0I found the meatballs to be just ok, perhaps not enough flavor. It could be my fault, because I wanted to use your ginger honey instead of molasses. We like the honey very much — terrific on salmon! Perhaps I should try them again. I would add more ginger. We did like the syrup and the addition of sesame oil and seeds. This might be good on tofu or chicken as well. One request, could we please have the pork-rinds listing in cups and not ounces? That would be easier forus we don’t have a scale. Thanks!
Wholesome Yum D
0Hi Jeanne, Pork rinds are all different sizes so giving instructions in cups would not work.
Lisa Ketcherick
0These were great! I put them over Heart of Palm white “rice”.. so good.. definitely will make again and double the sauce!!
Bartek
0Delicious
Mary Morris
0My husband and I love these meatballs. Just wondering if I can cook them in an electric skillet instead of the oven. We live in the desert and I hate to heat up the house with the oven.
Wholesome Yum D
0Hi Mary, I have not tried it but it sounds like it should work out for you.
Cathy
0Tasty but a bit salty. My meatballs were a little dry – would be better if they could sit in a sauce but not sure how to make that keto! Overall – really good.
Heather Stamey
0Black strap molasses is full of sugar and carbs. Not sure how this aligns with a keto lifestyle.
Wholesome Yum D
0Hi Heather, There is only 1/2 tsp in the whole recipe so the carbs are minuscule but still adds in a rich flavor. You can omit it if you don’t want to use it.
Christin
0Great recipe!! I used just over a pound and a half of turkey and about doubled the seasonings and it was perfect! I serves it with zucchini noodles and it was soooooo good!
Celeste
0Way too hard to not overeat these. So flavorful and making for 2nd time in one week!
Bonnie
0What can I substitute for pork rinds ?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Bonnie, Almond flour can be used in place of the pork rinds. Enjoy!
Mary Blaize
0Made these using ground pork. Served over fried cauliflower rice. Delicious!
Cynthia
0Very tasty and easy to make.
Torri
0Hi it would be nice to list how much 1/2 ounce of crushed rinds is in a simple measurement for those that don’t have a scale I just ended up using almond flour
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Torri, It would be about 1/4 – 1/3 cup crushed pork rinds.
Lynn
0Hi!! I made these tonight to the T with the exception of using Braggs Liquid Aminos instead of the coconut. Almost too salty to eat and I didn’t even put the extra sauce on them. I cooked them in my air fryer and they turned out great! I try them again with the coconut aminos.
Amber
0I have ruined recipes with Braggs Liquid Aminos before, it is much saltier than regular soy sauce or coconut aminos. Just FYI..Coconut aminos are naturally higher in sugar, although some brands contain less carbs than others if that is a concern. If it is, I would use regular or lite soy sauce. If you can’t eat wheat (which soy sauce has in it), you can use tamari soy sauce.
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Lynn, Sorry these didn’t turn out as expected. The sodium content is a lot higher in the liquid aminos than the coconut aminos.
Lois Walton Russell
0I’m thinking about pairing these with your Lo Mein recipe. too much flavor? – Not possible!!
Jen
0The meatballs are very tasty! I didn’t make the sauce, and I can honestly say they don’t need it! Mine came out very moist, I used almond flour. I also used soy sauce instead of coconut aminos.
Lori M.
0This has wonderful flavor but I found the meatballs disappointingly dry and firm when made with ground pork and almond flour using the oven. Then I realized I was actually craving without-the-carb-wrapper dumplings. So on my 2nd attempt, I used ground beef with pork rinds in steamers; then on my 3rd I covered them in the oven. I preferred the steamed. They are tender enough to be eaten with a spoon nibbled from the top down. The flavors of this recipe work whether you use green onions, chives and/or cilantro. The molasses subs for some of the complex flavor of hoisin sauce (miso, spiced and sweetened) but has no soy and starch. The sauce works whether you use powdered spices or minced garlic and ginger. One note about salt, on my 2nd and 3rd tries: I didn’t add salt – I just used a serving or two more of pork rinds (by accident on the 2nd try where 1/2 oz became 1/2 cup) as they have over 210 mg per serving – while keeping in mind the egg, molasses and coconut aminos all have salt in them. Thanks for the recipe as it was one tasty step to get to dumplings.
Janitzy Murillo
0Hello I am making this recipe and was noticing that Blackstrap Molasses is pure sugar I’m following the keto diet and wanted to ask if there is substitute I may use, or would the meatballs taste just as great if I omit the molasses. I was thinking of adding monk fruit as a substitute, but I wanted to get you thought 🙂
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Janitzy, The blackstrap molasses is optional for this reason – omit it if you need to. It’s there for flavor, not sweetness. Don’t substitute monk fruit, which does not have the same flavor at all. If you do decide to include it, to put it into perspective, the amount of blackstrap molasses in this recipe would only add 3/16 teaspoon molasses per serving, or 0.3 grams of sugar per serving.
Deb
0We followed this recipe to the T but it was so salty we could not eat it. I will say the meatballs had great flavor if only they were not so salty. I think omitting the sea salt altogether might be perfect and then salt to taste when the recipe is done cooking. Not sure if it was the sea salt or the aminos but we will make these delicious meatballs again minus the salt!
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Deb, I’m sorry the meatballs were too salty for your family. Definitely feel free to scale back the amount of salt if you need to!
Sheila
0Hello, I’m going to make these later today but had a question before I begin. I don’t have sesame oil. Can another oil be substituted like Olive Oil or Avocado Oil?
N
0Heads up… Pork rinds tend to be salty so take that into consideration before adding more sea salt. I’m having this for supper and I’m using chicken instead of turkey. Easy to make, quick to throw together, and delicious. No need to broil. The sauce is dark and coats the meatballs beautifully… A keeper recipe!
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Sheila, Sesame oil adds quite a bit of authentic flavor to the dish, but you can omit it (or use either oil you mentioned) if you don’t have any on hand.
Kathy
0Hi, I made these last night and liked them a lot. However I was concerned about parchment paper under the broiler, so just baked them longer. I just looked up whether or not it’s safe to use parchment paper under the broiler, and apparently it’s easy to catch on fire! You might want to change that in your recipe to just use foil.
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Kathy, I understand your concern. As long as you have the parchment weighed down with the meatballs, it shouldn’t catch fire. The paper may turn brown from the heat, but it’s fine. If your parchment curls at the ends or hangs over the pan, definitely, remove it before putting your meatballs under the broiler.
Alissa
0Did you use the parchment paper and broiled the meatballs for the 1-3 minutes or did you broil without the parchment paper? Don’t want to burn the kitchen down !!!! Lol
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Alissa, They are broiled on the same pan they are baked on, so yes, parchment lined. You may want to move your oven shelf down if the parchment is too close to the element.
Lizzy
0What can you use instead of egg in the meatballs to make it dairy/ egg free?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Lizzy, You could use a flax egg to replace the regular egg.
Christine
0Mine came out very salty. Next time I’ll cut back.
Magdalena Love
0I loved it, will be making this again, I also made your cheesecake raspberry keto cookies today for dessert, tomorrow I’m making naan bread, thank you for great ideas, I’ll be subscribing
Suzie Clary
0Also, I only had black sesame seeds, and I heated them in a pan first, since they weren’t roasted already. The white would’ve looked better.
Suzie Clary
0Thank you so much. I quadrupled the recipe, made 170 one inch sized meatballs. My mistake was quadrupling the black pepper! Whoah… way too hot. I added espresso powder, then I started adding sweeteners, quite a bit of it to quell the burn. Then, though the sauce still had a good bite to it, I figured a little with the meatball would be fine. Lots of thumbs up I rec’d for the dish. Yay!! Question: a lot of lovely flavored liquid released in the pan. Did I have them too close together maybe? One pan had 70, one 50, and one less. But they all drained.
Molly P.
0These meatballs were very easy and tasted great! I tasted them before adding the sauce. I tried substituting Soy Sauce for the coconut aminos because it’s what I had on hand. Ugh….sauce ended up making everything way too salty and no longer even edible. If I do it again, I’d either just buy coconut aminos or leave out the salt in the recipe if I have to use soy sauce. Will try again!
Alex Velasquez
0Love your website first and foremost but I am a little bit confused on how to manage the calories. I have done the paleo pancakes and the bread so far and they are delicious but I’m following a strict calorie guide. How many meatballs is a serving? same thing with the bread and pancakes? Thanks in advance.
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Alex, A serving is 6 meatballs. All serving sizes are listed in the “Recipe Notes” section. I hope this helps.
Sharon
0I found the sauce to be very salty. I actually rinsed the sauce off in a colander and served with cauliflower fried rice but would definitely half the salt in the meatball recipe as well. I will adjust recipe and try again. Thank you for sharing it was a lovely presentation.
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Sharon, I’m sorry you were unhappy with the saltiness of the recipe. You can definitely scale the amount used back to suit your tastes. I am glad you were able to make them work for you. Please let me know if you decide to try them again.
Layla
0Delicious! 😀
As soon as I saw this recipe, Maya, I knew I had to give it a go. Very tasty and an excellent balance of Asian flavors! My Hubs, who is not a fan of Ground Turkey Recipes (or Keto for that matter, lol!), even approved 😉
I made some minor changes (2 tbsp Soy Sauce instead of Coconut Aminos for the Sauce and adding 2 tbsp of Heavy Cream to the meat mixture since I had Ground Turkey Breast on hand rather than Ground Turkey) but the heart of this recipe remained the same. I’m already planning to add these Meatballs to my future Meal Plans!
P.S. This made a great addition to my Keto Crack Slaw leftovers, too!
Mary C Ekroos
0Greetings! Thanks for all your wonderful recipes! I was wondering if the Cello Whisps might work to replace the Pork rinds, I don’t eat pork. I did see the Almond Flour replacement, but haven’t tried either substitution, looking forward to making these!! Great recipe! Thanks!
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Mary, As long as you don’t mind the parmesan flavor, I think they would work well!