Pineapple Teriyaki Meatballs
These easy Pineapple Teriyaki Meatballs make a tasty and filling dinner that’s much lighter than ordering takeout! These meatballs are great served over rice or cooked vegetables, and each satisfying serving has the perfect amount of sauce to pour over your sides as well. Don’t be intimidated by making your own meatballs and sauce for this dish. I promise both come together very easily, and I personally think rolling meatballs is fun. Not only are these Pineapple Teriyaki Meatballs full of flavor, but each serving of five meatballs with 1/3 cup of sauce is just 236 calories or just 4 Points on the new WW Points program. To view your WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Recipe Notes
- Meat: You can use either ground turkey breast or ground chicken breast in this recipe. I use ground turkey because it’s easier to find the leaner turkey breast meat in my local grocery stores, but if you can find ground chicken breast that would also be great!
- Pineapple: Make sure to buy crushed pineapple packed in juice, not syrup. You’ll drain the crushed pineapple to use in the meatballs and reserve the juice to use in the sauce.
- Ginger: Minced ginger is sold in jars just like minced garlic. You can also grate your own fresh ginger for enhanced flavor, but I keep a jar of the minced variety in my fridge so that I always have some on hand.
- Sesame Seeds: The sesame seeds aren’t necessary, but I love sesame flavor and they also make the dish look extra enticing when sprinkled on top!
- Serving Size: The recipe makes 20 meatballs, so at four servings that works out to be five meatballs per serving. I measured the sauce after cooking and got 1 1/3 cups total, so with four servings each one gets 1/3 cup sauce. It’s the perfect amount of sauce to coat your meatballs and still have plenty left to pour over your rice and veggies!
- Meatballs: To make the meatballs I just transfer my meat mixture to a cutting mat and then split it half. Then I split each of those in half to make four equal(ish) piles. Then each of those gets split into five piles to make twenty total and I roll them up from there. I promise this isn’t complicated and only takes a few minutes!
More Tasty Asian-Inspired Recipes:
Looking for more tasty lightened up Asian-inspired recipes like these Pineapple Teriyaki Meatballs? Check out my Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Burger, Korean-Inspired Ground Turkey, Crab Rangoon, Chicken Lo Mein, Vegetable Fried Rice, Sweet and Spicy Roasted Cauliflower, Teriyaki Steak Lettuce Wraps, Thai Turkey with Carrot Noodles, Asian Chicken Wonton Cups, Chicken Teriyaki Stir Fry, Cashew and Basil Chicken Lettuce Wraps, Teriyaki Chicken and Rice Casserole, and more in the Asian category of my recipe index!
Pineapple Teriyaki Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 1 large egg
- ⅓ cup plain panko breadcrumbs
- 1 lb 99% lean ground turkey breast or ground chicken breast
- ¼ cup drained* canned crushed pineapple, *(reserve juice when draining)
- 2 tablespoons sliced scallions
- 1 tablespoon reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
Sauce:
- ⅔ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- ½ cup water
- 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons pineapple juice, (reserved from draining the crushed pineapple)
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon minced ginger
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
Garnish:
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the egg, breadcrumbs, ground meat, crushed pineapple, scallions, soy sauce, garlic, ground ginger, and black pepper and stir together with a fork until combined.
- On a clean, dry surface (like a cutting board), separate your meat mixture into 20 equal piles. Roll each little pile into a ball. Place each ball on the prepared baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes until cooked through.
- When there is about 10 minutes left on the meatballs, whisk the sauce ingredients (except for the tablespoon of cornstarch and tablespoon of water) together in a saucepan and bring over medium heat. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 2-4 minutes until the brown sugar is dissolved and the sauce begins to simmer. Mix the remaining tablespoon of cornstarch and tablespoon of water together in a small dish to make a slurry. Pour the slurry into the simmering sauce and whisk together. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally for another 5 minutes until sauce thickens
- When the meatballs are finished, combine them with the sauce (you can put them all together, or you can separate out 1/3 cup of sauce for every 5 meatball serving). Each serving is five meatballs and 1/3 cup of sauce. Garnish each serving with ¼ teaspoon of sesame seeds if desired
Notes
6 per (5 meatballs + 1/3 cup sauce) serving (PP calculated using a Weight Watchers PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition info below Inspired by Together As a Family
I love Emily Bites. I need more of her recipes. Keep them coming
Meatballs good. Sauce not so good. Sauce has too much soy sauce . Had to toss
Another winner, Emily! Love this site!
I am a huge salt fan and even I found the sauce to be too salty. I would cut down on the amount of soy sauce or add another TBSP of sugar or something (if you are OK with increasing WW point value) – adjust to your taste. 🙂
Great, thanks for the recipe, I also learned to make pineapple teriyaki meatballs today
So good!! Didn’t get much pineapple flavor and reduced soy sauce to 1/2 cup based on other reviews, but otherwise, a very filling and tasty meal!!! Will definitely re-make!