What do you do when you have a craving for peanut sauce and the only thing you have in your freezer is a pound of ground beef? You make asian meatball satay with peanut Sriracha sauce, of course. This meal came together in a sort-of happy accident. I had decided to try making these meatballs on a whim, with the intention of serving them on a stick – just like a traditional satay – with peanut sauce, but the Sriracha was a last-minute dinner table addition.
I give all the credit to Marc for the idea because I’m not normally one to reach for the rooster sauce, but we were both less than wow-ed by how the peanut sauce had turned out. He suggested that we add the Sriracha to the sauce just to see how it tasted. I figured we didn’t have much to lose, so we did it. It turns out, it was exactly what the sauce needed.
The second time around, I added the Sriracha while I was making the sauce, and tried basting the meatballs as they were baking to give them even more flavor. It was a game changer. Both the meatballs and the sauce were to-die-for. Plus, they really don’t take long to make.
Serve the skewers on a bed of brown rice with a side of steamed vegetables for a full meal. Or, make a few batches as an appetizer for your next party. Just don’t forget to serve them with the extra sauce (and maybe a little extra cilantro if you love it as much as I do).
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PinIngredients
- Meatballs:
- 1 pound ground beef
- 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 green onions, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons grated ginger
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon peanut butter
- 4 wooden skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes
- Sauce:
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 teaspoons grated ginger
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro
- 2 tablespoons Sriracha sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400˚F (200˚C).
- In a large bowl, combine meatball ingredients and stir with a fork until ingredients are evenly distributed. Roll mixture into 1-inch meatballs and slide onto wooden skewers. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sauce ingredients until smooth. Remove 1/3 – 1/2 cup of sauce for basting. Reserve the remaining sauce for later.
- Baste meatballs with sauce after 15 minutes. Bake another 5 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through.
- Remove meatballs from oven and allow them to cool for about 5 minutes before serving with remaining sauce.
Nutrition
- Calories: 0
- Sugar: 0 g
- Sodium: 0 mg
- Fat: 0 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 0 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 0 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
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Melissa, these are BRILLIANT! I love meatballs and Thai flavors. Such a clever way to work with what’s in your freezer 🙂
Whaaat, this looks SO good!!! I bet it’d be killer with ground lamb too. Mmmmm. Great idea M!
How are these as leftovers? I have a family-style potluck dinner coming up and I was thinking this might be a nice twist/addition. Also, do these need any browning before they go into the oven?
I think they’re really great as leftovers. You can reheat them in the oven and just add a little more sauce to keep them from drying out! There’s no need to brown them because they take color from the basting process in the oven.
How are these leftover? I have a large group potluck later this week right after work and I want to either allow time to make them in advance and then reheat or leave work a little early to have time to get them in the oven before the potluck.
I think they’re really great as leftovers. You can reheat them in the oven and just add a little more sauce (there is plenty of sauce) to keep them from drying out, but I would say they’re definitely better fresh out of the oven. If you’re going to reheat them, maybe take a few minutes off of the original cook time, that way they won’t be overcooked or dy.