Glazed Chile-Garlic Meatballs

By Ifrah F. Ahmed

Updated March 24, 2026

  • David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell.
Media 1 of 1
Ready In
45 min
Rating
5(370)
Comments
Read comments

These tender and juicy meatballs come together quickly for a simple and satisfying weeknight meal. Cilantro gives the meatballs a bright lift, while a chile-garlic sauce glaze offers sweet-salty heat. You can assemble these meatballs ahead of time and freeze them until they’re ready to be cooked and eaten, or bake them off the same day and serve with rice and a refreshing cucumber salad, sautéed green beans or another vegetable side. 

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: Give recipes to anyone

    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.

    Subscribe

  • Share this recipe

  • Print this recipe

    or to print this recipe.

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:24 meatballs

For the meatballs

  • 1 pound ground beef (or ground chicken or ground turkey)

  • ½ cup finely minced white onion

  • ½ cup panko bread crumbs

  • ⅓ cup milk

  • ¼ cup finely chopped cilantro leaves 

  • 2 large eggs

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

  • 4 garlic cloves, minced

  • 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan

  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt

  • Any combination of cucumber salad, cooked vegetables and rice, for serving

For the sauce

  • ¾ cup soy sauce 

  • 6 tablespoons maple syrup 

  • 2 tablespoons chile-garlic sauce (preferably Huy Fong)

  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil 

  • 4 garlic cloves, finely grated 

  • ½ teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger (optional)

  • Ground black pepper, to taste 

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving

6 grams carbs; 30 milligrams cholesterol; 98 calories; 3 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 6 grams fat; 465 milligrams sodium; 5 grams protein; 4 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by

Preparation

    1. Step 1

      Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper. 

    2. Step 2

      In a large bowl, combine all the meatball ingredients. With damp hands, shape into 24 balls (each about 1 ½ inches wide), then arrange them on the sheet pan, making sure to space them out evenly. 

    3. Step 3

      Bake the meatballs for 20 minutes, until browned on both sides, making sure to flip halfway through. 

    4. Step 4

      While the meatballs bake, add all the sauce ingredients to a medium skillet and cook down the sauce over medium until it has thickened slightly, about 5 minutes. Once it thickens, take the sauce off the heat and set aside. Add the meatballs and stir until coated.

    5. Step 5

      Plate the meatballs and lightly drizzle with any remaining chile-garlic sauce. Serve right away or store the meatballs in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 to 3 days. If saving the meatballs to cook on a later date, store them in a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Ratings

5 out of 5
370 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Comments

Ardys

Tasty! I used lean ground beef and modified the recipe slightly after reading others comments and to reduce fat - swapped Greek yogurt for the milk, removed the oil entirely, reduced the breadcrumbs to 1/4 cup and only added 1 egg. Meatballs were delicious even with these modifications. To thicken the sauce I added 2 teaspoons of cornstarch mixed with 4 teaspoons water. Will definitely make again.

Gill

So easy and so delicious!! This is going to become a go-to recipe. Sauce took a little longer to reduce down, but got there eventually. No notes, highly recommend!

Steve D.

Delicious! I reduced the milk and increased the panko; as written the meatballs were too loose. Loved the sauce, but couldn’t get it to reduce; will work on that next time. Definitely going into the rotation.

Steve B

Delicious. Next time I'll reduce milk, oil and eggs. I made them the first time as written and they were too loose, but very tasty

BK

The one time I don’t read the comments I’m advance!!! This recipe is not great and I’m bewildered about the 5 star rating. As others mentioned, my meat mixture was soupy and required probably around another cup of panko to form balls. Also, the meatballs were SO bland. The “glaze” is more like sauce and SO salty. Fortunately, I did read the comments midway thru cooking and so didn’t submerge the balls in the sauce, rather drizzling it over the top instead. I will def NOT make this again. It’s not even worth trying to make tweaks to improve it - there are way too many actually good recipes to waste time with this one.

VMay

These meatballs cry for something to break the intensity of the sauce. We served it with raw onion, but chopped scallions would work well, too.Also, because the auce is so concentrated, you might want to use sodium-free soy sauce to avoid the taste sensation of an overdose of salt.

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

or to save this recipe.