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Grilled Meatballs with a Cherry Cola Asian Sauce take less than 15 minutes to grill. Form the meatballs ahead of time and grill it at your BBQ.

grilled meatballs being brushed with an Asian sauce — Excellent 20 Minute Meal – Grilled Meatballs with an Asian Sauce

Contents hide

1 🍲 Preparation

2 🔥 Grilling Instructions

3 💡 Recipe Tips

4 Grilled Meatballs with a Tangy Chili Asian Sauce

When we grill, Jason is definitely the outside guy and I am the in charge of anything inside, like making the sauce or marinade. We decided to try something new and make this awesome Grilled Meatballs Recipe.

I didn’t want a normal ketchup-based BBQ sauce to go with those. Instead, it had to be something a bit different. I started with the core ingredients in Cherry Cola BBQ Sauce and experimented. What I came up with was DELISH! The final product has a bit of a kick to it thanks to the Asian Sweet Chili Sauce. It isn’t too spicy – but there is hint. I wanted to mention it just in case you wanted to adjust.

🍲 Preparation

This sauce took no time to make and stores very well in the refrigerator. I didn’t make it ahead this time and wish I had because it also thickens beautifully overnight in the fridge!

Step One: Combine the onion and the oil in a pan to sauté until they turn golden brown. This took about seven minutes.

Step Two: Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil and let simmer for up to 45 minutes. This process helps the delicious concoction thicken.

Note: Diet soda doesn’t work well because it doesn’t add the sugar into the mixture to make the sauce.

Step Three: Combine all the ingredients and gently mix with your hands.

Step Four: Once you’ve mixed everything, form them into 1 -1 ½ inch balls and set aside for the grill.

Freshly pressed meatballs on the preheated GrillGrate on the Big Green Egg — Freshly Formed Meatballs

Note: Add breadcrumbs instead of Panko if you like. We tried both in the past and gravitate to the Panko in our cooking!

Brushing on the Sauce on Meatballs. The Grill Marks are Working Nicely on the meat. — Brushing on the Sauce

🔥 Grilling Instructions

Step One: Heat the grill to 325 degrees.

Step Two: Once the grill is up to temperature, place the meatballs on the grill for five minutes and turn them over. Brush with the Asian Sauce.

Step Three: Keep the meatballs on for another five minutes. Turn them over and brush on more sauce. They should be cooked through at this point. Use a wireless meat thermometer to make sure the temperature has reached 165 degrees.

Step Four: Remove and serve.

💡 Recipe Tips

Monitor the temperature closely. You don’t want the meatballs to overcook and become too hard! It is very easy – and fast – for them to go from a medium cook temperature to overcooked very fast.

Brushing on the Asian Sauce. For a spectacular basting, brush 2-3 times in the last few minutes of grilling. Brushing more than once allows the sugar to thicken and really start to mesh with the meatball rather than just falling off into the coals. Brushing and waiting for a few seconds before brushing again is key to a nice, thick sauce and delicious meatballs.

Use a GrillGrate. This is optional, but I find it very useful. Usually, I like to use this to leave sear marks on my steaks. In this case, it served two purposes: 1) It eliminated hot spots on the grill, so the grill surface cooked evenly; and 2) It minimized the sauce from dripping into the coals, causing flare ups.

The Big Green Egg Grill with the GrillGrate and Meatballs being brushed with the Asian Chili Sauce — Brushing on the First Round of Sauce

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