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Tender, juicy Slow Cooker Honey Buffalo Meatballs are simmered in the most tantalizing sweet heat sauce everyone goes crazy for! Perfect appetizer or delicious, easy meal!
Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe:
- Super Simple: I love using my crockpot to cook. It’s so easy to throw everything in, set it, and forget it! This recipe delivers when it comes to easy.
- Game Day: First and foremost, everyone loves these meatballs. Serve them up for the next big game with my football charcuterie board, clam dip, and some air fryer potato skins!
- Family Friendly: Surprisingly, despite their slight kick, you can easily adjust these meatballs for the kids. You can change up the spice level to make sure everyone is happy.
Slow Cooker Honey Buffalo Meatball Ingredients
Frozen meatballs have been my saving grace! Don’t get me wrong, I love homemade meatballs, but when I need something quick, I grab the frozen meatballs! Scroll to the bottom of the post if you need exact measurements.
- Frozen Meatballs: Frozen beef meatballs make this recipe super simple and taste amazing!
- Frank’s Red Hot Original Sauce: The OG buffalo sauce that I can pour in and know will taste amazing. If you want to make your own, follow my homemade buffalo sauce recipe.
- Honey: Perfectly sweet and adds just the right amount of sticky for the sauce to stick to the meatballs.
- Apricot Preserves: My secret ingredient. If you’re like me, then you love the salty and sweet flavor combination. This apricot jam provides that!
- Brown Sugar: Provides a touch of sweetness to balance out the heat.
- Soy Sauce: Adds a nice salty tang that complements the brown sugar and honey.
- Cornstarch: Helps thicken the sauce so everything sticks to the slow cooker meatballs.
How to Make Honey Buffalo Meatballs
If you’re looking for something you can throw in the crockpot in the morning and it’s ready in the evening, then look no further. This crock pot meatballs recipe only takes three steps, and you can set it and forget it.
- Prep: Spray the slow cooker with cooking spray and place the meatballs on the bottom of your slow cooker.
- Whisk: In a bowl, whisk together the honey buffalo sauce ingredients: hot sauce, honey, apricot preserves, brown sugar, soy sauce, and cornstarch.
- Cook: Pour the sauce over the meatballs and stir to coat well. Cook on LOW heat for 3-4 hours, stirring periodically. When the meatballs are heated through serve them fresh or keep warm until ready to serve. Serve with toothpicks or over rice.
Stovetop Instructions and Variations
If you would rather make these honey buffalo meatballs on the stovetop, I’ve got you covered. It’s still simple and delicious.
- Stovetop Instructions: You can make this recipe on the stove. Place all the ingredients in a large pot over medium heat. Cook the meatballs and sauce, and stir occasionally until you heat the meatballs through.
- Meatballs: You can use frozen or freshly made meatballs for this recipe. I recommend cooking the homemade meatballs first in an oven or skillet until mostly cooked through. Then, add them to the crock pot, so they keep their shape.
How to Store Leftover Meatballs
These slow cooker honey buffalo meatballs are great to reheat later in the week for a quick lunch or after school snack. Here is how to properly store them.
- Refrigerator: Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Freezer: I don’t recommend freezing the meatballs. Enjoy them fresh for the best flavor.
More Meatball Recipes to Try
Here are some more spicey, saucy meatball recipes for you to check out! Let me know which ones are your favorites!
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Slow Cooker Honey Buffalo Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 (26-ounce) bag frozen meatballs
- ¼ cup Frank’s Red Hot Original Sauce, more to taste
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup apricot preserves
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Spray the slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray and add 1 (26-ounce) bag frozen meatballs.
- In a medium bowl whisk together ¼ cup Frank’s Red Hot Original Sauce,, ¼ cup honey, ¼ cup apricot preserves, ¼ cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, and 1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch.
- Pour the sauce over the meatballs and stir to coat well. Cook on LOW for 3-4 hours, stirring periodically.
- When the meatballs are heated through serve them fresh or keep warm until ready to serve.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My family and I love these meatballs! The sauce is delicious! I made it when the recipe had the instructions for making the meatballs. Do you still have that somewhere? I just had it bookmarked and not saved.
Hi Vanessa, I’m sorry I switched things up. You can make these homemade meatballs that have parmesan cheese in them, or these Swedish meatballs with more seasonings in them. I hope this helps!
I love this recipe and have made it several times over the years. I’d like to make it again this weekend, but am missing the apricot preserves. Can I substitute a different flavor jam?
Thank you!
I haven’t tried it with another flavor but yes, you definitely can do that. Let me know how they turn out!
I used strawberry preserves, and it tasted really good. I think I still prefer the apricot, though….:)
Are the saltines and milk just mixed in with the rest of the meatball ingredients or do they need to soak first?
Add them in with the rest of the ingredients.
My family absolutely LOVES this recipe! This makes excellent meatballs even without the Honey Buffalo Sauce! Quick, EASY, and very very juicy! This is like my fifth time printing it out because I use this so often! LOVE IT!
I loved this recipe! I skipped the baking step and placed my raw turkey balls right into the sauce since its cooking for 2 hours, I didn’t feel the need to add another step. They turned out AMAZING. I also mixed in Maple Syrup to the sauce that made it extra Devine!
Thank you for sharing!
Love this Slow Cooker Honey Buffalo Meatballs, seems so delicious , will love to try this Slow Cooker Honey Buffalo Meatballs . Thanks for sharing this recipe .
Can you cook on high for 45 min- hour with frozen meatballs? Trying to save on time!
You will have to try it and see how it turns out.