Pioneer Woman's BBQ Comfort Meatballs

This has been my "go-to" recipe ever since I made them from Pioneer Woman's first cookbook. I love to make up a big batch and freeze them for later. My friend and I had a freezer cooking day a few weekends ago and this meatball recipe was top on my list. This was my first freezer cooking day in a long time and it was SO worth it, we focused on Hamburger Meat. I haven't ever done a freezer cooking day that concentrated on one type of meat and I think I really like it. We have already planned our next freezer cooking day and we will be working with only chicken.

This recipe of meatballs is delicious all by themselves but add in the scrumptious Pioneer Woman's homemade BBQ sauce and they are out-of-this-world YUM! We enjoy them this way or I've used these same meatballs in many other recipes too. We made meatball sandwiches, I've added them to Spaghetti Sauce or I just bake them up for my son on days I do not feel like cooking from scratch (like tonight). They are quick, easy and I know you will love them too (plus they beat Costco frozen meatballs any day).

FREEZER TIPS: Here are a few of my great freezer tips. I cook the meatballs half-way and then lay them out on a cookie sheet. I set the cookie sheet in the freezer for at least 3 hours (or overnight). The meatballs then freeze individually and are ready for packaging. I package about 20 meatballs per ziploc bag and then store them in the freezer. I then make up the BBQ sauce recipe and package that separately too (making sure you double bag all liquids).

BBQ Comfort Meatballs
recipe found at Pioneer Woman's Blog

INGREDIENTS FOR MEATBALLS
1-1/2 lbs Ground Beef
3/4 cups Oats
1 cup Milk
3 tbsp Very Finely Minced Onion
1-1/2 tsp Salt
1-1/2 tsp Fresh Pepper (or more if desired)

1 cup All-Purpose Flour (coating for Frozen Meatballs)
Canola Oil

RECIPE FOR HOMEMADE BBQ SAUCE
1 cup Ketchup
2 tbsp Sugar
3 tbsp Vinegar
2 tbsp Worcestershire
4 to 6 tbsp Onion, diced
1 dash Tabasco

If you are wanting to cook Comfort Meatballs right now and are not prepping this for the freezer, then Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (if you are freezing meatballs you can skip this step)

Combine all meatball ingredients (except flour and canola oil). Roll into medium-small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Place sheet in freezer for about fifteen minutes. Remove meatballs from freezer and immediately dredge in unseasoned flour.

Start heating the canola oil into a large skillet and brown meatballs, until they are just brown. You do NOT need to cook them all the way. Place them into a baking dish (if you are cooking now) or if you are wanting to freezer them, after they are browned you can add them back to the cookie sheet and set them into the freezer to freeze for about 3 hours (or overnight). Once frozen you can package them into ziploc bags that meat your family needs. I usually do a double recipe and then freeze about 20 meatballs per bag.

To make the BBQ sauce, you need to combine all the sauce ingredients. If you are cooking right now just pour over meatballs and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. If you are doing this as a freezer recipe then package the sauce into ziploc bags and freeze until ready to use.

These Comfort Meatballs and Homemade BBQ Sauce are perfect served over egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or white rice. Enjoy!