Tom and Melissa from Come Sit At My Table throw this together before church on a Sunday morning: frozen meatballs straight from the bag (no thawing), a stirred together sauce of ketchup, teriyaki, pineapple preserves, brown sugar and garlic, six hours on low. The rest of the jar of preserves goes in right before serving.
Source video by Come Sit At My Table on YouTube. This recipe was adapted with strict source-fidelity rules.
Tom and Melissa of Come Sit At My Table demo a Sunday-before-church slow cooker meal. A 32 oz bag of frozen homestyle meatballs goes straight into the slow cooker (no thawing). A simple stirred sauce of ketchup, teriyaki, pineapple preserves, light brown sugar and minced garlic goes over the top. Six hours on low. The remaining pineapple preserves are stirred in right before serving, and the meatballs are ladled over buttered wide egg noodles cooked separately on the hob.
Ingredients
Slow cooker
907 gfrozen homestyle meatballs, kept frozen, do not thaw
Sauce
180 mlketchup
120 mlteriyaki sauce
510 gpineapple preserves, one jar, half a cup at the start and the remainder stirred in at the end
60 mllight brown sugar
2 tspminced garlic
To serve
454 gwide egg noodles, boiled separately on the hob(add late)
113 gbutter, stirred into the drained noodles(add late)
Method
In a mixing bowl, stir together 180 ml (3/4 cup) ketchup, 60 ml (1/4 cup) light brown sugar, 120 ml (1/2 cup) teriyaki sauce, 120 ml (1/2 cup) of the pineapple preserves and 2 teaspoons of minced garlic. Mix well so the brown sugar dissolves and no lumps remain. Reserve the rest of the jar of preserves for the finish.
~5 min
Tip the bag of frozen meatballs straight into the slow cooker. Do not thaw them first or it will throw off the cooking time.
~1 min
Pour the sauce over the meatballs, scraping the bowl with a spatula so all the sauce goes in.
~1 min
Cover and cook on Low for 6 hours.
~360 min
Towards the end of the cook, bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook 454 g (16 oz) of wide egg noodles to packet instructions. Drain.
~12 min
Stir a stick of butter (113 g) through the hot drained noodles until melted.
~1 min
Just before serving, stir the remaining pineapple preserves into the meatballs. Ladle the meatballs and sauce over the buttered noodles.
~1 min
Frequently asked
Can I use thawed or fresh meatballs instead of frozen?
The source is clear that the meatballs go in frozen and not to thaw them, because thawing throws off the 6 hour cooking time. If you only have thawed or fresh meatballs, drop the cook to about 4 hours on Low and check earlier so they do not break up in the sauce.
Why is half the jar of preserves added at the end?
Stirring the remaining pineapple preserves through at the end keeps a bright, fresh, jammy hit of pineapple in the finished sauce that would otherwise cook out over six hours. It is how the source recipe finishes the dish.
Can I use Italian or other style meatballs?
Yes. The source suggests Italian meatballs as a swap. Stick to a 32 oz (907 g) bag of plain frozen meatballs and avoid anything heavily breaded or sauced, which would muddy the sweet teriyaki and pineapple sauce.
Can I serve this over something other than buttered noodles?
Yes. Steamed white rice is the obvious swap and a natural fit for a Hawaiian teriyaki sauce. Mashed potato or jasmine rice also work. The slow cooker portion of the recipe does not change.
Can I cook it on High instead of Low?
The source only gives a Low 6 hour timing. If you need to cook on High, 3 hours is a reasonable equivalent for frozen meatballs in sauce, but check the meatballs are heated through and the sauce is hot before serving.
Extraction notes (transparency): All sauce quantities are explicit in the transcript. Source does not state servings; 6 inferred from a 32 oz bag of meatballs plus 16 oz of egg noodles. Source does not specify the meat in the homestyle frozen meatballs, so suggestedCategories left empty. Pineapple preserves jar is described as 'I think it's an 18 oz' so the remainder added at the end is approximate. Buttered noodles are a quick hob side prepared after the slow cooker is done; they are included as a finishing step, not as a separate recipe.
