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(152)
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

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
152 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Comments

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!

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.

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.

Paul505

We found the meatballs and glaze very salty. Next time I will omit the salt called for in the meatballs and use low-sodium soy sauce. Fantastic flavor otherwise, so hoping these changes will work.

Gneshe

I adjusted the recipe per comments and it was great! Subbed 1T chicken broth for milk, omitted cilantro and parm, used only only 1 egg, 1T oil, and no salt. Barely wet and easy to form meatballs. For the sauce, used 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce, 4T maple syrup + 1 T hot honey, 1 T Huy Fong chile-garlic sauce and the rest as written. Not salty at all. It didn't reduce much in 10 min, so added 2t cornstarch. My family is very picky and they loved it.

Mindy

After reading comments, I reduced the egg to 1 and cut the milk in half. I also used 1/2 c low-sodium soy sauce and 5 T maple syrup. Served with roasted asparagus. Delicious!

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

or to save this recipe.