3 Ingredient Crock Pot Grape Jelly Meatballs

During our first month in England, we lived in a Banbury flat, an area to the Northwest of London. We attended church services in the area with a small, friendly congregation full of locals and families from a US military base.  One Sunday, we heard about the upcoming monthly after church potluck and the kids were especially excited. A potluck meant they could runaround the gym with their new found friends and pile paper plates high with side dishes and sweets.

Potluck day arrived and Tim and I looked forward to trying Britian’s potluck favorites, which generally mean yummy baked goods. Oddly enough, we soon discovered that the hit of the potluck came from the United States. A family stationed with the US military brought their crock pot grape jelly meatballs for the first potluck and everyone loved them so much, they asked them to bring them again. Pretty soon, everyone looked forward to these meatballs and people unlucky enough to be at the end of food line prayed their would be meatballs left for their turn.

I remember asking about the secret to this popular recipe and seeing the cook’s somewhat embarrassed response. “It’s just grape jelly and chili sauce,” she said. I did a double take and asked, just to be sure, “Grape jelly and chili sauce?” It sounded crazy, but also incredibly simple. I’m not sure why it took me so long to try this, but I finally decided to make these magic meatballs for my family this week, using BBQ sauce instead of chili sauce. My husband gave me an incredulous look when I told him about the sauce, but ended up loving them and eagerly eating leftovers.

I know this recipe takes a bit of trust, but it also uses at least 2 ingredients you most likely have sitting in your pantry right now. Just trust me. You’ll thank me later.

3 Ingredient Crock Pot Grape Jelly Meatballs Recipe

(click on recipe to download and print)

Ingredients:

18 oz jar of Grape Jelly

18 oz bottle of BBQ Sauce or 12 oz jar of Chili Sauce

1 32 oz package of frozen meatballs

Directions:

Mix Grape Jelly and Sauce together in a crock pot.

Add Meatballs.

Cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6 hours.

Enjoy alone or on rice or noodles.