One-Pot Asian Meatballs with Bok Choy and Peanut Sauce – This sweet and savory Asian-inspired dish with hints of ginger and green onion will be a tasty, fun hit with the whole family!
Meatballs are one of the few foods that always go over well with everyone in my home. With two boys (and a husband) I think the guys in my life like the idea of a food that looks like they should be throwing it.
My sticky kitchen floor and I know this for a fact as my 1-year-old makes his meatball-throwing dreams a reality on the regular. My 6-year-old sometimes gets a glint in his eyes like he wants to join in the fun, but I’m able to block him by giving him the infamous Mom stink eye (which, by the way, is completely useless on a toddler). Fortunately I haven’t needed to give my husband the stink eye yet. But who knows what happens in my kitchen while I’m at work…🙄
Today’s recipe for One-Pot Asian Meatballs with Bok Choy and Peanut Sauce was an obvious hit in my home. Aside from looking like the perfect dinner time projectile, my Asian pork meatballs taste amazing. The have a sweet and savory thing going on with hints of ginger and green onion. The sauce that they’re cooked in is so tasty that it even got my kids to eat their bok choy. Surprisingly, when I make this meal, more dinner ends up in their bellies than on my poor, sticky kitchen floor!
- 1½ lb ground pork
- ⅔ C finely chopped green onions
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1½ Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp dry ginger
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1-2 heads of bok choy (depending on size), chopped*
- 1 C sliced green onions
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
- ½ tsp corn starch
- ¼ C peanut butter
- 1 tsp dark brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 4 Tbsp water
- Mix together the meatball ingredients and roll the mixture into meatballs. Place them on a skillet that has been oiled with 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil. Each meatball should be made of about 1 Tbsp of meat and you should end up with approximately 25 meatballs. Cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes on each side. Once the meatballs are cooked through, remove the them from the skillet and set aside.
- While the meatballs are cooking, make the peanut sauce. Simply whisk together the ingredients and set aside to serve with the meal later.
- Once the meatballs are done cooking, drain off the excess fat from the skillet but leave some of the meat drippings and a light coating of oil in the pan. Add the bok choy stems to the skillet and sauté for 4 minutes. Next add the bok choy leaves, as well as the green onion and garlic and sauté for two more minutes. Add the meatballs back into the skillet.
- While the greens are cooking, whisk together the corn starch, soy sauce and brown sugar in a small bowl. Turn the heat to high and add the soy sauce mixture to the skillet. Cook on high until the sauce begins to bubble, then cook for one more minute to thicken the sauce. Remove from the heat. Serve hot with the peanut sauce.**
**Serve as is for a low carb option, or serve on a bed of rice. The recipe produces 5 servings of approximately 5 meatballs.
Some more tasty meatballs (and falafel balls too!)…
Baked Falafel Balls with Flax and Tahini Sauce
Beef and Pork Italian Meatballs
Maple Sweet Potato Chicken Meatballs
I had to LOL while I read your post Rachel! My husband an I raised 4 sons, and we now have 2 grandsons (no girls)! Everything was a projectile, and food fights were common… Your recipe for Asian meatballs with bok choy looks tasty, healthy, and easy to make. I’d say that’s perfect when raising busy boys!
Haha! Boys will be boys I suppose! I wouldn’t trade mine in any day!
That peanut sauce looks de-lish!
Peanut sauce is one of my favs!
We really enjoyed this, the sweet/salty balance is good. We did add a little Sriracha for heat.
I’m glad you enjoyed this! Thanks for letting me know! 🙂
I got bok choy in my CSA and needed to find a way to use it up and this was a delicious way to do so! I tried lightening it up in a few ways and it worked out pretty well. I subbed coconut aminos for the soy sauce and i used half of the brown sugar it called for. I also used a natural peanut butter which required a little more water and coconut aminos because it was difficult to get the right consistency and needed much more whisking. I also used olive oil instead of veg oil. Will definitely make again! I also suggest adding sriracha for a nice kick 🙂
Hey Dayna- Glad to here this helped you tackle one of your CSA vegetables! I imagine the all-natural peanut butter would create some consistency problems, but I’m happy to hear it turned out in the end! I agree, Sriracha is a great addition. I’m actually pretty sure my husband added it to his plate the last time I made this… I tackle a lot of CSA vegetable on this blog, I hope you can find some more recipes here to meet your needs!
I loved this! Only had ground beef but the flavors were all excellent. I will most definitely make this again!
This was so delicious! I used ground Turkey because that’s what I had in the fridge. I will definitely make this again!