Let's segue that into Midwest FOOD. I grew up eating a lot of it. It actually is inspiration to a lot of the zero-effort recipes I make today — like the meatball recipe we are about to get into.
I grew up eating these meatballs, and the recipe I use is from my mom who probably got it from Wally down the street back in the '80s. And, with many recipes that originate in the Midwest, this one is done in a slow cooker. There are tons of variations of crockpot meatballs similar to mine. So, I don't know where these originated or who first thought to toss meatballs in a crockpot and sauce them up.
Anyway, since I hadn't made them in a while, I decided to make them after I was explaining it to a friend and she said they sounded absolutely atrocious. After I shared the recipe on social media, people flocked to the comments to share their same love for these balls o' meat:
And, just like me, people have been watching their mom make them for decades!
MIDWEST MOMS EVERYWHERE KNOW THIS STAPLE:
And people are now making these meatballs into meals, not just appetizers like I have typically done:
So, you get it, they are beloved. Now let's get into the recipe...
Here is my full "cook along with me" explaining the recipe and I will break it down step-by-step below the vid:
First, toss a bag of frozen meatballs into your slow cooker (the bag I use is 28 ounces):
Then spend a few minutes trying to open a jar of grape jelly:
Once you've succeed, dump it in:
I do the WHOLE JAR (which is typically 17.5 ounces):
A sweet BBQ sauce is the next ingredient. Squeeze in half a 28-ounce bottle — or however much you want, the measurements on this recipe aren't very specific:
Then about 1/2 a cup of chili sauce, measure with your heart:
Once everything is in, you give it a good mix. Cover and cook on low for about four to five hours or on high for about two to three hours.
When they are done, you're going to open the lid and get a steamy shot like this:
Take them out and they will be nice and juicy like this:
And watch yourself go from "ew" to "OOOOOOHHHH YESSSS!"
Now, before we end this, I feel like I would be doing a disservice if I didn't also share all the amazing upgrades and ideas people have for this recipe. Like using cranberry sauce instead of jelly and spicy instead of sweet BBQ sauce:
You can substitute the meatballs for little smokies (or turkey meatballs!) and add brown sugar:
Look for sugar-free options if you're doing keto or make them for dinner as meatballs subs:
You can actually make your own version of the sauce with this person's recipe:
Or you could be like this person's ex who adds ketchup — you do you!
Now I want to open this up to you who do reside in the Midwest. What Midwestern recipe do you looooooove that makes people turn up their nose until they try it? Let me know in the comments and maybe I'll make it for a BuzzFeed post!
