Easy Cranberry Meatballs

Cranberry meatballs are a sweet and tangy appetizer, perfect for all of your holiday parties and game-day gatherings. This recipe uses just a handful of ingredients and is made in the slow cooker for the easiest party appetizer ever!

Are you enjoying the easy recipes I’ve been sharing lately?

There is absolutely a time and place for making recipes from scratch. I know—I do it all of the time!

But these days, easy recipes are my go-to. And I feel like a lot of you are probably feeling the same.

If you’re needing more easy Thanksgiving recipes to add to your menu for next week, these cranberry meatballs are the perfect appetizer. They’ve got tons of tangy flavor packed into one super-simple slow-cooker recipe.

What are cranberry meatballs?

These cranberry meatballs are just about the easiest appetizer ever.

Meatballs get slow cooked in a tangy sauce made from cranberry sauce, barbecue sauce, and orange juice. The result is a sweet, tangy, and savory bite that you can serve at just about any party.

These are perfect for serving as a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner appetizer, whipping up for a New Year’s Eve party, or even making for the big game.

Plus, they only take a few minutes to throw into your slow cooker, making them a must for your next gathering.

How to make my easy cranberry meatballs

You can have these easy cranberry meatballs simmering away in your slow cooker in just about 5 minutes. Ready to see how simple they are?

Ingredients you’ll need

To make my cranberry meatballs, you’ll need:

• 1  (18-ounce) bottle barbecue sauce
• 1 (14-ounce) can cranberry sauce (or 1 ½ cups homemade cranberry sauce)
• ¼ cup orange juice
• 2 pounds frozen meatballs
• salt and pepper to taste

I promise that you do NOT need to get super fancy with your ingredients here. I typically make these with Original Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce and the Rosina Angus Beef Meatballs that you can grab at Walmart.

Costco also has some great frozen pre-cooked meatballs. Feel free to use your own homemade meatballs if you’d like, though! Just make sure they are cooked before you add them to the slow cooker.

My family loves beef meatballs, but turkey meatballs are a great option if your family doesn’t eat red meat.

For the cranberries, jellied cranberry sauce, whole cranberry sauce, or even homemade cranberry sauce all work great. Use whatever you have on hand, especially if you have leftovers from Thanksgiving!

Making this recipe

Grab your favorite slow cooker. Mine is a 6 quart, but you could probably make these in a 3-quart slow cooker, too.

Add the barbecue sauce, cranberry sauce, and orange juice. Stir to combine.

Add the meatballs and make sure they get coated in the sauce. Cover and cook on the low setting for 3-4 hours.

When the meatballs are warmed through and the sauce is bubbly, give them a taste and season with salt and black pepper as desired.

I like to sprinkle the meatballs with a bit of chopped fresh parsley before serving, but that’s totally optional.

If your crockpot has a “keep warm” setting, this is perfect for keeping the cranberry meatballs the perfect temperature during a party.

Serving suggestions

These cranberry meatballs make for the perfect appetizer alongside other easy recipes such as marinated cheese, cheese boards, and bacon-wrapped little smokies.

For a holiday party, I like to set out some festive cocktail picks to make eating the meatballs easier for guests, especially if they’re standing and mingling. Mini bamboo appetizer forks are also a nice option.

You could also set out some slider buns or Hawaiian rolls and let people turn the meatballs into slider sandwiches.

More festive appetizers

Love these festive cranberry meatballs? Try some of these other seasonal appetizers:

• Savory puff pastry Christmas tree
• Cranberry brie bites
• Easy baked brie with jam
• Candied pecans
• Cranberry pecan goat cheese ball

Frequently asked questions