This quick and easy Hawaiian Waikiki Meatballs recipe uses homemade meatballs, carrots, peppers and pineapple chunks in a sweet-sour sauce.
Like all of my recipes, I love to shoot for quick and easy. In fact, you can assemble and cook this recipe in the time it takes to make the rice, in under 30 minutes.
If your family is like mine, then you don’t have much time during the week to prepare dinner. But that doesn’t mean that you have to shortchange your family’s healthy dining with prepared foodstuff.
Case in point: This easy recipe for Hawaiian Waikiki Meatballs.
This dish is my go-to when I want to add a splash of color to my family’s table that’s full of nutritious deliciousness.
Waikiki Meatballs is a well-balanced meal that is both filling and tasty, too!
How to Make Hawaiian Waikiki Meatballs Recipe
But what if you need a dish for a potluck dinner? Hawaiian Waikiki Meatballs fits the bill to perfection. It can easily feed a crowd without taxing your family budget. Plus, it uses accessible pantry items, so there’s no excuse why you can’t make it on-the-go.
Make-Ahead Homemade Meatballs
You can use pre-made frozen meatballs in a pinch, but it only takes a couple of minutes to make your own homemade basic beef meatballs. No really! Besides tasting better than the store-bought kind, these can be made up ahead of time and frozen to save you both time and money.
Then, when needed, pull out what your recipe requires and whola! quick and easy protein for a multitude of recipes. Now that’s easy breezy weeknight cooking!
To Make:
For this recipe, I like to use homemade meatballs. The recipe is found HERE. But if you are in a pinch for time, frozen meatballs will do, too.
After that, this meal become a one-pot dish–well, maybe two pots, if you count the rice cooker or Instant Pot to make the rice portion of this recipe.
In a large pot, add your meatballs and the following:
…chopped sweet yellow onions.
Next, peel, slice whole carrots. I like the ones with green tops, as they offer more flavor, but you can also use the carrots without greens or even pre-packaged baby or sliced carrots, if you’d like.
Then, chop your peppers into big wedges or chunks after de-seeding. For this recipe, I use yellow, red and green pepper chunks to give the dish a “rainbow” of colors.
Finally, add your pineapple chunks (but reserve the liquid). To keep the meal quick and easy, I chose to use canned over fresh pineapple, although you can certainly use fresh if you want to.
Then it’s time to add your “sauce” ingredients, along with the reserved pineapple liquid and heat through. Stir well and keep the heat up so that all the ingredients cook through to al dente but not soggy–if you get my drift.
And, as a special note: In the time that it takes to make this recipe for Hawaiian Waikiki Meatballs, you will also be able to cook your rice as a side for this dish.
Just be sure to start cooking your rice first before assembling the ingredients for the Waikiki Meatballs.
And, in no time at all, you’ll have yourself a hot, hearty meal with an island-flare. Enjoy!
For more delicious quick and easy weeknight meals, be sure to check out Wisconsin Homemaker’s Recipe Section.
Hawaiian Waikiki Meatballs
Ingredients
- 32 meatballs Make ahead the meatballs per recipe below. (SEE RECIPE NOTES) ; or use 24 ounce package of premade, fully-cooked meatballs
- 4 tbsp cornstarch
- 13.5 oz Dole pineapple chunks reserve liquid
- 1/3 cup white balsamic vinegar
- 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup green onions (scallions) chopped
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp salt add more to taste, if needed
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 cup red pepper chopped
- 1 cup green pepper chopped
- 1 cup yellow pepper chopped
- 1 cup carrots sliced thinly
- 1 cup yellow onion chopped
- 2 cups chicken broth add 1/2 more or so, if needed
- 6 cups cooked rice
Instructions
- Cook rice according to instructions.
- Mix cornstarch and one half of the reserved liquid in a bowl. Stir well to remove all lumps.
- In a stock pot, add all the ingredients, except the cornstarch liquid.
- Once the Waikiki meatballs start simmering, slowly add the cornstarch liquid.
- Stir well.
- Heat all ingredients through.
- Serve over rice. Enjoy!
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