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Rich and flavorful Bacon Bourbon Meatballs simmered in an indulgent Bourbon BBQ sauce. Ready in 30 minutes, they make a perfect appetizer or a delicious weeknight family dinner served on sandwich rolls or over a bed of creamy mashed potatoes.
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Why I Love these Bacon Bourbon Meatballs
- Texture & Taste: The meatballs are crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside and ultra flavorful thanks to the rich and indulgent Bourbon BBQ sauce they are simmered in.
- Great for family dinner: serve these bourbon meatballs on some sandwich rolls with melty provolone cheese. Or over a bed of creamy, white cheddar mashed potatoes.
- Fun Appetizer Meatball option: add some flair to the appetizer table with this recipe! They will stay nice and warm in a small slow cooker.
Ingredients
Notes on Some Ingredients:
- Ground Beef: an 80/20 mixture is good, you want to keep some fats in the meat. And all excess grease will be drained after cooking before adding the sauce.
- BBQ Sauce: use your favorite kind. Some good store-bought options include: Sweet Baby Rays or Kraft, or you can grab your favorite specialty sauce.
- Breadcrumbs: use an original style, not already seasoned.
- Bourbon: use what you have on hand, a favorite, or grab a mini bottle of Maker’s Mark from the liquor store.
How to Make Bacon Bourbon Meatballs
- Process the bacon with onion. This ensures a smooth finish to the meatballs by grinding up the bacon and the onion. If you don’t have a food processor you can use a blender, just be sure not to over-blend. Or you can finely dice those ingredients if needed.
- Mix ingredients for meat mixture. Using your hands mix up the meats with the remaining ingredients needed.
- Form Meatballs. Using a cookie scoop, or tablespoon, scoop up the meat and roll with your hands to form round ball shapes about 1 inch in diameter. Using a scoop helps to ensure a consistent size.
- Cook the meatballs in a skillet until cooked throughout. Remove from the skillet, pour out any excess grease and then add in the sauces.
- Simmer in the sauce. Let the meatballs cook in the sauce for at least 10 minutes (can always do this longer for more flavor).
- Serve: These meatballs can be served on their own as an appetizer, on a sandwich, or on a bed of creamy mashed potatoes.
F.A.Q’s
Which Bourbon is best to use?
Any bourbon you like or have on hand is going to work in this recipe. If you don’t have any on hand you can find small miniature bottles at the liquor store, Maker’s Mark is a good option to try.
Does the alcohol cook out?
Not completely. For more information check out this article. If you are cooking for someone who is unable to have any amount of alcohol in their system I would advise against adding the bourbon.
Storage Information
- Make Ahead: prepare the meatballs ahead of time and reheat when needed. They can be heated and kept warm in a slow cooker for a game day spread.
- Freezer: Cook the meatballs completely through, then allow to cool. Lay them on a cookie sheet in a single layer, not touching, and freeze until solid (overnight is great). Then transfer the meatballs to a freezer bag or freezer safe container for up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
Bacon Bourbon Meatballs
These indulgent meatballs are made with bacon and ground beef and simmered in a bourbon bbq sauce. Perfect to serve as an appetizer for the big game or on a sandwich for family dinner!
Ingredients
- 6 slices bacon
- ½ yellow onion chopped
- 1 lb ground beef
- ½ cup breadcrumbs
- 2 tbsp parsley chopped
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup barbecue sauce
- ½ cup beef broth
- 3 tbsp bourbon
Instructions
- Blend: Place the uncooked bacon into a food processor and process for about 1 minute or until bacon is finely ground up. Add in the onion and process until onion is finely chopped and mixed in.
- Meat Mixture: Spoon bacon and onion mixture into large bowl. Add ground beef, breadcrumbs, parsley, egg, chili powder, and salt. Stir to combine.
- Form Meatballs: Scoop out the meat mixture and roll into balls using your palms, should make about 24 1 inch meatballs.
- Saute: Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Place the meatballs into the sauce pan and cook, turning every couple minutes to ensure all sides cook evenly. Cook for about 8-10 minutes until fully cooked.
- Grease: Remove the meatballs and set aside. Remove the pan from the heat and pour out the excess grease.
- Simmer: Add the barbecue sauce, broth and bourbon to the saucepan and return to heat. Stir to mix the sauce together. Add in the meatballs and allow them to simmer in the sauce for at least 10 minutes.
Video
Equipment
Notes
*Recipes containing alcohol are intended for those 21 years of age and older only. Please drink responsibly. If you are cooking for someone who is unable to have any amount of alcohol in their system I would advise against adding the bourbon. Be aware that cooking does not remove all traces of alcohol.
- Ground Beef: an 80/20 mixture is good, you want to keep some fats in the meat. And all excess grease will be drained after cooking before adding the sauce.
- BBQ Sauce: use your favorite kind. Some good store-bought options include: Sweet Baby Rays or Kraft, or you can grab your favorite specialty sauce.
- Breadcrumbs: use an original style, not already seasoned.
- Bourbon: use what you have on hand, a favorite, or grab a mini bottle of Maker’s Mark from the liquor store.
- Don’t overwork: mixing by hand makes it easier to mix the ingredients together without overworking the meat mixture.
- Use a cookie scoop to make your meatballs, this helps keep them the same size which is important for even cooking.
- How to taste test: you can always test your meatballs before cooking up the entire batch by making one small patty of meat and cooking it completely. This allows you to taste and adjust before cooking up all the meatballs.
- Freezing: Cook the meatballs completely through, then allow to cool. Lay them on a cookie sheet in a single layer, not touching, and freeze until solid (overnight is great). Then transfer the meatballs to a freezer bag or freezer safe container for up to 2 months.
Nutrition
Calories: 113kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 290mg | Potassium: 104mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 98IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Recipe first published January 18, 2016. Updated August 27, 2021 with new images, video and information. Recipe is unchanged.
Photography done by the talented @KJandCompany.co
Hi, these sound so delicious. I’d love to make them in advance for my husbands birthday party in September and would love to know if you have ever tried freezing them. I’m not going to have a lot of time close to the party so making them in advance would be my best option.
I made these delicious meatballs for dinner tonight, and it was a winner. The whole family loved it. I served it with mash and vegetables. Next time I might make som honey glazed carrots. I think it will go well with chips and coleslaw as well. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
So glad you enjoyed! All of those sides sound amazing also 🙂 making me hungry!
These were so much work. I think I overheated my food processor it was smoking I used 3lbs of ground beef and 2 pkgs of bacon. The bacon just turns to mush and some fat just does not break down, the onion didn’t really get processed very well. I cooked them in an iron skillet and refrigerated them overnight. Used 3cups famous Dave’s BBQ sauce and buffalo trace bourbon 6tbs. No water . Returned to skillet heated up the sauce and meatballs till warm and placed them I crackpot for the afternoon.
A lot of work but they were so good.
Hi Andrea! First of all, I’m so happy you enjoyed the meatballs!! And I’m sorry about your food processor. You didn’t add the beef to the processor did you? If you were to make these again in a double batch I would maybe recommend doing one pack of bacon at a time in the processor so it doesn’t get mad at you again 🙂 Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! xox
I am just wondering with adding the bacon uncooked, is there fat chunks in the meatballs? Like in the center of the meatballs? This does sound delicous, but I don’t like fatty bacon. Do you think it would be ok to cook the bacon and then crumble up and then add to meatball mixture? Thanks for your ideas & can’t wait to read your response & thoughts 🙂
Hi Denise! The bacon gets so ground up in the food processor that there’s no big chunks of bacon or bacon fat anywhere in the meatballs. If you were to cook the bacon before putting into the meatballs then the texture of the meatballs will be more chunky, instead of a consistent texture throughout. I wouldn’t recommend it.
These meatballs were to die for! Made them for a Christmas party and my guests devoured them! Next time I might try adding more bourbon and less water to the sauce to get more of that flavor.
So glad you enjoyed!! And you can definitely sub out some of the water for the bourbon, the water is just to help thin out the sauce without overloading with the bourbon 🙂
Just as a point of information, any Alcohol that is included in recipes is cooked out as soon as ingredients are cooked.
You see on TV where Professional Chefs light up their fry pans to rush the process, but during normal cooking the
Alcohol is cooked out. As a non drinker I occasionally add Liquor ingredients to enhance recipes.
I plan on making this for my nursing class this week, but we need the nutrition facts. Do any of y’all have them, if not I can add it up myself.. can’t wait to try these!!!
Hi Casey! Unfortunately I don’t have the nutrition facts. I find that My Fitness Pal is a great place to input everything to get that information though 🙂 Let me know how they turn out!
Hi , instead of frying the meatballs I would like to bake them in the oven how long do you think I would need to bake them.
Hi Paulette, bake the meatballs at 400 for about 20 minutes and check to make sure they are cooked all the way 🙂
The meatballs look delicious, I can’t wait to try them. Can the meatballs be frozen after they are cooked?
Hi Maria! Yes, you can absolutely freeze the meatballs after they’re cooked. Then to reheat you can just add them to the sauce and let them simmer.
Could these meatballs be cooked the night before, frozen, then reheated in a crock pot on the sauce the next day? I’m thinking Thanksgiving appetizer for a work party but I just won’t have time to make them in the morning!
Hi Jessica 🙂 You can absolutely make the meatballs the night before. I wouldn’t freeze them though, just store them in the refrigerator and reheat the next day in the crock pot with the sauce. They will be an amazing appetizer!
Went all out with your recipe. Got a pound of unsliced cherry smoked bacon, and 2 pounds of eye of round. Ground them together course, then chopped my onion and ground all three together fine. Added seasonings, eggs, and bread crumbs, then browned in a pan before moving to the slow cooker with a homemade BBQ sauce and plenty of bourbon. Great idea!!
Yes!! This is the perfect recipe to go all out on too. So glad you enjoyed 🙂