These juicy Thai-style pork meatballs are deliciously flavored with lemongrass, ginger and garlic. As an appetizer these meatballs are amazing with the intensely flavorful dipping sauce, but they also make a great main course.
About These Thai Meatballs
By now you're probably aware of how much I love Thai food! And I know you do, too. The recipes for Spaghetti Squash with Thai Peanut Sauce and Thai Pineapple Fried Rice are among the most visited posts on this blog.
So these Thai-style pork meatballs won't come as a surprise to you. I sure love me some classic Italian meatballs with rich tomato sauce, but the Thai version is really awesome too.
The lemongrass, ginger, garlic, cilantro and fish sauce give the pork meatballs their unmistakable Thai flavor. It's absolutely delicious and not just for a Thai food lover, either.
My sister, Conny is currently visiting us from Canada. She just arrived yesterday after I made the meatballs. Over 24 hours of traveling can make you really hungry (especially if you don't like airplane food).
I offered her some meatballs but I wasn't sure how much she'd like the Thai flavors. Well, she absolutely LOVED them - not just while hungry from the trip, but also for breakfast(!) the next morning.
How to Make these Thai Meatballs
Making these meatballs is extremely easy. In a large bowl, you mix the ground pork with breadcrumbs, fish sauce, cilantro, green onion, lemongrass, fresh ginger, and garlic. Then, you shape the mixture into 25 meatballs. If you are extra concerned about making them even in size, you could weigh the whole mixture on a scale, divide it by 25, and ensure that each meatball weighs 1/25th of the total of the mixture.
Next, to cook the meatballs, you heat a large skillet over medium heat and cook the meatballs in the skillet for 15 to 20 minutes, or until cooked through. If your skillet isn't large enough, you may have to cook them in batches.
While you are cooking the meatballs, you can mix the sauce in a small bowl. This includes soy sauce, lime juice, honey, sesame oil, green onions, cilantro, ginger, garlic, and fresh chili pepper. It is a delicious sauce that can take these meatballs over the top. It would work well with dim sum as well.
Serving these Thai Meatballs
More traditional ways to eat meatballs are either as an appetizer or paired with rice or noodles as a main course. If you’re making these Thai meatballs as appetizer, I urge you to also make the dipping sauce. It is SO good!
It’s not a thick, sticky-sweet sauce, instead, it is a truly Thai-style thin soy sauce flavored with aromatic sesame oil, ginger, cilantro, garlic and chili. Dipping the already amazing meatballs into this sauce takes them to a whole new level of delicious awesomeness!
For more Asian meatball inspiration that doesn’t use pork, try this Sesame Chicken Meatballs & Lo Mein Recipe.
Popular Pork Recipes:
Thai Style Pork Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground pork
- ½ cup whole wheat bread crumbs
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 4 green onions finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons minced lemongrass
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon oil for frying
Dipping Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 green onions thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon chopped cilantro
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 small chili pepper de-seeded and finely chopped
Instructions
- Stir together all ingredients for the dipping sauce and set aside.
- Combine all the ingredients for the meatballs thoroughly and roll into tablespoon sized balls with wet hands. Makes about 25.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a frying pan on medium. Cook the meatballs while stirring often until browned from all sides and cooked through. This takes about 15-20 minutes.
- Serve the meatballs as appetizer with the dipping sauce, or as main course with cooked rice or pasta.
Nutrition
Also, if you liked this post, check out these other amazing Thai-inspired posts as well!
Easy Khao Soi - Thai Coconut Curry Soup with Egg Noodles
Thai Basil Chicken Stir Fry & Pad Krapao Gai
Recipe adapted from Food.com
Products used for these Thai Meatballs:
  
Cheryl
Can these be made ahead of time and kept in fridge as a cool appetizer? Buffet
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
Sure, I don't see why not! The meatballs should be able to keep in the fridge safely for up to 3 days after cooking them.
Kerry
Delicious! I’ve made several times and always a hit.
Can I make ahead and freeze? Cooked or uncooked? Thanks!
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
Hi Kerry, you could definitely freeze the meatballs for use 1 to 2 months down the road if you like. You can freeze meatballs cooked or uncooked, so it just depends on your preference. However, for food safety reasons, you should cook the meatballs in advance of freezing them if the ground meat you are using was previously frozen. In both cases, I recommend arranging them on a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving some space in between them, and placing them in the freezer to freeze until solid. Then, you can divide them up into freezer bags to store in the freezer until you are ready to use them.
Joan Williams
I doubled this recipe for a cocktail party I had last evening. It was a huge hit and two asked for the recipe. Rather than use all pork I used half pork and half ground round. I baked them about 15 minutes rather than fry. When I made the sauce I felt it needed more liquid so I used half again of the soy sauce, lime juice, honey and sesame oil. These have become my favorite cocktail meatball. Thank you.
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
Thanks for letting us know how this recipe worked out for you! I'm so glad it was such a hit with your guests.
Mary Slanker
It was one of the best meals I’ve ever made. Will definitely be on my monthly meal rotation can’t wait to try your other recipes.
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
Thank you for the high praise, Mary!
La Donna
Could I use chicken instead of pork?
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
Absolutely! The flavour will be a little different but the meatballs should still work out well and be delicious.
Nancy
Way too salty, next time I'd cut back on the fish sauce. The dipping sauce was good though.
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
Thanks for your feedback on this recipe, Nancy!
Chris David
I loved this recipe so much!!
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
I'm so glad, Chris! Thank you for your feedback. 🙂
Fred
These look so tasty what’s your take on me trying to grill them
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
Hi Fred, thank you for your question! The meatballs might fall apart on the grill unless you put them on skewers to make it easier for you to turn them. However, another option would be for you to place an ovenproof skillet like one that is completely stainless steel or cast iron on the grill to cook the meatballs in. That way, you would have a vessel to contain the meatballs while getting the benefit of the heat from the grill. Let us know what you try and how it works out for you. 🙂
Beck and Bulow
These meatballs are a new family favorite! So easy to prepare and easy to freeze for future use. I’ve already shared the recipe with several friends and they love them also! Thank you and please visit us: https://www.beckandbulow.com
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
Thank you for your wonderful comment!
Lisa
This was such a yummy recipe! I added red pepper for a little heat. My dad is Thai so I absolutely love Thai food! This would be a great wonton filling! So many things you can do with this! Thank you for this recipe!
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
Oh, wonderful idea regarding using the meat combo for a wonton filling! Thanks for your lovely comment! 🙂
Julia
Lemon grass is not available in my area, is there a substitute?
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
You could try replacing it with some lemon or lime zest if you like. While neither would impart the herbaceous flavour that you can get from lemongrass, they would add a pleasant citrusy note. Also, sometimes you can find a lemongrass paste in the produce section of your grocery store near the herbs which you could use as a replacement for fresh lemongrass.
Jen
Super good! I made with ground turkey, it’s what I had in the freezer. I cooked in the air fryer, 400 for 10 mins, tossed them around halfway through. I doubled the sauce, and tossed the hot meatballs in there to warm it up. Soooo delicious! Served with grilled romaine - excellent! Will make this regularly! Thank you
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
I'm so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Jen! I can certainly get behind doubling the sauce. 🙂
PJ
Fantastic!
Michelle
Can I make these ahead of time and warm them up for serving?
Regina | Leelalicious
Absolutely! These store and hold up to reheating really well
Kerry
These are delicious!
Can I bake instead of fry?
Regina | Leelalicious
I think so. I haven't tried this exact recipe, but have baked other meatballs and they came out great
Maritza Griffiths
The best recipe for ground pork,tasty,explosion of flavor in your mouth,,easy to make and gourmet presentation.
transplantwest
What's the item on the right on the bottom? the amazon link is no longer valid.
Regina | Leelalicious
I linked both fish sauce as well as toasted sesame oil there. Both links should work now
KC
Can these be made with ground turkey or chicken?
Regina | Leelalicious
Yes I think either of those ground chicken or turkey would work well here too
Laura
I don't have any whole wheat bread crumbs, can I substitute it with any other kind of bread?
Regina | Leelalicious
Yes, any bread crumbs will work
Wina
I don’t eat pork. Can i substitute it with chicken or prawn ?
Regina | Leelalicious
Yes I think this could work well with any ground meat