My kids developed a love for all things Japanese and moved on to Korean. A visit to Ryoji in Toronto for a shoot with Sang Kim, got my younger son really into their friend chicken. Crispy chicken is tossed in a sweet, salty, spicy, sticky sauce with a hint of Sesame Oil. You can check out that recipe here.

I wanted to try the same recipe with meatballs only modifying it slightly to accommodate the stronger beef taste. I also decided to give my new air fryer a whirl to cut down some calories by cooking the meatballs sans oil. The results turned out amazing!

Korean Meatballs

4 from 74 votes
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Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb lean ground Beef
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tbsp ground white Pepper
  • 1 tbsp minced Garlic
  • 1 tbsp minced Ginger
  • 1/4 cup finely minced Spring Onion
  • 1 whole Egg
  • 1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs
Sauce
  • 3 tbsps Ketchup
  • 2 tbsps Gochujang or Chilli Pepper paste
  • 2 tbsps minced Garlic
  • ¼ cup Honey
  • ¼ cup Sugar
  • 2 tbsps light Soya sauce
  • 1 tbsp Sesame Oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • ¼ cup Orange juice
Garnish
  • Finely chopped Ginger
  • Spring onion leaves
  • Sesame seeds
  • Coriander leaves

Method
 

  1. Prepare the sauce by heating all the ingredients except the orange juice, that will just be used in the end to thin the sauce and loosen it up
  2. Add the salt, pepper, ginger, garlic, spring onions, egg and breadcrumbs to the ground meat and mix well to incorporate
  3. Use an ice cream scoop to divide the meatballs and oiled hands to shape them
  4. You can either deep fry or oven bake these meatballs but I am using my air fryer to get fried results without using any oil
  5. Once the meatballs are ready, heat up the sauce and add the orange juice
  6. Toss in the meatballs and garnish with finely chopped ginger, spring onion leaves, sesame seeds and coriander leaves