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

3.58 from 50 votes
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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

Instructions
 

  • 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
  • Add the salt, pepper, ginger, garlic, spring onions, egg and breadcrumbs to the ground meat and mix well to incorporate
  • Use an ice cream scoop to divide the meatballs and oiled hands to shape them
  • 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
  • Once the meatballs are ready, heat up the sauce and add the orange juice
  • Toss in the meatballs and garnish with finely chopped ginger, spring onion leaves, sesame seeds and coriander leaves