Gochujang Glazed Korean Meatballs. Savoury pork tofu meatballs packed with sweet potato noodles, garlic chives, and green onion. Steamed, fried and then covered in a sweet and spicy Korean sauce. A delicious side dish. Fantastic for dinner or lunch. Also great for Korean appetizers!
These Korean Meatballs are so delicious, healthy and really filling! In fact, 2 are enough for me because they are packed with noodles, and veggies!
You can either just steam them to keep it healthy or you can steam and fry them for extra taste! Both ways are delicious. If you’re not a fan of spice, skip the gochujang glaze and have them on their own.
Great for meal prep!
My Korean meatball recipe is also great for meal prep too! You can cook these balls ahead of them, store them in the fridge and reheat them in the microwave or re-steam them when you want to eat them again.
Authentic tasting!
Now I know there are many Korean meatball recipes online but this one is pretty authentic if you ask me. Koreans love to eat sweet potato noodles, garlic chives, spring onions, tofu, pork, and gochujang. And guess what contains all of these ingredients? My sweet and spicy meatballs!
Worth the time!
These Korean meatballs are pretty simple to make but they do require some time as there is chopping, molding, steaming and frying involved.
If you don’t want to fry the meatballs to brown them, then this will make the process much easier. But trust me it’ll be worth your time! Even my husband who doesn’t eat a lot of meat enjoys my Gochujang Glazed Korean Meatballs because they contain tofu!
Versatile!
This Korean meatballs recipe is very versatile! These are the many Korean meatball dishes you can have with this recipe:
- Korean meatballs and noodles
- Korean meatball soup
- Or fantastic in a Korean meatball rice bowl
- Korean meatball bowl with fresh veggies
- Korean meatballs noodles stir fry
And if you're looking for more ideas:
- Korean meatball lettuce wraps
- Korean meatball sliders
- Or they can be great for Korean meatball meal prep
- Korean meatball sandwich
Tips for making the best Korean meatball recipe
- Chop your garlic chives, green onions, and sweet potato vermicelli finely. This will allow for an even distribution of ingredients and makes the molding part easier.
- If you have a stand mixer, use that! It’ll help you mix the ingredients more evenly. But if you don’t, don’t worry just use your hands to break everything down.
- If you have a large steamer, use it. It’ll be much easier to steam these meatballs in one go rather than doing batches.
- Fry them! They are so good when they are browned. Browning always adds another level of flavour in addition to the Korean sweet and spicy sauce.
- The spicy meatballs sauceis optional but so worth it if you like spice!
FAQ
There are many ways you can cook with gochujang. These meatballs are one idea. Koreans love to use this delicious spicy paste in their noodles, fried rice, meat marination, stews, soups and more!
To prevent your meatballs from falling apart, you’ll need a flour and a binding ingredient. For my meatballs, that would be the wetness from the minced pork and tofu.
The secret to good meatballs is flavour and texture. When meatballs lack that spongey but meaty texture it can really cause for the meatball to not taste that great. The seasoning is also just as important.
It means that the minced pork or tofu was too dry preventing your ingredients from binding together. In this case, I would suggest adding an egg to help bind everything together.
For this recipe
You will need the following ingredients for my gochujang pork meatballs:
⅓ cup flour, to roll meatballs in
2 tablespoon avocado oil, for frying
Meatballs mixture:
100 grams sweet potato noodles, soaked in hot water for 5 minutes and finely chopped
227 grams tofu, firm (not extra firm)
454 grams ground pork
3 stalks green onion, finely copped
131 grams garlic chives, ends chopped off and finely chopped
4 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sugar
½ cup flour
Korean meatball sauce:
1 cup water
½ tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon Gochujang
3 teaspoon sesame oil
½ tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
How to make Korean Gochujang Meatballs
Soak your sweet potato noodles in hot water for 5 minutes or until softened. Strain after they have been soaked.
On a large chopping board, finely chop green onions, garlic chives and vermicelli noodles. Make sure ingredients are chopped finely so they can incorporate into the other ingredients better. Transfer ingredients into a large mixing bowl or a stand mixing bowl if you have one.
To the large mixing bowl, add ground minced pork, tofu, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar and flour. Using hands or your stand mixer hook, mix everything together until everything is incorporated and the pork becomes a paste-like texture.
Take a handful of the mixture and form a large meatball. You should have enough to make 12-14 meatballs. Each meatball should be about 2.5 inches in diameter.
Roll meatballs into your flour.
Then place them into your steamer. Steam for 20 minutes over medium high heat, covered until they are cooked in the middle.
In a large non-stick pan set over medium heat, add avocado oil. Fry your steamed meatballs on each side for 4-5 more minutes until browned for additional flavour. (This step is optional)
In another bowl, whisk together your Korean meatball sauce. Heat the sauce in a smaller pot and bring it to a boil to thicken while stirring, about 2-3 minutes. Pour the spicy sauce for meatballs over your fried meatballs or serve the sauce separately as a dip. Enjoy hot!
If you’re a gochujang lover, then you will also love these recipes:
- GOCHUJANG HONEY SHRIMP
- TUNA KIMCHI FRIED RICE
- MILD TTEOKBOKKI RICE CAKES
- VEGAN KIMCHI TOFU STEW
- KIMCHI SAUSAGE FRIED RICE
- KOREAN KIMCHI BIBIM GUKSU
- QUICK SPICY RAMEN STIR-FRY
- VEGAN KIMCHI TOFU STEW
- KOREAN BIBIMBAP
- DAKBOKKEUMTANG KOREAN CHICKEN STEW
- RABBOKI KOREAN SWEET SPICY RAMEN
- DAK GALBI (KOREAN SPICY CHICKEN STIR FRY)
- KOREAN SPICY CHICKEN
Give it a try!
Well, I hope you give my Gochujang Glazed Korean Meatballs a try! It always excites me when you guys make my recipes and I hope this is one you try.
Thanks for visiting my blog! If you enjoyed my easy Korean meatball recipe, please share it with your family and friends or on social media!
Take a picture if you've made my recipe and tag me on Instagram @ChristieAtHome in your feed or stories so I can share your creation in my stories with credits to you!
Made this recipe and loved it?
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Take care,
Christie
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Gochujang Glazed Korean Meatballs
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour to roll meatballs in
- 2 tablespoon avocado oil for frying
Meatballs mixture:
- 100 grams sweet potato noodles soaked in hot water for 5 minutes and finely chopped
- 227 grams tofu firm (not extra firm)
- 454 grams ground pork
- 3 stalks green onion finely copped
- 131 grams garlic chives ends chopped off and finely chopped
- 4 tablespoon regular soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
Korean meatball sauce:
- 1 cup water
- ½ tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon Gochujang
- 3 teaspoon sesame oil
- ½ tablespoon regular soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
Instructions
- Soak your sweet potato noodles in hot water for 5 minutes or until softened. Strain after they have been soaked.
- On a large chopping board, finely chop green onions, garlic chives and vermicelli noodles. Make sure ingredients are chopped finely so they can incorporate into the other ingredients better. Transfer ingredients into a large mixing bowl or a stand mixing bowl if you have one.
- To the large mixing bowl, add ground minced pork, tofu, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar and flour. Using hands or your stand mixer hook, mix everything together until everything is incorporated and the pork becomes a paste-like texture.
- Take a handful of the mixture and form a large meatball. You should have enough to make 12-14 meatballs. Each meatball should be about 2.5 inches in diameter.
- Roll meatballs into your flour.
- Then place them into your steamer. Steam for 20 minutes over medium high heat, covered until they are cooked in the middle.
- In a large non-stick pan set over medium heat, add avocado oil. Fry your steamed meatballs on each side for 4-5 more minutes until browned for additional flavour. (This step is optional)
- In another bowl, whisk together your Korean meatball sauce. Heat the sauce in a smaller pot and bring it to a boil to thicken while stirring, about 2-3 minutes. Pour the spicy sauce for meatballs over your fried meatballs or serve the sauce separately as a dip. Enjoy hot!
Heidi | The Frugal Girls
Your homemade glaze creates the perfect tasty finishing touch. YUM!
B
Thanks for this mouth watering recipe.
Will this recipe also work if we:
(1) use minced chicken or minced beef, instead of minced pork?
(2) omit the sweet potato noodles?
Thanks
christieathome
You're very welcome! Yes if you use minced chicken or beef that would work too! And yes you may omit the sweet potato noodles as well.