Slow Cooker Grape Jelly BBQ Meatballs

Grape Jelly Barbecue Meatballs are a perfect appetizer and easy to make with only three ingredients. The best part is once they are made you set the slow cooker (aka Crockpot) on warm and enjoy your party!

I like to use Sweet Baby Rays Sweet N Spicy BBQ Sauce for this recipe or a mix of that and one that isn’t spicy.  You could use a name brand like Welch’s grape jelly or Smucker’s but I’d save some money and get whatever is economical and on sale. You can also use apple jelly instead.

This recipe uses frozen fully cooked meatballs. You can thaw them in advance or not. Thawing in advance is nice if you don’t have two hours to wait. Often I don’t have much time before a party and I want them ready in time.  If using a microwave to thaw the meatballs be sure to use the thaw/defrost setting and don’t over do it.  You just need them to the point of no longer being frozen. Even better you can put them in the refrigerator the night before and let them thaw out.

Worried you might run out of meatballs for your party?

If you aren’t sure how much you need for a party you can have an extra bag of frozen fully cooked meatballs in the freezer and a extra BBQ sauce and if needed jelly on hand. If you run out you can thaw the frozen meatballs out in the microwave which doesn’t take long and add them to the slow cooker.  You don’t have to thaw the whole bag either just thaw what you want.

What can you do with leftovers?

You can freeze any leftovers, make sandwiches with them, could even make a pizza by spreading the meatballs and barbecue sauce on pizza dough and topping with cheddar cheese or a mix of cheddar and mozzarella.

What type of meatballs can I use?

Any style of meatballs that are precooked will work. I use inexpensive frozen homestyle or italian style meatballs from the grocery store though you could use homemade meatballs if you want.