A real chef read one of my food columns I write for LEDE News, and when he told me, I had flash backs to being so proud of presenting my play dough spaghetti and meatballs to my mom as a kid.

Of course, my mother could only “fake” eat it, but it was still a big moment. 

That chef proceeded to tell me that there is a market for this kind of cooking. That thought process came to fruition when I ran into some acquaintances that told me that they liked being able to follow and understand the simplicity of the directions and ingredients. And so … I’ll power on. 

Crock-pot cooking is about as easy as it gets. Honestly, if I come across a crock-pot recipe that includes a long list of prep, I’m disappointed. I want to dump some things into a crock-pot, turn it on, and walk away for a few hours until the meal is complete.  Crock-pots can be a good staple for tailgate spreads, too, and my “triple dipper” crock-pot is one of my favorite things in my kitchen. 

No Spicy and Sweet?

I used to say that I didn’t like anything sweet and spicy together, and so, I didn’t like most Chinese food or barbecue sauce for years.  That has since changed but even if it didn’t, meatballs and barbecue sauce is an easy appetizer to feed a crowd.  I make a variety of homemade meatballs and love them, but if I’m going to drown them in barbecue sauce, I’m going to use frozen.

A good looking spred of food.
Jess puts out a spread when she entertains at her home.

One of the requests from my kids for dinner is often cut up meatballs so I always have them in my freezer. The Cooked Perfect brand go on sale often and I stock up when I can get them for under $1.50.  If I don’t remember to take them from the freezer and put them in the fridge, I defrost them in the microwave.  

The slow cooking in sauce makes them so tender that my friend Jess thought they were homemade.  You can make your own barbecue sauce fairly easily, but if you’re doing a bottled sauce, I personally prefer Sweet Baby Rays and it goes on sale at times for 99 cents. 

You can drop some cocktail weenies into barbecue sauce in a crock-pot, too, but to me they are just okay.  I like a little heat, so putting them in a spicy red sauce with banana peppers is nice change of pace. You can buy a sauce or add a 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper, 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, OR (pick Just ONE of these options) a couple tablespoons of hot sauce.  I put some shredded cheese next to the crockpot as a topping. You can also dress up barbecue cocktail weenies by wrapping them in bacon and brushing them with barbecue before baking.

That’s one of my mom’s favorites. 

A photo of barbecue meatballs.
You can use your favorite barbecue sauce, or create something of your own for the meatballs.

Easy Barbecue Meatballs

  • 1 bag of frozen meatballs (25)
  • 1 bottle or 2 cups of your favorite barbecue sauce

Instructions:

  1. Plug in the crock-pot.
  2. Defrost the meatballs.
  3. Put meatballs and sauce in crockpot.
  4. Cook on high for an hour. 
  5. Stir occasionally. 

If you double the recipe, double the cooking time. 

Spicy Cocktail Weenies

  • 2 bags of cocktail weenies
  • 1 can/jar of your favorite spicy spaghetti sauce (or make your own heat like I mentioned above)
  • 1 jar of banana peppers drained 

Instructions:

  1. Plug in crock-pot.
  2. Combine all ingredients in a crockpot. 
  3. Cook on high for an hour. 

If you’d like, serve with a side of shredded mozzarella. 

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