• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Subscribe
Subscribe by email Connect on Facebook Connect on Pinterest Follow Me on Instagram

Hunter Angler Gardener Cook

Finding the Forgotten Feast

  • Home
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
  • Shop
    • Public Events
  • Podcast
  • Game Recipes
    • Venison Recipes
    • Duck Recipes and Goose Recipes
    • Rabbits, Hares and Squirrels
    • Pheasants, Turkey, Quail
    • Dove and Pigeon Recipes
    • Wild Pig and Bear Recipes
    • My Best Taco Recipes
    • Wild Game Sauces
  • Charcuterie
    • Homemade Sausage Recipes
    • Smoker Recipes
    • Bacon, Jerky, Hams, etc
    • Salami Recipes
    • Confit, Pate, Terrines
  • Fish
    • General Fish Recipes
    • Salmon Recipes
    • Snapper Recipes
    • Crabs, Shellfish and Squid
    • Little Fish and Oddballs
  • Gathering
    • Preservation Recipes
    • Mushrooms
    • Sweet Things
    • Wild Greens and Herbs
    • Acorns, Nuts, Starches
Home » Appetizers and Snacks » Thai Meatballs

Thai Meatballs

By Hank Shaw on September 30, 2020, Updated March 29, 2021 - 16 Comments

Jump to Recipe Pin Recipe Comment
5 from 6 votes
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

When life gives you ground pork, or in my case javelina, make meatballs. But whose? Pretty much every nation in the world makes some sort of meatball, but I was in the mood for something zippy, and I happen to be growing both Thai chiles and rau ram, so Thai meatballs it would be.

I was not disappointed. Thai meatballs are spicy, salty, sour and a touch sweet — in no small part because they are doused with a dipping sauce that has all of those flavors.

Plates of Thai meatballs with a dipping sauce
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

My recipe is inspired by one in what is largely thought of as the first decent Thai cookbook published in the US, Jennifer Brennan’s The Original Thai Cookbook, published back in 1981. This was the era of no photos and barebones recipes, so you pretty much needed to be able to cook to pull them off.

I happen to be able to cook, so I’ve found this book useful for decades. Back then, Brennan had to offer all sorts of substitutions because many Thai ingredients could not be bought here in the US. Now they can, even in some regular supermarkets. And really the only “weird” ingredients here are fish sauce and tamarind, and you can leave out the tamarind.

Thai meatballs are meant to be a snack or appetizer more than a full meal, although they can be part of a multi-course meal. They are best fried in peanut oil, but I suppose you could bake them, too, although they will not be nearly as good.

Use ground pork, beef, veal, chicken, venison — really anything you want, or even a combination of meats.

Three Thai meatballs on a plate
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

The key flavors of these meatballs are cilantro or rau ram, which tastes similar, garlic and hot chiles. You can skimp on the chiles if you want, but do not skimp on the garlic and cilantro. If you despise cilantro, use mint.

There is one other important ingredient: Fish sauce. Yeah, you pretty much need it for these to taste like real Thai meatballs, but you can use soy if you cannot find fish sauce anywhere. But at least try to find it. My favorite is Three Crabs brand, although I make my own fish sauce these days.

As for the dipping sauce, it too relies on fish sauce, garlic, cilantro and chiles. It’s also sweet from palm sugar (brown sugar is a fine alternative) as well as tamarind paste. You can skip the tamarind paste if you can’t find it, but both Latin and Asian markets sell it, as do Middle Eastern markets.

How spicy is this? Up to you. I like it so hot my eyelids sweat. Your mileage may vary.

Serve these Thai meatballs as an appetizer in a larger Thai meal, with, say, red coconut curry, or a Thai green curry with fish.

Three Thai meatballs on a plate
Print Recipe
5 from 6 votes

Thai Meatballs

Serve these as an appetizer or as part of a larger Thai meal. I prefer using ground pork (I actually used javelina, but it's very similar), but you can use whatever ground meat you like.
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time15 mins
Total Time45 mins
Course: Appetizer, lunch, Snack
Cuisine: Thai
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 458kcal
Author: Hank Shaw

Ingredients

DIPPING SAUCE

  • 1 tablespoon peanut oil
  • 1 large shallot, minced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • As many Thai chiles (or similar) as you can handle, chopped
  • 1/4 cup fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon palm sugar or brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon tamarind paste, dissolved in 1/4 cup water (optional)
  • 2 scallions, minced
  • 2 tablespoons cilantro or rau ram, minced

MEATBALLS

  • 1 1/2 pounds ground meat (see above)
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup stems from a bunch of cilantro, minced
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 scallions, minced
  • 3 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 3 tablespoons cilantro leaves or rau ram leaves, chopped
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 cup rice flour or regular flour, for coating
  • Oil for frying

Instructions

DIPPING SAUCE

  • Heat the oil in a small pan and sauté the shallots and garlic until golden. Move them to a bowl and add the remaining ingredients. If you are not using the tamarind, use 3 tablespoons of water in the sauce instead. Let this sit at room temperature.

MEATBALLS

  • Mix all the meatball ingredients together except the rice flour. Knead this well. If it's too wet, add some rice flour. Roll into balls and coat with more rice flour. You can either deep fry these, or fry them in about 1 inch of oil. You want the oil to be at least 325°F, and 350°F is better. Fry until nicely browned and keep in a warm oven until you've cooked them all. Serve with the dipping sauce.

Nutrition

Calories: 458kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 135mg | Sodium: 1566mg | Potassium: 464mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 181IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 54mg | Iron: 3mg
Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @HuntGatherCook or tag #HankShaw!

Thanks for Sharing This!

190 shares

Filed Under: Appetizers and Snacks, Asian, Featured, Recipe, Wild Game

Avatar for Hank Shaw

Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet's largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Avatar for Douglas PalmerDouglas Palmer says

    February 11, 2021 at 10:16 pm

    Another excellent recipe. Made this with cougar meat and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

    Reply
  2. Avatar for MarzenaMarzena says

    October 24, 2020 at 4:16 pm

    Tried it tonight and used coconut flour instead of rice. It tastes really good.
    Thanks Hank!

    Reply
  3. Avatar for Dennis DoyleDennis Doyle says

    October 18, 2020 at 1:23 pm

    Hank,

    Thanks sooo much for this great recipe. Have made twice now in about 2 weeks. First time ground beef/bear, second beef/turkey. Both were amazing, and my GF loves the dipping sauce(8-10 Chile’s for us?). Last night, I made phö with the leftover meatballs. Keep the recipes coming. Gracias Amigo.

    Reply
  4. Avatar for Chris GoodenChris Gooden says

    October 4, 2020 at 3:23 am

    Hank, how many chiles do you tend to use? I like heat too so it would be a good starting point having never made a Thai sauce. I’ve looked at other vaguely similar recipes and they range anywhere from 2 to 14. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      October 4, 2020 at 7:49 am

      Chris: All depends on the chile. If regular Thai chiles, I like about six to start. But I eat hot food almost every day.

      Reply
  5. Avatar for Susie BalcomSusie Balcom says

    October 1, 2020 at 12:47 pm

    Can’t wait to try this meatball recipe!
    A WONDERFUL Thai cookbook is by Vatcharin Bhumichitr called Vatch’s Thai Street Food. Because of this cookbook, which is now well-worn, we are fully stocked with all the ingredients listed in your recipe. When we need to restock, we make a trip to an Asian store in a larger city.
    We very much enjoy your recipes. Thank you for this one to add to our Thai cuisine.

    Reply
  6. Avatar for KEVIN QUIGLEYKEVIN QUIGLEY says

    October 1, 2020 at 9:50 am

    Hello Hank. What do you thing about making this with ground bear meat? My only concern would be making sure the meat gets to 170 degrees (to avoid any tric issues) without drying out the meatballs. Any thoughts?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      October 1, 2020 at 11:29 am

      Kevin: Go for it. You won’t be hurt by overcooking these a little, to be sure about trich.

      Reply
  7. Avatar for PWPW says

    September 30, 2020 at 1:27 pm

    I’m looking at the pictures but I’m still confused about the size of the meatballs. As an app are they about the size of a ping pong ball, golf ball? They sound great and I was on my way to the store after I read this. I thing I’m going to use some pheasant I’ve got in the freezer.

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      September 30, 2020 at 4:06 pm

      PW: Golf ball is about right.

      Reply
  8. Avatar for BradBrad says

    September 30, 2020 at 7:16 am

    I think that I am going to go wild on an experiment making this with CA Sheephead. It makes great fishcakes, might hold up well here with these bold ingredients!

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      September 30, 2020 at 7:57 am

      Brad: Go for it and let me know how it turns out. I’d like to see how it works with fish.

      Reply
  9. Avatar for RodRod says

    September 30, 2020 at 4:29 am

    Please do post a recipe on how you make your own fish sauce!!!

    Reply
    • Avatar for Mary JaneMary Jane says

      September 30, 2020 at 4:36 am

      I was just coming down here to make the same comment! Now this is an experiment I’m 100% on board with.

      Reply
      • Avatar for James CastleJames Castle says

        September 30, 2020 at 3:36 pm

        +1

    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      September 30, 2020 at 7:57 am

      Rod: It will be in my next cookbook, which will be on fish and seafood. Comes out in April!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Hank Shaw holding a rod and reel in the American River

Hi, my name is Hank Shaw. I am a James Beard Award-winning author and chef and I focus my energies on wild foods: Foraging, fishing, hunting. I write cookbooks as well as this website, have a website dedicated to the intersection of food and nature, and do a podcast, too. If it’s wild game, fish, or edible wild plants and mushrooms, you’ll find it here. Hope you enjoy the site!

More about Hank...

Featured Recipes

Cucumber sauce for salmon on a pretty plate
Cucumber Sauce for Salmon
Fire roasted salsa in a molcajete
Fire Roasted Salsa
A bowl of pasta dressed with red pesto
Red Pesto with Pasta
fried flounder with tartar sauce and homemade fries on the plate.
Fried Flounder with Homemade Tartar Sauce
A cherry tomato tart ready to serve.
Cherry Tomato Tart
Venison fajitas on a plate
Venison Fajitas

As Seen In

As seen on CNN, New York Times, Simply Recipes, Martha Stewart, Food and Wine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, and The Splendid Table

Never Miss a Recipe

Receive recipes direct to your inbox.

 

 

Back to Top
  • Home
  • About
  • Classes & Events
  • Tutorials
  • Podcast
  • Charcuterie
  • Wild Game
  • Fish
  • Foraging
  • Privacy
Subscribe by email Connect on Facebook Connect on Pinterest Follow Me on Instagram

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

© 2022 Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, All Rights Reserved.

Site built by: Site by Status Forward

190 shares
  • Print
  • Pinterest
  • 90Facebook
  • WhatsApp
  • Save
  • Email
190 shares
  • 90