Pressure Cooker Sweet and Sour Meatballs with Pumpkin Sauce
These tender meatballs are cooked in a pressure cooker with a sweet and sour sauce made from pumpkin and honey, perfect for a quick and healthy dinner.
- Prep5 min
- Cook1h
- Total1h 5m
- DifficultyEasy
- Servings4
This recipe brings together savory meatballs and a subtly sweet, tangy sauce in one pot. The pumpkin adds a velvety texture and a hint of autumn flavor, while the honey balances the acidity for a comforting dish.
Using a pressure cooker makes this meal effortless: just roll the meatballs, pour the sauce over them, and let the machine do the work. The result is juicy, flavorful meatballs that pair beautifully with rice or noodles.
Ingredients
Servings
Converted amounts are rounded.
Method
- In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, salt, dried basil, and desiccated liver (empty the capsules). Mix well until evenly distributed.
- Shape the mixture into meatballs slightly smaller than a golf ball (for appetizers, make them half that size). Place them in the pressure cooker pot.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix together the bone broth, pumpkin puree, and honey. Pour this sauce over the meatballs.
- Close the pressure cooker lid and set it to cook on high pressure for 35 minutes. After the cooking time is complete, let the pressure release naturally.
- Once the pressure has fully released, carefully open the lid. If you prefer a thicker sauce, you can either: remove the meatballs and simmer the sauce using the sauté function until it reduces, then return the meatballs to the sauce; or drain the sauce into a saucepan and cook on the stove for about 5 minutes until it thickens, then pour it back over the meatballs.
- Serve the meatballs hot, over rice, noodles, cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash, or butternut squash, and spoon the sauce generously over the top.
💡 Tips
- For a richer flavor, you can brown the meatballs in a skillet before adding them to the pressure cooker.
- If you don't have desiccated liver, you can omit it or substitute with 1 teaspoon of liver powder.
- Adjust the honey to your taste; start with less and add more after cooking if needed.
Inspired by a recipe from Kitchen Stewardship