Pork Meatballs With Ginger and Fish Sauce

Absolutely delicious, but the meatballs need to be cooked a bit longer than the recipe prescribes. At 15 minutes, they were still raw in the center. I let them back for closer to 25, which resulted in perfectly cooked, juicy meatballs with a nice caramelized outer layer. Served over brown rice dressed with nuac cham and chopped cilantro.

It seems that whenever there is a recipe calling for ground meat, the question is asked: can substitute ground turkey?. Of course you can. It's your meal. But keep a few things in mind: Fat content: this affects flavor and texture. Use ground turkey with higher fat content (not the super lean), and/or supplement with another fat. Doneness: ground turkey is unforgiving if cooked too long; loses taste and crumbles. Keep an eye on it. Flavor: turkey is bland. Amp up the herbs and spices

Fish sauce in meatballs is revelatory! Simple, quick, and delicious. I made them about half the size (yield of 22), which made the cooking time spot-on. I used them in a quick pho (read: store-bought broth) and they certainly were the star of the meal! I added a pinch of chili flake and used panko instead of Ritz crackers. Next time I'll also add a little bit of cilantro to the mix.

Did a kind of Nuoc Cham sauce with it instead of the mayo sauce. To taste: rice vinegar, sugar, splash of rooster sauce, splash of lime juice, thin sliced red chilis and grated ginger. Great with the lettuce cups!

Used almond flour instead of crackers/bread crumbs for a gluten free version. Added a drop of sesame oil to the top of each meatball before baking. Baked 25 minutes. Delicious with sriracha, sweet chili sauce, and kim chee, over rice and a green cilantro salad.

I made these with ground chicken as well as pork and they were delicious. I added chopped fresh cilantro as well. I also sauteed the chopped ginger, garlic and cilantro mixture a bit before I added it to the meat. It took the sharp edge off the flavor of raw garlic and ginger.

Would it be a fatal compromise to make this with ground turkey instead? We don't eat pork.

I added a splash of rice wine vinegar, the juice of one lime, and a squirt of Sriracha to the Mayo and sesame oil. Really helped brighten it up.

I make something very similar and grill them like burgers my family devours them. We have a pickled cucumber salad as a side dosh

Really love the blueprint of this recipe - I used panko instead of ritz and added red pepper flakes and ground coriander as well as increasing the amount of fish sauce. They were a little salty, so next time I will omit the added salt, using only fish sauce. I found the meatballs to be tender, and the 15 meatballs I made cooked well in 15 minutes at 425. I flipped them at 10 minutes so both top and bottom could become delicious and caramelized.

Excellent recipe. We noted that about 22 minutes baking would be the perfect time. Also we wished we would have turned the meatballs at the halfway mark for more even browning. Served with rice and two dipping sauces: Sour cream, hot chili oil, sesame oil and cayenne pepper and fish sauce, sugar, water, lime juice and diced garlic. Garnished with cilantro.

There are organic versions of ritz- made by Late July. They taste very similar without the junk.

For me, between the salt of the ritz crackers and the salt of the fish sauce, the extra 1/2 teaspoon of salt made the meatballs a bit too salty. But they came together quickly and were juicy and flavorful. I would make these again, just with less salt or omitting the extra salt altogether.

Made with panko instead of Ritz crackers and half the salt. I always bake meatballs in muffin tins. (Thank you, Alton Brown!) They were done perfectly in 15 minutes. Delicious!

Ritz crackers have partially hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. Is there a better option?