Christmas is hands down my favorite holiday. Second to that is New Year’s Eve. There’s just something about being able to start over with a new chapter that makes me so happy. This year, we aren’t having the big party we usually do because of COVID, but we do plan on celebrating the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. (Is there anyone who isn’t looking forward to 2021?) Anyway even though the celebration will be small, a party of 3 is good enough for me! And these easy Instant Pot Cocktail Meatballs are on the menu.

The secret ingredient here is cherry pie filling. It’s actually a recipe that I came up with out of desperation. Usually, I make this recipe with cranberry sauce. Only we don’t have a grocery store in our town – just a Dollar General. And they were all out of cranberry sauce. So I substituted the cranberry sauce with cherry pie filling and actually like it this way better! I know that it sounds a little weird at first, but the end result doesn’t taste anything like cherry pie – I promise! Alternately, if you want to sub out the cherry pie filling for cranberry sauce, that’s pretty tasty too!

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Ingredients for Instant Pot Cocktail Meatballs:

For the meatballs:
1 lb meatball mixture (ground pork and beef)
1 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
2 tbsp minced onion
salt and pepper to taste

For the sauce:
1 cup cherry pie filling
1/2 cup chili sauce

Directions:

First, make the meatballs. Combine the meatball mixture, bread crumbs, egg, minced onion, and a little salt and pepper into 2 inch balls. Make sure that you roll them nice and tight because you want to be able to pick them up with toothpicks. I usually throw on a pair of gloves and get right in there with my hands.

If you can’t find meatball mixture, regular ground beef will do – like you can see that I did here. I just prefer the flavor of the meatball mix. You can also totally cheat here and use frozen meatballs (thawed). There’s nothing like homemade, though!

In another bowl, mix the cherry pie filling and chili sauces together. If your pie filling is too chunky, either puree it first or run it through a strainer. You will want to have some whole cherries for the sake of presentation but the flavor is the most important part here.

Note: This recipe works best if you have the nonstick inner pot, but you can coat the bottom of your regular pot with some cooking spray to keep the mixture from sticking.

Combine all of the ingredients in the Instant Pot and give it a stir. You want to coat all of the meatballs with the sauce.

Close the lid and cook on the meat setting (high pressure) for 20 minutes.

Quick pressure release.

Stir well and serve hot. Ideally, your guests will get some meatballs and some sauce, so you would probably want to put it into a nice deep serving dish and use a pretty spoon to scoop them.

You can also serve Instant Pot cocktail meatballs on a plate with toothpicks and then just pour the sauce over the top. Either way, it will still taste great!

Can I freeze Instant Pot cocktail meatballs?

I recommend that you make the meatballs first and then freeze them that way. That way the sauce is fresh when you put it together.

How do I store the meatballs?

The meatballs can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. After that, you’ll want to freeze them.

Other appetizers to serve with Meatballs:

Veggie Tater Appetizers
Easy Blueberry Wonton Pies
Easy Cheesy Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip Recipe

Tools to make Instant Pot Cocktail Meatballs:

Instant Pot
Tongs
Wooden Spoon

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More Instant Pot recipes you’ll love:

Instant Pot Apple Pie Rice Pudding
Instant Pot Chicken Bacon Corn Chowder
Instant Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Instant Pot Lemon Blueberry French Toast

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