Smoked Barbecue Meatballs

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These smoked meatballs are made with barbecue sauce, barbecue seasoning, and the secret ingredient – crushed pork rinds! Once you start smoking meatballs on the pellet grill, you’ll never go back to the oven.

Why cook meatballs on the smoker?

• Extra smoky flavor – I’ve always said that a pellet grill is basically just an oven with flavor, so the number one reason you would want to make smoked meatballs is for the extra smoky flavor.
• Less mess – Unlike pan-frying, smoking meatballs prevents messes from grease splatters. You can even smoke them on a wire rack (one of our must-have pellet grill accessories) on top of a foil-lined sheet tray to make cleaning your smoker easier.
• Crisp crust and tender, juicy inside – The indirect heat of the pellet grill or smoker creates a slightly crispy exterior while keeping the inside of the meatball tender.

What kind of meat should I use for meatballs?

Because these meatballs will smoke at a low temperature for a longer period of time (versus baking them in the oven), you’ll want a fairly fatty beef or meatloaf-type blend. I recommend an 80/20 ground beef, or you could even use an 85/15 beef.

Ingredients for Smoked Barbecue Meatballs

These are the ingredients that we used for our smoked meatballs, as well as some notes and variations. Exact ingredients and measurements listed in the recipe card down below.

• ground meat – Our meatball mixture contains one pound of 80/20 ground beef and one pound of a beef, pork, and veal blend specifically made for meatloaf or meatballs. If you can’t find the blend that we used, then you can substitute extra ground beef or a full pound of ground pork.
• crushed pork rinds – Since these meatballs are barbecue flavored, we took every opportunity to add those classic smoked barbecue elements, including using pork rinds instead of breadcrumbs. We actually used “pork panko”, or pork rinds that are pre-crushed and packaged in a jar – this is a great low carb option! You can substitute plain breadcrumbs if you wish.
• milk and egg – These add the moisture that you need to keep your meatballs from falling apart on the grill.
• barbecue sauce – Use your favorite. We used Blues Hog Champions’ Blend barbecue sauce for this recipe, and we LOVED it… this sauce will be a new staple in our fridge!
• barbecue seasoning – We used our own ‘Que That Rub and Seasoning, perfect in this recipe!
• garlic and onion – We used freshly grated onion and minced garlic.

My Trick for Rolling Meatballs

After making thousands (literally) of homemade meatballs, this is my go-to method for portioning and rolling the meatballs:

1. Put on a pair of barbecue gloves – this helps the meat not to stick to your hands, and it’s much less messy.
2. Use a 2 tablespoons cookie scoop to scoop out two scoops of the meatball mixture into your hand – so you’ll have roughly 1/4 cup.
3. Roll the meat mixture between your palms until it’s round.

You can make a large quantity of meatballs using a cookie scoop, because of its quick release feature. For smaller meatballs, you can only use one scoop per ball, or use a smaller cookie scoop.

How to Make Smoked Meatballs on the Pellet Grill

These smoked meatballs are made very similarly to oven-baked. The complete instructions are in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Step 1: Make the meatball mixture – Start by mixing the ground meats, milk, egg, barbecue sauce, grated onion, crushed pork rinds (or breadcrumbs), garlic, and your favorite barbecue-style seasoning in a large mixing bowl. I like to use my hands to make sure everything is well combined. Then allow the meatball mixture to sit for about 10-15 minutes – this step is very important, because it allows the pork rinds or breadcrumbs to soak up the moisture from the meat and wet ingredients.

Step 2: Form and season the meatballs – Sprinkle all sides of your meatballs with your favorite barbecue seasoning. After each ball is seasoned, place on a wire cooling rack.

Step 3: Smoke the barbecue meatballs on the grill – Place the wire rack with the meatballs on the pellet grill or smoker. Smoke at 250°F until the internal temperature of the smoked meatballs reaches about 140-145°F, about 1 hour.

Step 4: Glaze the meatballs with barbecue sauce and continue to cook until done – Once the meatballs hit about 145°F internal temp, start basting them with your favorite barbecue sauce. You can use a pastry brush or basting brush to glaze the top of each ball. Continue cooking, glazing every 15 minutes, until the meatballs reach an internal temperature of 160°F.

When your meatballs are fully cooked, remove them from the grill and transfer to a serving platter.

*NOTE – I did not have a problem with my meatballs sticking to the wire rack, but if you find that yours are difficult to remove from the rack, then use a pair of tongs to gently wiggle each ball until it loosens.

What internal temperature for smoked meatballs?

Since our smoked barbecue meatballs recipe includes ground pork, you’ll need to cook them to an internal temperature of 160°F, as read by an instant read meat thermometer.

Be sure to probe multiple meatballs, as they can cook at different times depending on placement on the pellet grill, size of the meatballs, etc.

How long does it take to make barbecue meatballs on the pellet grill?

The cook time will depend on several factors including the temperature and heating capabilities of your pellet grill, the size of the meatballs, etc. Our smoked barbecue meatballs took about 1 hour and 45 minutes at 250°F on the Traeger Ironwood XL pellet grill.

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