Potsticker Pork Meatballs

pork meatballs in a bowl with wide noodles, green onions, and a brown sauce.

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This recipe for Potsticker Pork Meatballs has everything you love about potstickers - ground pork seasoned with ginger, garlic, and scallions - in a meatball noodle bowl with a silky, savory sauce. It's the pork meatball recipe for those of us who love pork potstickers but don’t have time or energy to make them from scratch.

Prep Time30

Cook Time30

Total Time50

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Chinese

Servings:

Calories: 834kcal

Author: Joanne Stekler

Ingredients

Pork Meatballs

1 pound ground pork
2 green onions 4 in total, finely sliced, white parts for sauce, dark green for garnish
3 cloves garlic 6 in total, minced, divided between meatballs and sauce
½ tablespoon fresh ginger 1 tablespoon total, grated or minced, divided between meatballs and sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
½ teaspoon kosher salt skip if using full salt soy sauce
¼ teaspoon Szechuan pepper or black pepper

Noodles

1 pound pappardelle or other dried wide noodle
2 tablespoons baking soda
1 teaspoon sesame oil plus more as needed to prevent sticking
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Potsticker sauce and finishing

1 tablespoon neutral vegetable oil
2 green onions 4 in total, finely sliced, white parts for sauce, dark green for garnish
3 cloves garlic 6 in total, minced, divided between meatballs and sauce
½ tablespoon fresh ginger 1 tablespoon total, grated or minced, divided between meatballs and sauce
2 cups Napa or green cabbage chopped
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup rice vinegar
½ teaspoon salt omit if using full salt soy sauce
¼ teaspoon Szechuan pepper or black pepper
toasted sesame oil for finishing, optional
chili crisp or sriracha for serving, optional

Instructions

Start by setting a large pot of water to boil and heating your oven to 450℉. Ready a large bowl for the meatball mixture, and, if you like, two small bowls for mise-en-place.
Add the ground pork to the large bowl. Thinly slice the green onions and reserve the greenest third in a small bowl for garnish, the whitest bottom bits in a bowl for the sauce, and the middle third to the ground pork. Mince the garlic and ginger and divide equally between the ground pork bowl and the bowl with the white scallion bits. Add the remaining meatball ingredients (soy sauce, salt, and pepper) and gently mix the pork meatball mixture. Roll into meatballs using about 1 to 1.5 tablespoons of mixture.
1 pound ground pork, 2 green onions, 3 cloves garlic, ½ tablespoon fresh ginger, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon Szechuan pepper or black pepper
When the pasta water comes to a boil, add a generous amount of salt and two tablespoons of baking soda - be careful, will froth! Cook the pappardelle according to package directions, drain, and toss with a thin coating of sesame oil.
1 pound pappardelle, 2 tablespoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon sesame oil
Add about a quarter to a third of the cooked pappardelle to a separate bowl and toss with the cornstarch. Rip or cut the noodles to bite sized pieces, place on a parchment-lined baking sheet (to prevent sticking) and bake until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes.
2 tablespoons cornstarch
While the noodles are crisping, heat a tablespoon of oil in your pasta pot over medium heat. Add the contents of the bowl with white scallion bits, ginger, and garlic and cook a minute or two until fragrant.
1 tablespoon neutral vegetable oil, 2 green onions, 3 cloves garlic, ½ tablespoon fresh ginger
Add the meatballs and cook until a deep golden crust forms on one side, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir once or twice, browning other sides of the meatballs.
Add the chopped cabbage and stir in for a minute or so, then add the soy sauce, rice vinegar, salt (if using), and pepper. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and let the meatballs braise in the liquid until fully cooked, about 15 minutes.
2 cups Napa or green cabbage, ½ cup soy sauce, ½ cup rice vinegar, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon Szechuan pepper or black pepper
When the meatballs are fully cooked, add the noodles to the pot with the potsticker meatballs. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve in bowls, garnished with the reserved green onion tops, and with sesame oil and chili crisp or sriracha on the side.
toasted sesame oil, chili crisp or sriracha

Notes

This pork meatball recipe will make four extremely generous servings of potsticker meatballs.

Many of the chopping steps can be combined and things prepared and cooked simultaneously without too much stress. I find it particularly time-saving to chop and divide the garlic, ginger, and green onions.

A tablespoon of baking soda per liter of water makes pasta noodles more springy and chewy like Asian noodles, but be careful - this froths up quite high.

Simplify the recipe by skipping the step where you crisp the cooked noodles. If you need to thicken the sauce, add a slurry of a tablespoon of cornstarch in a tablespoon of water.

My family likes things quite saucy. If you want your pork meatball noodle bowl, even saucier, you can consider thinning out the dish with a bit of chicken broth.

Nutrition