Tender meatballs, slow-cooked in a teriyaki glaze with chunks of succulent pineapple for the perfect pairing of tangy, salty, and sweet. These meatballs make for the ideal savory party appetizer or easy dinner idea!
Teriyaki Pineapple Meatballs
Do you want to make a great appetizer for your next party or have an easy dinner that the whole family will love? If so, these slow cooker teriyaki meatballs are just what you need!
My mom and husband loved these. These are super simple to make and only require 3 ingredients, frozen meatballs – chicken, pork, or beef will work (or veggie/plant based), teriyaki sauce, and chunked can pineapple.
You can serve it as either an appetizer with toothpicks or as a main dish with rice and vegetables on the side. Either way, your guests (or family!) will be impressed by how tasty this dish is!
Try these Hawaiian Meatballs next for similar yet different flavors, or my slow cooker honey teriyaki chicken.
Ingredients For Your 3 Ingredient Slow Cooker Meatballs
Below is a list of the ingredients you’ll need to gather to make this recipe, why you need them, and possible substitutions. Scroll all the way down for the full recipe card with measurements.
Jump- Meatballs – Use your favorite frozen, fully cooked meatball. We used beef in this recipe but chicken, turkey, or plant/veggie based will all work. Make sure they’re fully cooked. No need to thaw them. You can use homemade meatballs.
- Teriyaki Sauce – Your favorite Teriyaki Sauce works well. We used Panda Express Mandarin Teriyaki Sauce but you can also make homemade teriyaki sauce.
- Pineapple – I used an 8 oz can of pineapple chunks but you can, of course, use fresh. If using canned, make sure to drain the juice first.
Helpful Tools
I was tempted to just write the word “slow cooker” and finish it off with a period because that is literally all you need for this recipe. But, I didn’t want to seem rude…
Because seriously, technically you don’t even need a spoon to make these crockpot meatballs. It is a true one-pot recipe!
Just dump your frozen meatballs, your can of pineapple, and your teriyaki sauce, in your slow cooker, and you are good to go! Now, that’s a real dump meal!
- Slow Cooker – This 6 quart slow cooker has been my go-to for years. I love that it switches itself to WARM after the designated cook time. Perfect for long days and great for serving out of at parties.
- Spatulas – I use silicone spatulas for everything. I have far too many…
- Ladle – A ladle makes scooping the meatballs out of the crockpot easy.
How To Make Slow Cooker Teriyaki Meatballs
This section shows you how to make this recipe, with process photos showing the steps to help you visualize it. For full instructions, including amounts and temperatures, see the recipe card below.
Jump- STEP ONE: Pour the frozen meatballs, teriyaki sauce, and drained pineapple to the slow cooker basin. Cover and cook on HIGH for 2.5 hours or LOW for 6 hours.
- STEP TWO: That’s it. There really is no step 2 other than serving them!
What to Serve With Teriyaki Meatballs
If you are serving your meatballs as an appetizer, you can serve them on a skewer with chunks of pineapple or, as they are, in the slow cooker. Some other party apps that pair well with teriyaki meatballs are:
- Air Fryer Buffalo Chicken Wings coated with a homemade seasoning blend, served with celery and carrot sticks on the side.
- Potstickers or dumplings from your local Asian restaurant served with soy sauce for dipping.
- Buffalo chicken dip because what’s a party without this dip!
- Baked green bean fries rolled in crunchy panko and served with your dipping sauce of choice!
If you are serving these crockpot teriyaki meatballs as a main dish for dinner, I recommend trying them with:
- Stir fry vegetables like broccoli or bok choy. You can add in chunks of pineapple, too. Yum!
- Some white or fried rice on the side, if you aren’t trying to eat low carb. If you are going low carb, cauliflower rice works wonderfully as well!
- Try some garlic mashed potatoes for pure comfort food. The sauce makes an excellent gravy.
- You can also make a bowl of lo mein with soba noodles.
How To Store Your Pineapple Teriyaki Meatballs
On the off chance you have any leftovers of these easy meatballs, you can store them in your fridge for up to four days or freeze them for later use.
I recommend putting them into an airtight container with some parchment paper between each layer so that they don’t stick together if you put them back in the freezer.
To reheat your meatballs, I recommend putting them into a saucepan with some of the teriyaki glaze and heating on medium-low heat until they are heated through.
Slow Cooker Pineapple Teriyaki Meatballs FAQs
Can I use fresh pineapple in this teriyaki recipe instead of canned?
Yes, you sure can! If you have a fresh pineapple, you can cut it up and put the chunks into your crockpot with your teriyaki sauce and frozen meatballs.
What type of frozen meatballs are the best? Chicken, beef, or pork?
That really depends on your taste preferences. I personally like using beef or pork meatballs when I make this recipe because the teriyaki glaze really enhances the flavor of these meats! Plant/veggie based also work if you’re vegetarian.
Can you make these teriyaki meatballs low carb?
Yes! While it may make this recipe require a little more than 3 ingredients, you can still enjoy teriyaki meatballs.
You may have to mix your meatballs from scratch, depending on if your local grocery store carries low-carb frozen ones. The Sam’s Club beef meatballs I used here only have 6g of carbs in 4 meatballs.
There are more carbs in the teriyaki sauce I used (15g in every 2 Tablespoons), but there are some keto-friendly teriyaki sauces on the market, or you can make one from scratch at home.
You can also substitute the pineapple for a sugar-free jam.
What kind of teriyaki sauce should I use?
This recipe uses store-bought teriyaki sauce. We use Panda Express Mandarin and really like it. I find that like BBQ sauce, everyone has a slightly different opinion when it comes to teriyaki. You might have to try a few to find out which one you like best, or homemade teriyaki sauce.
Need more meatball recipes? Try these:
Sweet & Spicy Slow Cooker Meatballs
Spooky Spaghetti & “Eyeball” Meatballs
Crockpot Cheese Stuffed Turkey Meatballs
Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Meatballs
Slow Cooker Meatball Stroganoff
Click here for my entire collection of slow cooker recipes.
3 Ingredient Slow Cooker Pineapple Teriyaki Meatballs
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds frozen fully cooked meatballs beef, turkey, chicken, plant based
- 1 cup teriyaki sauce
- 8 oz pineapple chunks drained
Instructions
- Pour the frozen meatballs into the basin of a 6 qt slow cooker.2 pounds frozen fully cooked meatballs
- Pour in the teriyaki sauce and drained pineapple chunks.1 cup teriyaki sauce, 8 oz pineapple chunks
- Stir so the meatballs are evenly coated.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 2.5-3 hours or LOW for 6 hours.
- Serve!
Notes
- Use 2 pounds of your favorite frozen, fully cooked meatball. Beef is shown but chicken, pork, turkey, or plant/veggie based all work well.
- I use a 6 quart slow cooker but as small as 4 quart will work.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Did you make this recipe?
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Made these with coconut jasmine rice, edamame, and an Asian chopped salad for dinner last night. AMAZING 🤌🏽
Thanks, Michelle!
I am drooling reading this post! 🥲😋
I found a 46 oz bag of Aidell’s Teriyaki & Pineapple Chicken Meatballs at Costco. I gave my 6 qt crock pot away but I do have a 10 qt. I want to bring this dish to my church luncheon this month. Do you think the 10 qt crockpot is too large for one bag of meatballs? If so, should I get 2 bags? I am craving these meatballs and cannot find a smaller bag at my local grocery store. I love that they are gluten especially since I cannot have gluten. Thanks in advance!
I haven’t worked with a 10 quart, just a 6 & an 8 quart. Two bags would be 6 lbs of meatballs…that’s a lot of meatballs lol but that might be best in a crockpot that size.
I posted a question on here a few hours ago and it seems to have disappeared. I’ll try again and hope it stays this time. I have this recipe for the meatballs planned for a later night this week (10/25/25) and wonder if I can use the jarred Teriyaki Baste and Glaze. I also have a bottled teriyaki marinade but I think that might be too different from your homemade sauce. I don’t have all the ingredients for your homemade sauce or I would definitely make that. Thanks for posting a delicious sounding recipe.
Hi Anna – I think your first comment went to the homemade teriyaki sauce post. You can try the baste but I have a feeling it is thicker than sauce. You may want to thin it a bit with some water? I haven’t worked with it to say for sure. Let me know how it goes!
Hi Melissa, back on 10/21/25 I posted about the 3 Ingredient Slow Cooker Pineapple Teriyaki Meatballs, asking about a different sauce to use. Well I didn’t get to making the meatballs until yesterday, 11-17….life happens lol. Now, I decided to make your Homemade Teriyaki sauce, it’s delicious, but I made some mistakes. It was getting late and I was in a hurry, so I messed up making the sauce, didn’t do the cornstarch correctly, (what the heck, I’m old) and for some reason the recipe only made 1/2 cup. and it was much thicker than yours. I added some pineapple juice from the can, even though it said to drain it, to make the teriyaki sauce measure 1 cup called for. I went ahead and coated the meatballs, turned on the crock pot and watched some TV. Like I said, it was later in the day when I started, so I didn’t pay attention to the setting on the crock pot….it only turned on to ‘low’ and I needed it on ‘high’!! (I’m old…really old lol) Caught the mistake about 45 minutes later and switched it to ‘high’. So, even with making mistakes the meatballs were a hit!!! They tasted delicious, though there wasn’t as much sauce in the bottom of the crock pot as I expected. Most likely because of the mistakes. We will have the leftovers later in the week, with the jasmine rice I fixed to go along with it and I’ll make more of your teriyaki sauce to serve over the rice.
I’m so glad you were able to enjoy them despite some obstacles =) Thank you for reporting back!