These Smoked Meatballs are stuffed with gooey mozzarella cheese, slowly smoked on the grill, and then finished with a BBQ sauce glaze. Smoked Stuffed BBQ Meatballs are the ultimate game day food or appetizer for your next gathering.
We don’t mess around with meatballs around here. I like to pack them with bold or unique flavors. Whether we’re going with our giant meatballs perfect for a meatball sandwich, or the holiday flavors of the smoked meatballs in a cranberry pinot noir sauce, or even lamb meatballs for a twist, we like to make them big BBQ flavor bombs.
Now smoked meatballs alone are fantastic. But if you want something fun and indulgent for game day, party appetizer, or heck just a Tuesday night dinner, these Smoked Stuffed BBQ Meatballs are absolutely delicious.
How to make Smoked Stuffed BBQ Meatballs
We start with the meat. In this case we’re combining beef and pork for added flavor. Then adding flavor and binding in the form of our dry seasonings, liquids, and egg. For the cheese there are plenty of options (cheddar, mozzarella, fontina, provolone, comté, anything that melts well).
We’re going with mozzarella, specifically store-bought string cheese. Why? Because it’s so simple to take the cheese, cut it into small cubes, and stuffed it into that meat! Boom. Feel free to shred your cheese, or spend time cubing up large chunks of cheese yourself. But why when you can just take that long piece of string cheese and cut it. Easy stuffed meatballs, right?
Just form your ball and make a little well in it (see photo above), and place your cheese in the well, then cover it up and reshape the ball.
How to Smoke Stuffed Meatballs
Place the stuffed meatballs on the smoker at 225 degrees for 45 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the meatballs reach 155 degrees.
In this case we’re smoking the meatballs on the Big Green Egg using apple wood. But these meatballs work great on whatever cooker you have!
Once the meatballs reach temp, transfer them to a heatproof dish (a cast iron pan works perfect for this), and add your BBQ sauce. Gently toss the meatballs around (or use a large spoon) to get the balls fully covered in the sauce.
Then place back on the smoker and cook an additional 10-15 minutes, to let the sauce set. When do you know your meatballs are done? When they reach 165 degrees (F) using a thermometer. In this case you have cheese in the middle, so you want to be sure you are temping the meatball itself, the cheese will come up to temp faster than the meat.
Can you smell em?
When they’re finished, remove the dish from the smoker, and serve immediately.
You can serve directly from your dish, or transfer to platter.
However you choose to serve them, make sure to dig in while they’re still warm to take advantage of that ooey, gooey, delicious, melted cheesy goodness.
These are fantastic as a party food, but also make incredible sliders for a meal.
I think you’re going to love these!
Are these Meatballs Gluten Free?
They can be made gluten free by using pork panko “breadcrumbs”. These may be hard to find, but they’re a great substitute for regular panko breadcrumbs. Otherwise use whatever your favorite gluten free breadcrumb substitute.
Equipment Used
We used a FINEX 12″ cast iron pan to finish the meatballs in the smoker with. (affiliate link)
More Meatball Recipes
- Smoked Meatball Sandwiches
- Smoked Meatballs in a Cranberry Pinot Noir Sauce
- Smoked Lamb Meatballs
- Turkey Meatballs with Bacon Paste
- Buffalo Chicken Meatball Sliders
Thomas says
Pretty good. In my personal opinion, using sauces hides the Smokey flavor. Next time I think I will hold the sauce.
Kelli says
These are ridiculously good! I made them in my Masterbuilt electric smoker. I actually finished them in the oven on broil to get a nice thick bbq sauce glaze on them. I made them into meatball sandwiches with Provolone cheese melted on top and a little sprinkle of parsley.
Katy M. says
I think we’ll try these out today!! They look amazing! And the maple-orange salmon is on Gary’s to-do list! Plus more poppers…. I feel like we’re in training for some big game coming up
Mary says
That’s so awesome! How did they come out??
Erin @ Platings and Pairings says
Oh my goodness these look amazingly good!!! That cheese pull? Yum!
Sean Martin says
Thank you Erin….someone has to stretch the cheese, right!!?
Danielle says
Oh my! These look delicious! Probably something I shouldn’t be reading while fasting lol!! I’ve found some really good gluten free breadcrumbs at places like Whole Foods – and they’re just as good. Can you still make these if you don’t have a smoker?
Sean Martin says
Danielle, absolutely. You don’t need a smoker. Since you aren’t as worried about the slow part for flavor, you can pre cook in the oven at higher heat on a sheet pan and add the sauce at the end.
Meg Cotner says
Oooh, these sound like great party food! I love the gooey cheese element.
Catherine @ To & Fro Fam says
For a second I thought those bites of cheese were marshmallows and I was all, WHAAAAAA? Then I looked closer. Cheese is probably more delicious than marshmallows in meatballs. 😉