How to Cook Frozen Uncooked Meatballs? [5 Best Techniques]

Meatballs are an absolute delicacy when cooked right. While you can make your foods like pasta, spaghetti, vegetables, etc delicious by adding them. And you can also just have fried meatballs.

You can find uncooked frozen meatballs at the market. You just need to buy them and cook them at home.

how to cook frozen uncooked meatballs?

Well, you can cook frozen uncooked meatballs in many ways. For instance, in the oven, in a crockpot, in an instant pot, in the microwave, in the stove, in an air fryer, etc. All of the ways are easy to follow. It depends on which of them are available at your home. You can cook the meatballs with anything you want.

That’s just a summary of those methods. I’ve much more to share with you about all those methods in detail. To know more about them in detail, go through our following article.

Therefore, let’s get right into it!

How to Defrost Frozen Meatballs?

You can cook frozen meatballs directly. But some people love to defrost meatballs before cooking because it takes less time to cook. But the taste will be the same for both.

If you prefer saving time then you can defrost them if you want.

Here are some ways for defrosting frozen meatballs.

First, put them in the refrigerator before 8 to 12 hours of cooking. This will make reduce the temperature if you’re trying to defrost your refrigerator. This is a kind of slow process.

Now, pack the meatballs in a plastic bag if they are not in a sealed package. Fill a bowl or pot or sink with cold water. Put the bag together with meatballs in the cold water. 

Change the water every 30 mins. The meatballs will defrost within half an hour.

You can also put them under running water in a bowl or sink. This is the quickest way to do it.

If you want it faster, then we have one more solution. You can also put the package of meatballs under hot water. 

Don’t make the water too hot so that meatballs get cooked. Keep it hot within 58° C of temperature. This process will take a maximum of 15 minutes.

There’s a kitchen gadget which can help you defrost them without any hassle. The gadget is Defrosting tray. This tray defrosts any kind of frozen food quickly. 

You need to just put the meatballs in the tray. The meatballs will defrost on all sides and they’re ready to be cooked. This will take up to one hour.

Here we have recommended some defrosting trays for you.

Product 1	Evelots Quick Thaw Meat/Chicken/Fish Defrosting Tray
Product 2	Cuisinart CDT-010 BBQ Defrosting Tray, Black
Product 3	Blazin’ Thaw Defrosting Tray

Now let’s learn how to cook frozen raw meatballs.

5 Perfect Methods to Cook Frozen Uncooked Meatballs

There are many ways to cook them. As they are uncooked, it will take more time than the cooked ones. The cooking time varies based on the size of the meatballs. It is also dependent on whether they are frozen or not.

If you want you can defrost them like the way I’ve shown you or you can directly cook them. It’s optional. I’ll tell you the required timing for both of them.

Method 1: In the Oven

If you want to bring out all the flavors from meatballs, then the oven can help you a lot. Defrosting them is not necessary at all in this case. Let me explain in detail on how to cook frozen uncooked meatballs in the oven.

You don’t even need to take a lot of preparations here.

Arrange an oven-proof tray or dish and a baking sheet.

Keep the baking sheet on that oven-proof tray.

Now you need to preheat the oven upto 350 degrees. Then keep the meatballs over the baking sheet one by one in a single layer.

Now bake them at 350 degrees for a fixed time. 

How long does it take to cook frozen meatballs in the oven?

For small meatballs, it will take 15 to 20 minutes. For medium-sized (two bites) meatballs, it’ll take 20 to 25 minutes. For larger ones (three or more bites), it’ll be 25 to 30 minutes.

After half time, turn the meatballs so that you can cook them properly.

Use a cooking thermometer or cut a meatball to check if you bake it properly or not. If the reading is 165 degrees or more than that, then it is safe to have them.

If you love to have pasta or vegetables with meatballs, you don’t need to do anything. Just mix the frozen uncooked meatballs with pasta or vegetables and bake them like the way I have explained here. For flavor, you can add sauce too.

You can also bake those meatballs together with any kind of sauce. Or add them in sauce after baking them.

Method 2: In the Crockpot

Most simple way to cook frozen uncooked meatballs in an oven is to use a crockpot. Let us know how to cook frozen raw meatballs in crockpot.

For cooking raw meatballs in the crockpot, you’ll need to add sauce. You can add any kind of sauce here. 

First, stir your sauce in the crockpot for a minute. Then add meatballs to the sauce. If your sauce is sticky, don’t stir it too much. 

How long to cook frozen uncooked meatballs in crockpot?

It’ll take about 2.5 hours to cook them on high. And 4 hours to cook them on low.

Besides, you can add onion, ginger, vegetable, pasta, etc with them too. But the proper cooking time is not the same for everything.

So add the items before which need more cooking time. Follow the directions of the crockpot for this. 

Method 3: In the Instant Pot

Do you want to cook meatballs faster without any hassle? Then the instant pot can help you in this case. The process is as easy as a crockpot but faster than a crockpot.

In this case, you can put all your desired items with meatballs at a time.

The thing you must add for this is a liquid or sauce. For more taste, you can add sauce. You can add alfredo sauce, barbeque sauce, spaghetti sauce, etc

Add half of the mixture in half of the instant pot, then meatballs, then the remaining mixture.

How long to cook frozen uncooked meatballs in instant pot?

As I’ve mentioned before, it is a very fast process.

After closing the lid of the instant pot, put the pressure on high. It’ll take 5 to 10 minutes depending on the amount of food.

Method 4: On the Stove

The stove is available in all families. Cooking the meatballs on the stove is very easy. Let me teach you on how to cook frozen raw meatballs on the stove.

To cook them, you will need a frying pan. You can also choose a saucepan.

Add those frozen raw meatballs to the pan. Then add water to the pan. It should barely cover the bottom of the pan, not more than that.

If you cook them on high heat it’ll take less time. But I suggest you cook them on medium-high heat.

Cook those meatballs for almost 5 minutes. And your meatballs are ready to eat.

If you want to make them tasty, you can add any kind of sauce. First, stir the sauce in a pan on the stove for about a few minutes. Then add those steamed meatballs to the sauce. 

This is how to cook meatballs on the stove in the sauce. You can also add boiled pasta or vegetables with them. 

Method 5: In the Air Fryer

Cooking in the air fryer is as easy as instant pot. It also takes less time. And you don’t need any oil or water to boil them. So it is safe for our health too.

Let me tell you how to cook raw frozen meatballs in the air fryer. 

First, take the raw meatballs from the package. You don’t need to defrost them in this case. 

Now place the meatballs on the air fryer. Don’t place them too close to properly cook them.

Now set the temperature and time. The temperature should be 160 degrees and the time should be 12 minutes.

After 12 minutes it will beep. Now to add some crispy to the meatballs set the temperature at 180 degrees and cook for more than 5 minutes.

You can also add sauce to them but you need to stir them the whole time.

That’s all. Here I’ve told you all the ways for cooking frozen uncooked meatballs in detail. So that you can choose which method you want.

Here is a tip for you. If all the ways are not available, you can also cook in a microwave. But the microwave makes them tough. So try to use other options as far as possible.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you fix dry meatballs?

If your meatballs are dry, then add the meatballs into the ice water. It’ll bring back their moisture and make them tender.

Why have meatballs become rubbery?

Meatballs become rubbery due to their inappropriate packaging. If you pack them tightly and compactly, they become rubbery.

What are the reasons for meatballs falling apart?

There are two reasons. If you add many bread crumbs while making them, they become loose. And if you give fewer bread crumbs, they will also fall apart.

Conclusion

Hope you know now how to cook frozen uncooked meatballs. By following our expert guidelines, you can enjoy your yummy meatballs.

For better taste and freshness, you can also make raw meatballs at home. Then freeze them for the future.

Don’t forget to share how you’ve cooked your frozen meatballs in the comment section.

Have fun and enjoy your delicious meatballs!