Carrageenan Free Cassava Flour Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Sweet, tangy, and deeply savory, these meatballs hit every note you want from a classic sweet and sour dish — without a single ingredient that should give you pause. Carrageenan, a thickener and stabilizer found in many canned or bottled sauces, is a common hidden culprit in store-bought sweet and sour products, but this recipe builds its glossy, clingy sauce entirely from scratch using real food. The sauce gets its body from sweet potato purée and a simple arrowroot slurry, which thickens beautifully without any additives or gums. Pineapple juice and fresh pineapple chunks bring the bright, fruity sweetness, while apple cider vinegar and coconut aminos deliver that punchy, umami-laced tang. The meatballs themselves are seasoned with garlic, ginger, and turmeric, then seared for color before finishing in the oven — so you get a tender, juicy interior with a proper crust. Everything comes together in one skillet for the final toss, making cleanup as easy as the cooking. Finish with a scatter of sliced scallions and you've got a dinner that looks and tastes like serious effort, even when it wasn't.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the meatballs
- 1 lb ground beef (80/20)
- 2 tbsp cassava flour
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
For the sauce
- 1 cup pineapple juice (unsweetened)
- ⅓ cup sweet potato purée
- 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 3 tbsp coconut aminos
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 tsp arrowroot starch
- 1 tbsp cold water
- 1 cup fresh pineapple chunks (about 1-inch pieces)
For serving
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- 2
In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, cassava flour, 2 tbsp coconut aminos, garlic, 1 tsp grated ginger, salt, and turmeric. Mix with your hands until just combined — do not overwork the meat. Roll into balls about 1½ inches in diameter (roughly 20–22 meatballs) and arrange on the prepared baking sheet.
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