Next Post
Creamy Roasted Tomato Ricotta Pasta with Crispy Prosciutto.
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
Sweet and Spicy Sesame Meatball Bowl with Mango Cucumber Salad. This dish incorporates a variety of flavors and fresh summer produce. It’s a delicious mix of cozy and healthy, and a great way to use up garden cucumbers and fresh basil. It’s made with tamari, plenty of ginger, garlic, sesame seeds, and served over steamed rice. Top with spicy cucumber mango salad and you’ll have a super delicious bowl that’s ready in under an hour.
If there’s one thing I love doing, it’s taking something kind of boring, like chicken and meatballs, and reinventing the dish to be exciting and extra delicious. I’m often bored with recipes. So looking at a type of meat like chicken, and trying to come up with a way to reinvent it, is always a nice challenge.
These meatballs aren’t over the top or crazy different. But for someone who’s used to cooking only Italian-style meatballs, these are a fun twist.
I did my best to use ingredients I had easy access to. And when I was finished, I had such a yummy Asian rice bowl-style dinner. My family’s favorite!
With peaches coming into season, cucumbers growing in everyone’s garden, and mangos now plentiful at the grocery store, I chose to highlight these three as my summer produce.
I love the fresh flavors, sweetness, and color they add!
You can use ground chicken or pork for these meatballs. I actually think I prefer pork, but both options work really well. Mix the ground meat with cilantro, green onions, garlic, ginger, and my secret, Worcestershire sauce. It adds a really delicious, salty, and almost umami-like flavor. You don’t know it’s there, but it adds so much.
The meatballs are seared up in a skillet for super-quick cooking.
While the meatballs cook, you’ll want to mix the sauce. It’s tamari (or soy sauce), lots of chili sauce, more garlic, ginger, honey, and sesame seeds.
The sauce is poured over the meatballs. Then a little cornstarch or arrowroot powder is added to help thicken it just so slightly.
To be honest, this was the idea that got the whole dish going. I want to make a spicy cucumber salad, but I wanted to incorporate summer fruit, fresh mango, and peaches. I thought the mix sounded perfect to serve along with meatballs!
It’s easy, just mix everything together with gochugaru flakes.
Then serve over rice, and top with additional green onions and basil. These were the perfect toppers since we have so much growing in our garden right now!
A great family dinner that’s easily ready in under an hour!
Looking for other quick weeknight dinners? Here are some favorites:
Coconut Popcorn Chicken with Sweet Thai Chili Lime Sauce
30 Minute Sticky Thai Meatballs with Sesame Noodles
Better Than Takeout Sweet Thai Basil Chicken
Spicy Chipotle Honey Salmon Bowls
Lastly, if you make this Sweet and Spicy Sesame Meatball Bowl with Mango Cucumber Salad, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Great recipe. I reduced the sesame oil and increased the honey to make it a bit sweeter. It’s on “the list” according to my kids!
Hey Robin,
Amazing!! Thanks so much for making this recipe, I am so excited it was enjoyed! Hope you’re having a great weekend! xx
My husband says thank you this gosh was fantastic
Hey Lisa,
Happy Friday!!? Thanks for giving this recipe a try and sharing your review, I am so glad it was a hit! xT
Everything was great! The salt on the cucumbers was really gross so I made a new batch without jt
Hey Jacqueline,
Thanks for trying the recipe and sharing your feedback. Sorry to hear about the salt! xx
The key to the salt in the salad is to pat them with paper towel, rinse and dry the bowl and add them back in with the fruit. I used peaches only.
Made this with lean ground turkey and found the meatballs too dry. Next time I’ll use regular ground turkey. I made on batch with sweet chili sauce and that was not as good as the batch with regular chili sauce.
Hey Patricia,
Happy Friday!!? Thanks for giving this recipe a try and sharing your review, I am so glad it was a hit! Good to know about the lean ground turkey! xT
Made this dish tonight for my husband and he said it tasted SO authentic. This was my first time trying one of your recipes. Now I am obsessed with all of them. Thank you for making such easy video tutorials on Instagram. I love them.
Hey Tina,
Happy Tuesday!! Wonderful! I am so excited to hear that this recipe was a hit, thanks for trying it out! Thanks for your kind message:) xx
Pork meatballs have good flavor, however I highly suggest not using a tablespoon of salt for only two Persian cucumbers. I got minimal water from them and the entire salad portion was ruined due to how salty it tasted from the cucumbers.
Hi Caroline,
Thanks so much for making this recipe and sharing your feedback, so sorry to hear about your cucumbers. Hope you’re having a great day! xTieghan
Made these tonight, they were delicious (as are all of your recipes that I have tried). Will definitely make again!
Hey Jes,
Thanks so much for your kind message and giving this recipe a try, I am so glad it was enjoyed! Happy Sunday! xTieghan
I made this tonight and it was amazing! Thank you.
Hey Pam,
Happy Sunday!! Thanks so much for making this recipe, I am so glad it was a hit! xTieghan
This was such a perfect summer dish! The only edit I made was adding about a tablespoon or so of rice vinegar to the cucumber mango salad to mimic traditional Korean cucumber salad and it was such a good choice – the splash of acid highlighted the sweetness of both the mango and cucumber. Highly recommend!
Hey Megan,
I am so glad this recipe was enjoyed, thanks so much for trying it and sharing your feedback! Happy Friday! xx
Delicious!! Took the advice of some previous comments and reduced the salt on the cucumber a little bit, and also used chipotle chili powder in the salad because my store didn’t have gochugaro.
Hi Kalynn,
Happy Friday! I am so excited that you enjoyed this recipe, thanks a lot for giving it a go! xT?
Made this tonight and it was delicious, thanks!!
Hey Jac,
Happy Wednesday!? Thanks so much for making this recipe, I am so glad it was a tasty one! xxT
Not sure why but we all thought the sauce was too salty. Meatballs were good.
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try, sorry about the salt! Did you use low sodium soy sauce? You could try coconut aminos next time for less sodium. I hope this helps! xTieghan
Excellent recipe, robust flavors. Have now made this recipe 2x with rave reviews from friends and family. One tip- leave out the salt on the cucumbers. They don’t need all the extra salt, the tamari/soy sauce in the salad and sauce provides plenty of savory flavor.
Hey Alexandra,
Thanks for your comment! So glad to hear that this dish was a winner, thanks a lot for giving it a go! ?xTieghan
I LOVE your recipes Tieghan! I’ve been meal prepping with only your recipes for months now and I’m obsessed! I’m sad because I think this one missed the mark a little. The full tablespoon of salt on the cucumbers was a LOT. I saw you said to just drain the excess water but I think they definitely needed to be rinsed perhaps? I could not eat the salad after that, it was just too much salt. The meatballs were absolutely delicious but the insides were bland unless I added some soy sauce to them before I ate them. Again, LOVE your recipes!
Hi Arianne,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try, sorry to hear it was not enjoyed. If you rinse the cucumbers, you are just adding the water back into them. You could try patting them with a paper towel next time to see if that would help! xTieghan
Hi,
Love your stuff. Can you make the meatballs a bit ahead of time and put in frig on parchment paper? Making this for a dinner party and don’t like to be slaving over stove while socializing. Too stressful.
Thanks,
Tami
Hey Tami,
Totally, that will work well for you! Let me know how the recipe turns out, I hope you love it! xx
Yummy recipe! Hubby and I loved it. Used turkey thigh instead of chicken/pork and I had a nectarine at home so I used that instead of the mango. Turned out great! Also, used Gochuchang chili sauce instead of Gochugaru flakes.
Hi Lindsay,
Happy Friday!!? I am thrilled to hear this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a bunch for giving it a try! xxT