A slow-cooker casserole of quartered baby potatoes and fully cooked meatballs in a barbecue and ranch sauce, finished with corn, melted cheddar and green onions.
Ten minutes of assembly, four or five hours on Low, and about twenty minutes of finishing. Six servings.
Why This Recipe Works
- Baby potatoes quartered rather than large potatoes cubed. Quarters of a small potato hold their shape across five hours where cut pieces of a big floury potato would start to break down into the sauce.
- A one-ounce packet of ranch seasoning is a lot of concentrated flavour for a pound and a half of potatoes. It is the herb and buttermilk-tang side of this dish, and it works because barbecue sauce alone would be flatly sweet.
- The meatballs go in frozen and fully cooked, so the whole cook time is a reheat. That is why four to five hours on Low is enough, and why the temperature check rather than the clock is what confirms it.
- Half a cup of beef broth thins the barbecue sauce enough to move between the potatoes. Neat barbecue sauce is too thick to reach the bottom of the crock.
- Corn goes in for the last ten minutes on High, from frozen. Any longer and it loses its bite; this is enough to heat it through while it stays sweet and firm.
The Crock, Bottom To Top
Seven steps, and four of them are about where things sit. This is a casserole built in a slow cooker rather than a stew stirred in one, and the layers stay layers.
Corn, then cheddar, then onions
Frozen corn stirred through for ten minutes on High near the end, then a cup and a half of cheddar over the top under the lid for five to ten minutes, then green onions at the table.
The remaining sauce
Poured over the meatballs so they glaze rather than steam plain. Both halves of the sauce are the same mixture; the split is purely about where it lands.
Two pounds of meatballs
Frozen and fully cooked, straight from the bag onto the potatoes. They release a little liquid as they thaw, which is part of what the potatoes end up cooking in.
Half the sauce
Barbecue sauce, beef broth, ranch seasoning and smoked paprika whisked together, and half of it poured over the potatoes before anything else goes in.
Quartered baby potatoes
A pound and a half, on the greased base. They are the starchy floor of the dish and they need contact with liquid — potatoes above the sauce line stay firm at five hours.
Ingredient Notes
- Baby potatoes, quartered
- A pound and a half. Quartered rather than halved so each piece reaches the sauce and softens in the published window.
- Fully cooked frozen meatballs
- Two pounds, homestyle rather than Italian-seasoned — Italian herbs would fight the ranch. Frozen and fully cooked is what the timing assumes.
- Ranch seasoning
- One 1-ounce packet, dry. It is a concentrated blend and it is one of the two flavours the dish is named for.
- Shredded cheddar
- A cup and a half, added at the very end and melted under the lid rather than stirred through. It is a lid, not an ingredient in the sauce.
- Frozen corn
- One cup, stirred in from frozen for the last ten minutes on High. Do not thaw it first.
How to Make It
Grease the crock and add potatoes
Lightly grease a 6-quart slow cooker and add the potatoes.
Whisk the sauce and pour half
Whisk the barbecue sauce, broth, ranch seasoning and smoked paprika; pour half over the potatoes.
Add the meatballs and the rest
Add the fully cooked frozen meatballs and pour the remaining sauce over them.
Cook on Low to 165°F
Cover and cook on LOW 4 to 5 hours, until the potatoes are tender and the meatballs reach 165°F.
Add the corn on High
Stir in the frozen corn and cook on HIGH 10 minutes.
Melt the cheddar over the top
Sprinkle the cheddar over the top, cover, and cook 5 to 10 minutes until melted.
Finish and serve
Finish with the green onions and serve.
Success Tips
- Whisk the sauce fully before splitting it, so both halves are the same mixture.
- Get the potatoes into a layer rather than a heap so they all reach the liquid.
- Check a meatball from the middle of the crock for 165°F, not one at the edge.
- Add the corn frozen and give it only the ten minutes.
- Put the cheddar on last and leave the lid on while it melts.
Serving Ideas
Straight from the crock as a one-pot dinner. Something sharp and green alongside balances the sweet sauce and the cheese.
Storage and Reheating
Refrigerate
Refrigerate up to 4 days. The potatoes keep taking on sauce, which is no bad thing.
Freeze
Freezes for up to 2 months, though the potato texture softens on thawing. Cool completely and freeze in portions.
Reheat
Covered, in a low oven or gently on the hob, until the meatballs are back to 165°F. Add a splash of broth if it has tightened.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use pasta instead of potatoes?
The casserole is built on potatoes as its starchy base and the four-to-five-hour Low cook is written for them. Pasta would be long past done in that time, and no timing for it is published here.
Can I use raw or homemade meatballs?
This recipe uses fully cooked frozen meatballs, so its cook time is a reheat rather than a cook. Raw meatballs would need different timing and a different check.
My potatoes were still firm at five hours.
They were probably above the sauce line. Spread them across the base rather than piling them, and make sure the first half of the sauce goes over them before the meatballs land on top.
How is this different from the apple BBQ meatballs?
That one is an appetiser — meatballs in an apple butter and barbecue glaze, served on sticks. This is a full casserole with potatoes as its base, corn stirred through and a melted cheddar top.
