Everything you love about classic French onion dip, combined with meatballs and made so easily in the slow cooker! This meatball recipe is perfect as a fun dinner, or even an appetizer, and is made using just 4 ingredients.
This is one of my Beef recipes I know you’ll want to keep on hand!
I love recipes that combine two things into one incredible dinner, like a buffalo chicken mac and cheese, or a deluxe pizza soup.
Plus, I really love easy dinner recipes, where there’s hardly any prep work, nothing to remember to thaw, and that don’t use all the ingredients in my pantry or refrigerator.
That’s where this recipe comes in! The meatballs are cooked from frozen, there’s no chopping needed, it uses just 4 ingredients, and the slow cooker does 95% of the work.
It combines everything you love about a classic french onion soup, with fun, pop-able meatballs! Serve them alongside mashed potatoes or french bread, and a green vegetable (like roasted asparagus, or bacon green beans), and you have a delicious family dinner everyone will love.
How to make crockpot french onion meatballs?
This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.
- Add meatballs to slow cooker. These meatballs are cooked from frozen.
- Add onion. We like to use a yellow or sweet onion for this, but white will also work well.
- Add soups. Condensed french onion soup is so versatile, and adds a classic flavor.
- Slow cook, then add cheese. This recipe can be cooked on low or high (all the times are in the recipe card towards the bottom of the post).
Helpful Tip!
Personally, I don’t advise using an Italian seasoned meatball variety for this recipe. I generally pick up a bag of my grocery store’s brand meatballs, in the homestyle variety. Cooked Perfect brand and Trader Joes are some other frozen meatball alternatives as well.
Variations of this recipe
- Meatballs – to save on some time, this recipe uses pre-cooked frozen meatballs, but you can use homemade meatballs if you want. Just sear or partially bake them first, so they hold up well in the slow cooker.
- Thawed – if you have thawed meatballs, you can use those, just cook on LOW for 1-2 hours, or HIGH for 1 hour (I would stir a couple of times if cooking on high, just to make sure the meatballs and sauce don’t burn).
- Alcohol – a lot of french onion soup recipes have some kind of alcohol added to give the soup a depth of flavor. So feel free to add a splash of sherry or white wine to the slow cooker.
- Cheese – gruyere is the classic cheese used in french onion soup, so that’s what I chose for these meatballs. However, gruyere is somewhat expensive and can be more difficult to find. Provolone is a great alternative.
- Serving – we love to serve these meatballs over mashed potatoes, toasted french bread slices, or rice.
FAQ’s
Because of the strong french onion flavor, I don’t recommend a flavored meatball (such as an Italian variety). But this recipe works really well with beef, turkey, and chicken meatballs. We love to use our local grocery store’s brand, and Cooked Perfect brand.
Nope, to make things easier and for the sake of quick prep, this recipe calls for frozen meatballs… no need to thaw. Just toss the meatballs in frozen, add the onions, soup, stir, and cook!
Making french onion meatballs ahead of time
Since these meatballs cook in the slow cooker, and there’s not any rushing around cooking, I don’t find I need to make this recipe ahead of time.
If you want to do it, you can make it 1-2 days ahead (minus the cheese), and reheat in the slow cooker until hot and bubbly (sprinkling with cheese the last 30 minutes or so).
Freezing
Meatballs can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then reheat.
Storage
Leftover meatballs should be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
More Slow Cooker Meatball Recipes:
My Favorite Slow Cooker!
I had this crockpot for a while now, and I really love how it cooks. The locking lid feature is amazing for taking food to potlucks or other gatherings!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
- 26 oz bag frozen beef meatballs
- 1 large yellow onion peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 cans (10.5 oz each) condensed French onion soup we like Campbells brand
- 1 cup shredded gruyere cheese we prefer to shred our own (better melt-ability)
Instructions
Prepare
- Add frozen meatballs to the insert of your slow cooker.
Add onion and soups
- To the slow cooker, add the sliced onion and both cans of french onion soup.
- Stir to combine.
Cook
- Cover and cook on LOW for 3 – 4 hours, or on HIGH for 1 – 2 hours. While meatballs are cooking, I like to stir them every so often to make sure the sauce isn't burning.
Add cheese
- The last 15-30 minutes before serving, sprinkle with the shredded cheese. Return the lid back to the slow cooker and continue to cook, covered, until cheese is melted.
Serve
- Serve hot, over mashed potatoes, toasted slices of french bread, or rice.
Want to save this recipe for later? Click the heart in the bottom right corner to save to your own recipe box!
Chef Tips
- I’ve estimated this recipe serves 4, but please feel free to divide it into as many servings as you’d like.
- This recipe works with a bag of frozen meatballs that range from 26-32 oz.
- I haven’t tested using any other types of french onion soup (non condensed, packets of onion soup, etc), so I can’t say how well it would work. If you do some experimenting, I’d love to know how it goes!
Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
John F Bigl says
Came out great !!
Rene says
Can I make my own meatballs or do they have to be frozen?
The Chunky Chef says
You can use homemade meatballs, and all the details for that are in the “variations of this recipe” section of the post above the recipe.
Stephanie says
Loved this recipe! I added fresh garlic, parsley and black pepper at the recommendation of Tiffany below. This was such an easy recipe which I loved! Will 100% be making this again.
Erin says
It is so good! Can’t wait to make this again!
Tiffany says
This was delish. The only changes I made were adding pepper, garlic, and fresh parsley, served over mashed potatoes. The unfortunate thing is I realized the campbells soup has MSG because I felt like absolute garbage for few hours at least. Still, no regrets. Would use this idea again, but would have to do a more homemade version.
Catalina says
The Slow Cooker French Onion Meatballs were a revelation! The meatballs soaked up all the flavors of the French onion soup, making them incredibly tender and tasty!
Beti Micevska says
The whole dish had the comforting flavor of French onion soup and was very easy to make. It was perfect for a cozy meal and everyone enjoyed it.
Katerina Petrovska says
This was a big hit with the family! The dish was a perfect blend of ease and flavor, making it ideal for a cozy dinner. Thank you for sharing!
Sandra says
These meatballs are amazing! And I love that I can make it in my slow cooker with just few ingredients too!
Beth says
These were such a ginormous hit last night! The French onion flavor was wonderful. I served them with rice, and the family devoured them.
Gina says
OMG, these were such a huge hit! I super loved that they were so easy to make in the slow cooker too.
NancyS says
Can these be done in an oven? I don’t have a slow cooker.
The Chunky Chef says
I haven’t tested this recipe in the oven, so I can’t say for certain whether any changes would need to be made, what temperature to bake them, or for how long. If you do some experimenting, I’d love to know how it turns out 🙂
Gérald Périgny says
À faire must be terific