Go Back
+ servings
Close up of Thai Meatballs
Print Recipe
5 from 6 votes

Thai Lemongrass Larb Meatballs

Easy-to-make and flavorful Thai larb meatballs made with ground pork, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and glutinous rice (sticky rice).
Prep Time40 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time50 minutes
Course: Main, Side, Snack
Cuisine: Laotian
Servings: 6 Servings
Calories: 323kcal
Author: Joyce Lee

Ingredients

Instructions

Toast the Glutinous Rice

  • In a frying pan, set the stove on low heat and toast the glutinous rice for 5-10 minutes or until golden brown. (Keep the pan moving to prevent the rice from burning)
  • Once the rice has been toasted, let it cool and grind it to a medium powder with a mortar and pestle or food processor and set it aside.

Grinding the Spices

  • Remove and discard the stems and spine of each kaffir lime leaf and set it aside.
  • If you are using a stalk of lemongrass, remove and discard the dried tips and the stem base. You only want to use the white stem of the lemongrass.
  • Peel and remove the skins from the garlic and shallots.
  • In a food processor, grind the: kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lemongrass, garlic, and shallots.
    You can also chop these all by hand but make sure you finely chop them so you don't get big chunks in your meatballs

Rolling the Meatballs

  • In a large bowl, combine the ground pork, lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, toasted glutinous rice powder, and freshly ground aromatics together and mix it by hand or with a stand mixer.
  • Roll the meat mixture into 1 inch meatballs.
    Thai meatballs on a plate

Cooking the Meatballs

  • In a pan, put ¼ to ½ inch of oil and set the stove to medium heat.
    Wait for the oil to get hot and shimmery before adding the meatballs to cook.
    Alternatively, if you want more of a pan-fried meatball, you can use less oil.
  • Cook the meatballs for 5-7 minutes, until golden brown. Flipping them every 30 seconds to evenly cook it all the way through.
  • Enjoy!

Serving it Up - 3 Ways

  • As a Noodle Bowl
    Boil some vermicelli noodles and add the noodles and meatballs into the bowl. Garnish it with fresh mint (or Thai basil), cucumbers, cilantro and some juice from a wedge of lime for some zing. Top it with crushed nuts for a bit of crunch.
    Sauces: Sriracha, Nuoc Cham (A sweet, sour, and salty dressing), thinned-out hoisin dipping sauce
  • As a Lettuce Wrap
    As a wrap, we found using Boston lettuce or green leaf lettuce (different from iceberg lettuce and romaine lettuce) the easiest to roll with. Top it with vermicelli, crushed nuts, and bean sprouts.
    Sauces: Sriracha, thinned-out hoisin dipping sauce.
  • As a Salad
    Chop up any type of green lettuce and top it with chopped vermicelli, bean sprouts, finely minced green onions and any type of fresh vegetable and fruit (like mango!). Serve with crushed nuts for some crunch and a light vinaigrette dressing such as nuoc cham (sweet, sour, and salty fish sauce dressing)

Notes

  • If you are using fresh stalks of lemongrass, use only the whites at the bottom and discard the dried top part of the stalk
  • If the meat is sticking to your hands during the meatball rolling step, keep a small bowl of water around to keep your palms damp before rolling
  • Heat up ½ tsp of meat in the microwave to taste test if the meat mixture is salty or flavorful enough
  • If you have extra lemongrass or kaffir lime leaves, you can store them in a ziploc bag in the freezer.
  • Even though I use ground pork for this recipe, you can make these meatballs with any type of ground meat such as ground chicken, turkey, beef, or duck.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Serving | Calories: 323kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 19g | Sodium: 1501mg | Sugar: 7g