An authentic Lion’s head meatball recipe that uses breadcrumbs, water chestnuts, and aromatics to make super light, fluffy and juicy meatballs that are bursting with flavor.
Chinese pork meatballs are also called lion’s head (狮子头, shi zi tou). They feature tender, moist, and light meatballs with a savory taste. This dish is a staple food for my family, because it’s quite easy to cook in big batches and is so comforting to enjoy at any time. Eating savory meatballs with rice is as addictive as eating a burger. Juicy and flavorful meat and starch are the best combo in the world.
You’ll find quite a few versions of Lion’s Head in China. One popular rendition in northern China is braised meatballs. The cooking method for those is quite close to the one in this recipe. But instead of steaming, those meatballs are braised in a soy-sauce-based liquid after browning. Another type is meatballs cooked in chicken broth, from Shanghai cuisine. They’re usually served by themselves instead of over rice.
Today I’ll introduce a third type – a steamed lion’s head meatball. This recipe was passed down from my grandma. She used to make a huge batch of these every two weeks. After cooking them, she’d reserve a small amount to serve to guests who might be visiting her house. She would freeze the rest and give them away to family members, including my parents. These meatballs are my favorite and are even better than the ones from the restaurant. They are extremely fluffy and moist and are as tender as the pork in a slow-cooked Bolognese sauce.
How to make pork meatballs extra light
The secrets to creating super fluffy Lion’s head meatballs are:
- Mix water into the meat to make a very tender and moist patty
- Add plenty of breadcrumbs
- Add plenty of water chestnuts
The breadcrumbs create an airy texture. The water chestnuts add a really refreshing and crisp mouthfeel, so the meatballs will taste extra light.
How to make lion’s head meatballs
- Add water, seasonings and aromatics to the ground pork
- Mix in the water chestnuts
- Add eggs and breadcrumbs
- Mix in sesame oil
- Pan fry the meatballs
- Steam the pan fried meatballs
Mix the filling in order
It’s important to add all the liquid seasonings and water at the beginning, and mix until the liquid is fully absorbed. This will give the meatballs a moist texture and proper seasoning.
My mom always told me to add the sesame oil at the end, to seal the flavor and prevent the liquid from seeping out of the pork, if you’re not cooking the meatballs immediately.
One word about frying the meatballs
Once you shape the meatballs, you need to brown them to create the heavenly crust and seal the juiciness inside. It also helps the meatballs to keep their shape.
Since this is a very moist patty, it can be a bit tricky to pan fry while keeping them in an intact round shape. I wouldn’t worry if the meatballs are not perfectly shaped. And if you have trouble keeping them from falling apart, you can slightly press the meatballs so they have a slightly flat shape (but not as flat as a burger patty), so they’re easier to brown.
Steaming the meatballs
Once you steam the meatballs, some fat will be rendered out. The finished meatballs will be flavorful, tender, juicy yet not greasy.
How to serve lion’s meatballs
A lot of my American friends are not used to having meatballs without a sauce. But trust me, these Lion’s head meatballs are so well seasoned that they taste really good by themselves. I love to serve the meatballs as a main dish over steamed rice. And it’s always great to accompany them with some light and refreshing side dishes such as cucumber salad, okra stir-fry, or spinach salad.
The meatballs are one of my favorite lunch items, too. They freeze well and taste great after reheating. Stuff one of these into your lunchbox with steamed rice and some stir fried greens, and you’ll make all of your colleagues jealous when you heat it up in the office microwave.
Afterthought
My mom once told me, making the meatballs tender was not the original intention of adding so many other ingredients to the pork. It’s because pork was in short supply when she was a kid, so her parents needed to find a way to make these meatballs more filling with limited ingredients. Thus, the moist and tender texture of the meatballs was just a nice side effect of living poor. Even now, my family still enjoys cooking with this recipe. It tastes like home.
Other delicious pork recipes
- Chinese Braised Pork Trotters (红烧猪蹄)
- Pork Liver Stir Fry (炒猪肝)
- Pork and Chive Dumplings (猪肉韭菜水饺)
- Pork Chop Suey
- Sweet and Sour Ribs (糖醋小排)
- Jing Jiang Rou Si (Peking Shredded Pork, 京酱肉丝)
Lion’s Head Meatballs (狮子头, Shi Zi Tou)
Ingredients
- 1 lb (450 g) ground pork
- 4 tablespoons Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
- 3 tablespoons light soy sauce (or soy sauce)
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt (*Footnote 1)
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons grated ginger
- 4 green onions , minced
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 12 (one 8-oz / 227-g can) water chestnuts , finely chopped
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup (50 g) panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
Instructions
Prepare the meatballs
- Add ground pork into a large bowl. Add 4 tablespoons of water. Mix well with a spatula until water is fully incorporated.
- Add Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, salt, sugar, grated ginger, cornstarch, and scallion. Mix well.
- Add water chestnuts and eggs. Mix a few times. Then add panko. Mix well.
- At the end, add sesame oil. Mix until it forms a soft paste.
Cook the meatballs
- Heat the oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Turn to medium heat.
- Brown the meatballs in batches. Scoop 1/3 cup of the ground meat mixture and shape it into a meatball. The meatball will be quite soft, barely able to hold its shape (so the finished meatballs will be tender and juicy). If the meatballs are too hard to handle and cannot hold their shape, add a bit more panko and mix again.
- Carefully place 3 to 4 meatballs in the skillet and make sure to leave enough space to flip them. When the bottom side turns golden brown, carefully roll the ball with a spatula to cook the other sides. Continue to do this until at least two sides are set and browned (*see footnote 2). Transfer to a deep plate or a bowl that can fit into your steamer rack. Continue to brown the rest of the meatballs.
- Steam the browned meatballs in batches. Heat water in a steamer until boiling. Place the plate of meatballs on the steaming rack and place the steaming rack onto the steamer. Cook covered until the meatballs are cooked through, 30 minutes or so.
- Cook the rest of the batches using the same method. After cooking the first batch, check the water level and add more if it runs too low. Serve hot as a main.
Storage and reheat
- Store the meatballs in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. After steaming, the meatballs will render some fat and liquid. Drizzle it onto the meatballs before storage, to keep them tender and moist.
- The best way to reheat the meatballs is by steaming, the same method used to cook them. The meatballs will be heated evenly and still be moist inside. Alternatively, you can use the microwave. Make sure the container has some liquid (leftover grease or 1 teaspoon water) in it. Place a loose lid on top and heat it up in the microwave.
Notes
- I reduced the salt from my original recipe, since I received some feedback stating the meatballs were too salty. I think the current salt level (1 1/4 teaspoons) is great if you serve the meatballs as a main dish with greens. If you want to serve it with rice, consider using 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt.
- It can be difficult to keep the meatballs round shaped, because the meat mixture is quite runny. You need to handle them gently, so the balls won’t break apart. You can cook the top and bottom sides first, like cooking a very thick burger patty. Then you can use two spatulas to let the meatball stand, to cook the edges. The meatballs won’t look very pretty, but will still taste great.
Wow! These look amazing…I have some ground pork in the freezer and this is what I’m going to do with it!
Hi Maggie, I will try this recipe! I love Chinese and Asian food as I am from Japan living in Brisbane, Australia. I have been reading Nagi’s food bloggers central and I have just learnt how to hide long pinterest photos. Thank you. Shihoko
Hi Shihoko, thanks for stopping by! I have been living in Japan for two years and I LOVE Japanese food! Just followed back, and looking forward to reading more delicious Japanese recipes 🙂
These lion’s head looks amazingly delicious! It is a great idea to do a steam version. Much healthier! I will need a big bowl of rice to go along with them. Thank you for sharing your grandma’s recipe! The family’s recipes are the best treasure. They have the comforting flavors that we are always looking for and going back to. I got to try this for sure!
The Shaoxing wine is all I’m missing, and the big Spec’s on mopac (omg you’re moving to Austin! So am I! We just signed everything for our very first house, so no more boonyland living for a while, though finding just the right things may still rely on the almighty Amazon sometimes) might be able to order me some if they don’t have it stocked already.
TheHubs loves pork so this should please everybody.
Congratulations for you new house Mary! Moving is so exhausting, but it’s definitely rewarding after everything’s settled 🙂
I rely on Amazon for lots of shopping too. However, I don’t really recommend you to purchase the Shaoxing wine there. I remember it contains salt. The dish will turn up very salty if you’re not careful. If you have moved, check out H.E.B, WholeFoods or any liquor store for Japanese sake (rice wine). The flavor is a bit different from Shaoxing wine, but it’s a great alternative in Chinese cooking. Plus, you can drink it too 😉
It is! All of those things.
Also, very good to know. Spec’s ( liquor store in Austin ) claims to have some of the wine already, but I will check it to be sure it’s not mostly salt water. That I could use sake instead is excellent to know! Sake is much easier to come by, but I want to try the intended flavor first =)
The tricky part is, Shaoxing wine is drinkable, but the cheap ones are mostly used for cooking. I’ve checked the big Asian market in Austin, and unfortunately it’s the salty one. I didn’t check Spec’s yet, but I’m suspect the Shaoxing wine is not delicious enough for a liquor store. Anyhow, do let me know if you find Shaoxing wine! So I won’t need to drive to Houston to get it every time 🙂
Hi Maggie, I have made this recipe so many times, it’s amazing. Thanks! I have a suggestion in case Shaoxing wine is not available. In my opinion, though not the same taste, dry white Martini works well. I live in a region I can’t always get what I need so have to use the tools I have!
That is good to know! I always use dry sherry as an alternative but I’m glad that dry white martini worked as well 🙂
Thank you for leaving a positive review!
A Chinese friend introduced me to Chinese cooking 40-50 years ago, and plain sherry wine is the one ingredient she suggested, we didn’t have access to a Chinese grocery store at the time. Use it in all my Chinese dishes and spaghetti sauce too! Easy to purchase at most grocery or liquor stores.
I always use sake in your recipes – because its all I could find – they all turn out great!
I love the name of these meatballs. I”m always looking for new recipes and your sounds so flavorful I have to give this a try.
These meatballs sound wonderful. And I’m delighted to know that your visa was approved, and I hope your move to Austin goes smoothly.
Thanks Susan! I’m very happy about the visa too. I will keep you updated in my newsletter after the moving. Have a great week 🙂
These sound and look very delicious Maggie! I’ll make them, whenever I find some water chestnuts 🙂
I’d love to make these, Maggie, but I don’t cook wiht pork. What other ground meat would you substitute, turkey, maybe? Also, thanks for showing Nagi how to hide collage pins. That’s how I discovered your great blog, too.
Thanks for stopping by Marlene! I haven’t tried to use other ground meat with this recipe yet. I’m afraid turkey ground meat is too lean to create a tender texture by using this one. I’d like to try it out in my kitchen and report back how the dish turns out 🙂
Hello, I know this is a thread from a few years ago but here’s my experience in case people still have the same question. I made them with ground turkey and I’m not sure how true to the recipe they were but they were delicious! I followed pretty much everything else except I used white vermouth instead of the cooking sake. I just happened upon this blog and I’m so glad I did! Thank you!
Hi Katie, thanks so much for letting me know that the recipe works with ground turkey as well! I’m pretty sure those turkey meatballs you made were delicious 🙂 I will try it again the next time. We are trying to lose some weight lately, so we’d always prefer leaner meat.
I’m happy that you found my blog as well! Have a great week ahead 🙂
These are my favourite – and your recipe sounds exactly like the ones I order. Meltingly soft meatballs that somehow hold their shape. Yummo!
Recipes passed on from grandma’s are always the best! Your Lions head meatballs look so tender and delicious. I especially like the added water chestnuts, yum! This is a great meal to cook once and eat twice as freezing is a really good idea. sharing, Pinning, sending smoke signals…Take Care, BAM
Maggie, I made this last weekend and it was AMAZING !!!! *insert clapping sound* I was on a low carb diet so I skipped the corn starch and sugar, but it was still really yummy. This recipe rocks 😀
Hi Chi, I’m so glad you cooked my recipe! 🙂 And it’s great to know that skipping the cornstarch and sugar is fine. I will try it out myself next time. Thanks for leaving a feedback. Have a lovely day 🙂
Fresh chestnut? Can you use canned ones since it is hard to get fresh ones where I live
Yes you can totally use canned.
Hi, Maggie, I’m going to try these tomorrow using ground beef and ground veal, 50-50,, and I’ll report back. I was wondering if you’d ever tried browning them in the oven on broil or at 450 F, perhaps, instead of doing them on the stovetop. I was thinking the meatballs might hold together more easily for the transfer stage.
Reporting back, Maggie: I made them with a 50-50 mix of ground beef and veal, using two eggs and ginger-infused dry sherry instead of the Shaoxing wine. I made them smaller, using about 1/4 cup of he meat mixture or less, for 16 meatballs. Although they were a bit time-consuming, the results were outstanding. My husband, whose nickname is Mr. Fussy, said this was definitely a recipe to make again. I served them with sesame noodles. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
Hi Marlene, thanks so much for keeping me updated on the cooking! The beef meatballs idea sounds great! I love cooking with beef too and I can’t wait to try out your idea 🙂
Did you brown the meatballs on stovetop or in the oven? Most of traditional Chinese cooking does not use oven since average family doesn’t have it in the kitchen. But I do think it should work for this recipe. It’s probably possible to cook the meatballs in the oven all the way through, not just the browning part (at a lower temperature of course). I’d love to do some experiments on this 🙂
So glad you and your husband love this dish. Have a great week ahead!
I browned them on the stove as the recipe says. And thank you for including storing and reheating directions. We had them again tonight and they steamed perfectly. Next time I’ll make more because they freeze so well. And I will see if the right kind of ground turkey might work..
Hi Marlene, thanks for leaving a comment and let me know! Yes they freeze very well. That’s why I always make a big batch and save them for later. I believe ground turkey will work if you get the one that contains 15% fat. I tried it the other day with a slightly different recipe, the meatballs turned out very tender and nice.
OMGoodness!!! It’s delicious, tender and moist! I added napa cabbage on the bottom of the meatballs before steaming it. Served it with steamed rice!!! YUMMIE!!!
Thanks for sharing!!!!!!
So glad to hear you cooked many of my dishes and enjoyed the result. You just made my day Cathleen!
The meatball recipes is a family recipe that was handed down from my grandma. I’m so glad the dish can be shared and enjoyed with people around the world 🙂
I’m only able to find the salty Shaoxing cooking wine variety. I plan on reducing the light soy sauce by a teaspoon and a 1/2 to balance the salt out. Should I omit more light soy? Can’t wait to make these
Hi Stephen, I never used the salty Shaoxing wine, so it’s really difficult for me to tell. I think you can try slightly reduce soy sauce. I won’t suggest omitting it because it adds nice flavor. Even if the meatballs turn out a bit salty, you can always serve them with a bit more rice.
Happy cooking!
Hi Maggie! Yours recipes are excellent. Can you suggest substitutes for water chestnuts?
There is no perfect substitutes because water chestnuts add a nice crispy texture that make the meatballs light. I’d suggest diced white onions if you don’t have water chestnuts. They do turn soft after cooking. The result won’t be the same, but should still be tasty.
Happy cooking!
Wouldn’t jicama work as a sub for water chestnuts?
I think you can, but the jicama might get very soft due to the long cooking time, therefore results in a very different texture. The chestnut will stay crunchy, so more of a contrast texture for the tender meatballs.
Hi Maggie, I came across your blog while searching for meatball recipe. Yours look very delicious, will try it soon. Do you have any recipe on pairing the meatball with some kind of sauce?
Hi Anita, sorry I do not have a sauce recipe that goes with this dish. We usually season the meatballs with plenty of spices so they will be flavorful enough to serve by themselves.
If you’d like to serve it with sauce, I think a yogurt based sauce (such as tzatziki) should go these meatballs.
Thank you for the reply Maggie! Yogurt is such a great idea 😀
eep… just tried the recipe and the flavor was good but it’s wayyyyy too salty for my taste. even paired with rice and veggies still salty I would cut the salt by 1/3 next time and just keep the soy. four tablespoons of soy is already pretty sodium heavy.
I’m sorry to hear it! Did you use a salted Shaoxing wine? This recipe uses a lot of wine and it might cause the problem (I was using a Shaoxing wine that does not contain salt). Also, there is only 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce. It is less powerful than light soy sauce. So if you’re using 4 tablespoons, it will increase the salt level. Anyhow, I hope they will turn out tastier the next time.
Just tried this recipe and oh my goodness! So flavoursome, delicious and moist just as you described. We also just as an accidental happinstance – tried them with tzaziki and they tasted amazing.
Thanks for a wonderful and authentic recipe – I love cooking outside of my cultural upbringing and these are delicious, light, fluffy and a bright addition to our ’round the world’ attitude to food x
Hi Melissa, I’m so glad to hear the recipe worked out well! And yes, I believe the tzaziki sauce will go very well with these meatballs. It is great that you’d like to venture out of your comfort zone and challenge new dishes! I’m happy to share the recipes from my culture with you 🙂
Have a great day!