A four-factor central composite design was adopted for studying the effects of fat, salt, sugar and cooking temperature on qualities of an emulsified meatball or Chinese meatball. Results indicated that texture is the most important characteristic of this type of meat product. Consumers prefer a harder texture. Panel preferences significantly increased with the amount of salt added and significantly decreased with the amount of fat added in the process. Higher salt addition caused more salt-soluble protein to be extracted from the muscle cells to form a more stable meat emulsion, which resulted in lower cooking loss and made the final product harder and, therefore, obtained higher preference scores from the panels. Higher fat addition produced lighter products, but product color has a minor influence on acceptability Interaction effects between most processing variables were insignificant, except for product odor.