This twist on a traditional meatball is cooked with rice in a delicious sauce to create the “prickly porcupine quills” appearance that my kids love. Traditional porcupine meatballs are simmered on the stovetop but baking them makes these tender meatballs extra easy to prepare. Ten minutes of prep and an hour in the oven and these kid-friendly, baked porcupine meatballs are ready to serve!
The name may be silly but this dish serves up serious flavor.
The side’s in the main dish.
With rice baked right into this porcupine meatball recipe, there’s no need for a starchy side dish. This is one of the many reasons that this is one of my favorite weeknight meals. I simply steam some broccoli or green beans, make a garden salad or add fresh asparagus to the oven along with the meatballs during the last ten minutes of the cook time, and voila…dinner is served.
Part meatball, part meatloaf.
This classic comfort food recipe reminds me of meatloaf. Ground beef packed with onion and spices and covered in a tomato sauce. Some of the traditional recipes even add tomato soup which sweetens the sauce a bit. This leads me to a unique ingredient…ketchup. It’s so good on a meatloaf so why not give it a shot on it’s smaller, rounder, rice’ier (ok..I made that word up) counterpart? Skip the tomato soup and a cup of ketchup goes into the sauce for a unique twist on this popular 1970’s classic.
Baked Porcupine Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 lb 80/20 ground beef
- ½ cup uncooked white rice, washed and rinsed I don't recommend using brown rice in this recipe.
- ½ onion Grated using a grater or diced. I usually grate the onion until the pieces are too small to grate and then I finely dice the rest.
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ tablespoon dried parsley optional
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 15 ounce can tomato sauce Fire roasted is excellent in this recipe.
- ½ cup ketchup
- ½ cup chicken broth or water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine the ground beef, uncooked white rice, onion, garlic powder, parsley, salt, pepper and egg in a large bowl and mix with your hands until combined.
- Form meatballs and place them in a 9×13 glass baking dish.
- Combine the tomato sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and broth or water in a separate bowl and stir until combined.
- Pour the tomato sauce mixture over the meatballs. Cover with foil and seal tightly. This is an important step to ensure the rice is cooked thoroughly. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until the rice is cooked. If the rice isn't cooked, place it back in the oven, cover and continue to cook until it's soft.
Love the flavor of these meatballs. Such an easy dinner too.