Porcupine Meatballs

Old Fashioned Porcupine Meatballs! These super easy meatballs are made with beef and rice then simmered in a delicious tomato sauce. A family favorite!

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword meatball recipes, Porcupine Meatballs, skillet meatball recipes

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Total Time 40

Servings

Calories 586kcal

Author Kathleen

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup white rice - uncooked
1/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup onion finely chopped
1 large egg lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Sauce:

1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of tomato soup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 cup water

Optional

1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
1-2 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley chopped

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients for the meatballs and mix together well with clean hands.
Roll into 20, 1 1/2 inch meatballs. Place meatballs in a large skillet.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the ingredients for the sauce. Pour into skillet over meatballs. Bring sauce to a boil over medium heat and reduce heat and gently simmer for 15 minutes, covered. Very gently, turn meatballs and continue to cook 25 minutes longer, or until meat and rice are cooked through.

Video

Notes

Size and Forming: Look, I love giant meatballs. I absolutely love them. Nothing makes me happier than sitting down to a plate of 2 or 3 giant meatballs—you know the size I’m talking about. But with this recipe, it’s imperative that you avoid making the meatballs too large. Reign in that urge for giant meatballs! The rice will not cook if the meatballs are too big, and crunchy rice is not what we’re going for in this recipe. This recipe should yield about 20 meatballs—if you have fewer than that, then you know you aren’t making them the right size.
- In order to get a consistent size, I recommend using an ice cream scoop to form the meatballs. This is a great tool that turns out meatballs at the perfect diameter to cook the rice thoroughly.
No Browning: The original recipe calls for you to brown the meatballs before adding them to the sauce. When my mom started making these meatballs, many decades ago, she says that she followed the recipe exactly and browned them, just as instructed. Somewhere along the way, she found that she could skip the browning step and make her prep time quicker and easier—plus, skipping the browning meant that there wasn’t any splatter over the cooktop, and left her with less to clean up. I follow my mom’s lead and skip the browning.
- If you choose to skip the browning, here’s something you need to be aware of: the fat from the meatballs doesn’t get drained off. Instead, it sticks around in the sauce. Frankly, I consider that a good thing—that little bit of fat adds a whole lot of delicious flavor and makes this recipe even better in my opinion.
Cover While Cooking: Make sure you keep the skillet tightly covered while the meatballs are cooking. This will help ensure all the available heat is being used to cook the rice.

Nutrition