Porcupine Meatballs Recipe

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Our old-fashioned porcupine meatballs are super easy to make and always bring the family to the dinner table in a hurry! They are made with beef and rice and simmered in a delicious tomato sauce.

As the ground beef cooks, the meat shrinks down a little, and the little pieces of rice begin to stick out. Just like that, with the unusual texture, you have a meatball with something that looks like edible porcupine quills sticking out of it! Kids can’t get enough of these funny, spiky meatballs.

My Mom used to make this recipe when she was going out, likely to a PTA or Girl Scout leader meeting, and we would have a babysitter. It was something my sisters and I looked forward to, and it made getting dinner quick and easy! This recipe reminds me so much of those happy times! Did you eat these when you were growing up?

Looking for a different type of meatball? How about my Italian baked meatballs. These have an amazingly authentic Italian flavor without all the mess and extra fat from frying. Looking for a meatball appetizer everyone loves? My grape jelly meatballs are your answer.

How about a unique take on meatballs for dinner? I promise you’ll want to add my BBQ Meatballs and Mexican meatballs to your regular dinner rotation ♥

These hearty and tender meatballs are perfect comfort food. I hope you try them and let me know what your family thinks. Let’s Make Some Meatballs!

Porcupine Meatballs Recipe Ingredients

Meatballs:

• Ground Beef: I use 80/20. Ground turkey can be used instead of ground beef, but I don’t think that turkey meatballs hold together as well. So, if you want to use turkey, I recommend adding 1 cup of soft breadcrumbs to your meatball mixture. You can use lean ground beef (90/10), but I prefer the flavor 80/20 adds to the whole dish.
• Rice: The original recipe called for uncooked long-grain rice. But over the years, I’ve found that Minute Rice (instant rice) yields far more consistent results with porcupine meatballs.
• Ketchup: This will add some tomato flavor and a lot of sweetness.
• Onion: Use a yellow onion and finely chop it.
• Garlic: Please use fresh garlic cloves!
• Egg: This will bind everything together.
• Celery Salt: Tastes a lot like a combo of salt and celery.
• Salt + Black Pepper: 
• Dried Italian Seasoning: I like McCormick Perfect Pinch Italian Seasoning.
• Garlic Powder: This will add a nice, mild garlic flavor.

Sauce:

• Condensed Tomato Soup: This gives you that retro flavor for the sauce.
• Worcestershire sauce: Adds dimension to the sauce.
• Water: Thins the soup to a sauce consistency. We use 1 cup of water.

Optional Topping:

• Cheese: I like sharp cheddar.
• Parsley: Adds a little pop of color and freshness.

Recipe Notes For Porcupine Meatballs:

• Size and Forming: Look, I love giant meatballs. 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, you must 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, you know you aren’t making them the correct size.
  • I recommend using an ice cream scoop to form the meatballs to get a consistent size. This great tool produces meatballs with 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 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, you need to be aware that 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: Keep the skillet tightly covered while the meatballs cook. This will help ensure that all the available heat is being used to cook the rice.

Porcupine Meatballs Cream Sauce Variation

I love these meatballs with the tomato sauce; they remind me of my mom’s kitchen! I also like variety! So if you like variety too and want to try a creamy sauce, here’s how to do it:

1. Skip all the sauce ingredients below.
2. Stir together until smooth:
   • 1-(10.5 oz can) mushroom soup,
   • 8 oz. low-sodium beef broth,
   • 1/2 cup whole milk,
   • 1/2 cup sour cream,
   • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
   • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3. Pour sauce into skillet over meatballs. Bring sauce to a boil over medium heat, then immediately 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.

Porcupine Meatballs Shortcut Variation

Make the meatballs as directed, then pour a mixture of 1 jar (24 oz.) marinara sauce mixed with 1 1/2 cups water and 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning over them, and proceed with the recipe!

Storing + Freezing

• How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge? Cooked porcupine meatballs, stored in an airtight container, will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days. Heat leftovers in a microwave-safe dish covered with damp paper towels, then microwave until heated through.
• Can You Freeze This? You can store leftovers in the freezer for 3-4 months.
• Make-Ahead: You can shape the meatballs ahead of time. Place them in a tray, cover them with cling wrap, and flash-freeze them. Once the meatballs are frozen, transfer them to a Ziploc bag. Uncooked ground meat can be frozen for 3-4 months. When you’re ready to cook it, thaw it and cook it.
• Food Safety: For more information on food safety, check out this link and this one for uncooked ground meat.

What To Serve With Porcupine Meatballs:

I serve this over a bed of white rice or my buttery mashed potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes, or make-ahead mashed potatoes. Whatever you decide, make sure it’s something to catch all of the delicious meaty tomato sauce ♥

I accompany this with KFC coleslaw, a simple salad tossed with my favorite balsamic vinaigrette, our house salad dressed in our buttermilk dressing, fresh carrot salad (my kids fav!), frog eye salad (again, kids adore this salad). If you’d prefer a cooked vegetable, try these with roasted broccoli, brown sugar carrots, Southern green beans, or amazing Arkansas green beans!

A side of bread is always popular at my house. When I have extra time to make a bready side, we like these meatballs with our beer bread, garlic bread, (this just may be the favorite side of bread in our house), practically no-knead bread, or homemade crescent rolls!

How To Make Porcupine Meatballs:

1. First, you mix all the meatball ingredients together in a large bowl. I like to do this with my hands as it makes quick work of the job.
2. I roll the meat mixture into 1 1/2-inch meatballs.
3. Place them in a 12-inch skillet.
4. When all of them are nestled in the skillet, I mix together the sauce ingredients and it over the meatballs.
5. Pour the sauce on top of the meatballs.
6. Cook them until the rice is tender and the meatballs are juicy!

*****See the full instructions below.

How To Make Slow-Cooker Porcupine Meatballs  

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients for the meatballs and mix together well with clean hands.
2. Roll into 20,  (1 1/2 inch meatballs), and layer the formed meatballs into the slow cooker.
3. Mix the Sauce ingredients together in a small bowl until combined, then pour over the meatballs.
4. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours or high for 3-4 hours. Serve!

How To Make Porcupine Meatballs In The Oven

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9X13-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Combine all the ingredients for the meatballs in a large mixing bowl and mix well with clean hands.
3. Roll into 20, (1 1/2 inch) meatballs. Place meatballs in a large skillet.
4. Mix the Sauce ingredients together in a small bowl until combined, then pour over the meatballs.
5. Tightly cover the baking dish with foil, and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake for an additional 30 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
6. Serve!

More Meatball Recipes!

• Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs 
• Spaghetti And Meatballs Recipe
• Chicken Parmesan Meatballs
• Cranberry Meatballs
• Easy Baked Sweet and Sour Meatballs 
• Sicilian Meatballs
• Skillet Meatballs And Noodles In A Creamy Herb Sauce
• Greek Turkey Meatballs
• Meatballs and Gravy

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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!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time40 minutes mins

Servings: 4

Author: Kathleen

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 pound ground beef
• ▢ 1/2 cup white rice - uncooked
• ▢ 1/4 cup ketchup
• ▢ 1/3 cup onion finely chopped
• ▢ 1 clove fresh garlic, minced
• ▢ 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.

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Notes

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 586kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 33g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 18g | Cholesterol: 165mg | Sodium: 1253mg | Potassium: 480mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 645IU | Vitamin C: 3.3mg | Calcium: 353mg | Iron: 3.3mg

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