A quick prep easy weeknight dinner these Porcupine Meatballs are savory, tender and full of flavor. Perfect recipe for the whole family to enjoy.
As you all know we love easy recipes around this house. I think that was the trend with my mom growing up as well, since she made these Porcupine Meatballs religiously.
Everyone in my house are pretty hearty eaters and these Porcupine Meatballs really do the job of filling up each and every last one of them.
Porcupine Meatballs have been a recipe that have been in my family for ages. Now the name is kind of weird, but you can kind of get the reference from the photos.
The “porcupine” in the name refers to the rice that is baked inside the meatballs that sticks out once baked. Name aside, this is seriously one addicting dinnertime or side dish recipe.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- Very minimal ingredients make this recipe super easy to whip up.
- You can double this recipe and make in a larger pan to serve more.
- They are a hearty dish, they can be served as a main dish or a side.
Now that I say that these meatballs are filling on their own, they do make a hearty batch of meatballs we do absolutely love to serve them with different side dishes.
Some of my favorite side dishes I love to serve with this recipe include, Mashed Potatoes with Cream Cheese, 7 Layer Salad and these Grandmas Canned Green Beans.
So confession, I’m just a sucker for meatballs. Like I’ll take them in any way, shape or form that I can. They are my real comfort food. And these Porcupine Meatballs are serious comfort for sure.
HOW TO MAKE PORCUPINE MEATBALLS, STEP BY STEP:
- In bowl mix together your ground beef, rice, water, minced onion, salt, pepper and garlic powder.
- Shape into large meatballs (about 2 inches in diameter) then place into large baking dish.
- Mix together your tomato sauce, water and Worcestershire sauce and pour over meatballs making sure they are covered.
- Cover with tin foil and bake for about 1 hour.
Really this Porcupine Meatball Recipe is so simple. The hardest part is waiting for an hour until you can dig in.
So this recipe is the perfect one for those cold winter nights that you have a little time to just sit back and relax.
These are also one of those recipes that we love to bring to potlucks. I don’t know if this is more a midwestern recipe or where it originated from but this is one recipe that gets brought to a lot of gatherings around these parts.
I don’t know why, but since it’s almost Fall I just want to get all those comfort foods out there, this one is absolutely a comfort for me.
Whenever it was cold out, or I was sick or I was having a bad day, my mom knew that this was one of my favorite dishes and would whip it up.
Porcupine Meatballs are just one of those recipes that are super easy to make and one you will want to keep in your recipe book for the long haul.
HOW TO STORE:
If you are wanting to form the meatballs ahead of time and bake later, then you mix up per instructions, roll into balls and then place on baking sheet in freezer.
Once frozen you will remove and then you will transfer to an airtight plastic bag or Tupperware and this should keep in the freezer for about 1-2 months.
If you are wanting to refrigerate these Porcupine Meatballs you can remove from sauce or add meatballs and sauce to an airtight container like a ziptop bag or Tupperware.
These should keep in the refrigerator for about 4 days.
TIPS AND TRICKS:
- Use a lower fat ground beef, it minimizes the grease in the sauce.
- Use an ice cream scoop to portion your meatballs, it creates the perfect size.
- Serve meatballs over mashed potatoes drizzled with the gravy mix, soooo good.
- Make sure all meatballs are covered in sauce so the rice cooks.
- These can be frozen, please see tips above!
If there is any reason to try this recipe, its totally for the name. Lol just kidding, its for how good and simple these are. They are one recipe that your family will keep coming back to!
If you like this recipe you might also like:
If you’ve tried these PORCUPINE MEATBALLS or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and what shenanigans I’m getting into!
Porcupine Meatballs
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 1 cup rice
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 Tbs minced onion optional
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1 1/2 can tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 cup water
- 3 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In bowl mix together your ground beef, rice, water, minced onion, salt, pepper and garlic powder and shape into large meatballs (about 2 inches in diameter).
- Place into large baking dish.
- Mix together your tomato sauce, water and Worcestershire sauce and pour over meatballs making sure they are covered.
- Cover with tin foil and bake for about 1 hour.
Nutrition
Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED FEBRUARY, 2019
Donna
Have you ever made this as a meatloaf instead of meatballs? I’m trying to find one. My mother-in-law used to make a meatloaf version of porcupine meatballs for my husband and he’s asked me to do one.
Tornadough Alli
I have not unfortunately, but that does sound delicious!
Monika
Have you ever used already cooked rice for the recipe?
Tornadough Alli
I have not, but you could certainly try it!
melody
I’ve made these for years with both minute rice and long grain but never precooked rice. The rice does absorb the flavor/juices so not sure how/if it would work. Just my personal opinion. 🙂
Anselette
Thanks for the recipe! “1 1/2 cans” of tomato sauce isn’t overly helpful since there are 2 sizes of cans. It might be better to either add the size of the can (1 1/2 8oz cans) or “12 oz.” of tomato sauce. I’ll find the answer on someone elses recipe but just think it would be easier. Thanks again, we can’t wait to eat them.
Tornadough Alli
The cans are 15 oz cans I will add that to the recipe.
Jennifer
Yum, these meatballs look super good!!! I can’t wait to make them this weekend!
Natasha
Honestly thought these had REAL porcupine in them!! I must have spent too much time in Missouri lol – will definitely be making these in lieu of real porcupine.
Tornadough Alli
Lol that is too funny! Maybe eating porcupine is a thing! I hope you do try them and love them like us!
Steph
My mom use to make these all the time growing up and these taste just like I remembered. Thank you!
Sommer
A killer meatball recipe!
Cheryl S
My family loves these meatballs!! Perfect for serving to company as well!
Mary Godwin
Is the rice still hard after you cook it with the meat? I see in the recipe that you don’t cook the rice before. I don’t like biting down on hard grain rice.
Tornadough Alli
The rice cooks in the meatballs and liquid gravy formed around it.
Michaela
Do you use instant rice for this recipe???
Tornadough Alli
No you use regular long grain white rice 🙂