Porcupine Meatballs Recipe {Super Easy} Gonna Want Seconds (2024)

Our old-fashioned porcupine meatballs are super easy to make and always bring the family to the dinner table in a hurry! The meatballs are made with beef and rice and then 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, 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.

These meatballs are hearty and tender—perfect comfort food. Give them a try and let me know what your family thinks!

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 ♥

Let’s Make Some Meatballs!

Porcupine Meatballs Ingredients

Meatballs:

• Ground Beef: I use 80/20. Ground turkey can be used in place 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.
• Rice: The original recipe called for uncooked long-grain rice. But over the years, I’ve found that with porcupine meatballs, Minute Rice (instant rice) yields far more consistent results.
• Ketchup: This will add some tomato flavor along with a good deal of sweetness.
• Onion: Use yellow onion and finely chop it.
• 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.

Optional Topping:

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

Storing + Freezing

• How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge? Cooked porcupine meatballs will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days.
• Can You Freeze This?You can store leftovers for up to 3-4 months in the freezer.
• Make-Ahead: You can shape the meatballs ahead of time. Place them in a tray, cover them with cling wrap then 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.
• Food Safety: If you’d like more info on food safety check out this link. and this one for uncooked ground meat.

Recipe Notes For Porcupine Meatballs:

• 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 that all the available heat is being used to cook the rice.

What To Serve With Porcupine Meatballs:

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

I generally accompany this with a simple salad tossed with my favorite balsamic vinaigrette, roasted broccoli, brown sugar carrots, or amazing Arkansas green beans!

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 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 Sauce ingredients together in a small bowl until combined then pour over meatballs.
4. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours or high for 3-4 hours. Serve over cooked rice.

More Meatballs 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

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