These super tender and hearty porcupine meatballs made with ground beef and rice are slowly simmered in a rich homemade tomato sauce and will satisfy a craving you didn't even know you had. This recipe makes 5 servings of about 5 large meatballs each.
Course Main Course
Cuisine American, Romanian
Keyword Ground Meat, Meatballs
Prep Time 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time 1 hourhour10 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour30 minutesminutes
Servings 5servings
Calories 532kcal
Equipment
heavy bottomed pot with lid
Ingredients
for the meatballs
650gramsground beef
½ cupshort grain white rice
2yellow onions2 small or 1 large, very finely diced
Sauté the onion and garlic together in the oil over medium heat until they reduce in volume and begin to brown.
Add all the other tomato sauce ingredients, reserving half of the fresh parsley for garnish. Stir everything well so it's homogenous.
Continue heating the sauce over medium-low heat so it comes to a simmer while you make the meatballs.*
prepare the meatballs
Combine all the meatball ingredients together in a bowl until homogenous.
Shape the meatballs.**
cook the meatballs
Make sure the sauce is simmering and use a spoon to gently place the meatballs into the hot liquid. If the liquid isn't hot enough, they can lose their shape.
Wait a few minutes and then flip the meatballs.
Cover and put the pot in the oven for 1 hour. If the sauce is too thin, reduce on the stovetop over high heat until it thickens to your liking.
Garnish with fresh parsley and enjoy.
Notes
* The sauce shouldn't reduce too much. This will depend on how long it takes you to shape the meatballs. If the sauce is reducing too quickly then turn off the heat and bring back to simmer when the meatballs are ready.
** You can use a tablespoon to make about 50 smaller meatballs or use an ice cream scoop to make about 25 bigger meatballs.