Delicious and easy Porcupine Meatballs take mere minutes to whip together and then slow cook until they’re fall-apart-tender!
Enjoy these savory meatballs over cooked rice, accompanied by roasted vegetables and a fresh garden salad, for a complete and satisfying meal.
The Best Porcupine Meatballs
Porcupine Meatballs offer a unique take on classic beef meatballs, packed with rice, seasonings, and onion, slow-cooked in tomato sauce. Named for their rice quills resembling porcupine quills, they’re easy to make and become incredibly flavorful and tender.
Quick Tip
For easier meatball rolling, keep ingredients cold, use cooking spray or oil on your hands, utilize a cookie scoop for portioning, and roll all meat portions at once for quicker preparation.
Ingredients
- Ground Beef: Provides the primary structure and rich, meaty flavor.
- White Rice: Adds texture; expands during cooking to give the porcupine effect.
- Grated Onion and Minced Garlic: Boost flavor with a subtle, delicious touch.
- Egg: Acts as a binder, holding the meatball ingredients together.
- Seasonings: Contribute to the overall flavor profile of the porcupine meatballs.
For the sauce:
- Beef Stock/Broth: Adds depth to the sauce’s flavor.
- Tomato Sauce: Forms the base of the sauce, offering a rich tomato flavor.
- Brown Sugar: Balances the acidity of the tomatoes with sweetness.
- Worcestershire Sauce: Adds a complex, delicious flavor.
How To Make Porcupine Meatballs
- Combine: Mix beef, rice, onion, garlic, egg, and seasonings.
- Shape & Broil: Form into meatballs and broil for 6 minutes.
- Sauce Mix: Blend beef stock, tomato sauce, brown sugar, and Worcestershire in a slow cooker.
- Cook: Add meatballs to sauce; slow cook for 3-7 hours.
- Serve: On rice, optionally garnish with parsley.
Storage
Store porcupine meatballs in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
What To Serve With Porcupine Meatballs
- Fruit Salad Recipe
- Roasted Green Beans (Two Ways!)
- Olive Garden Salad
- Roasted Vegetables
- No-Knead Dinner Rolls
Porcupine Meatballs
Delicious and easy Porcupine Meatballs take mere minutes to whip together and then slow cook until they're fall-apart-tender!
Equipment
- large sheet pan,
- Aluminum foil
- Crock-Pot 6-quart
Ingredients
Meatballs
Sauce
- 1 cup beef stock or broth
- 2 (15-ounce) cans tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar lightly packed
- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
- Fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley optional
- Cooked rice white or brown, for serving, see note 1
Instructions
- Preheat oven to high broil (550°F.) Line a large sheet pan with foil, spray with cooking spray, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine ground beef, uncooked white rice, grated onion, minced garlic, large egg, salt, Italian seasoning, pepper, and dried basil. Knead the mixture until just combined, avoiding overmixing (which makes the meatballs dense).
- Form meatballs by measuring out 1 and 1/2 tablespoons per meatball and tightly squishing the mixture together until a firm meatball is formed. Repeat until all the mixture is used. The mixture should make around 22–25 meatballs.
- Place all the formed meatballs on the prepared tray, generously spritz with cooking spray, and broil in the oven for 3 minutes per side (6 minutes total). This helps them to not break apart in the slow cooker. Remove from oven and set aside.
- Spray the slow cooker with cooking spray. Add in beef stock/broth, tomato sauce, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir.
- Layer the meatballs on top of the tomato mixture. Gently spoon the sauce over.
- Cover and cook on low for 5–7 hours, high for 3–5 hours, or until rice is tender and meat is cooked through (165°F). I recommend cooking on low; my slow cooker takes 6 hours. Avoid checking too often; when a slow cooker's lid is removed, it takes a while for everything to get back to temperature.
- Taste meatballs and sauce and add any additional salt/pepper as needed. Gently spoon out meatballs and sauce from the slow cooker and serve over cooked rice (see note 1). Garnish with fresh parsley if desired and enjoy!
Video
Recipe Notes
Note 1: I love serving these meatballs over cooked basmati rice. Here’s a quick breakdown of the process:
- Measure the rice and rinse it in a fine-mesh sieve until the water runs clear.
- Place rice in a bowl and cover with water to soak for 5–10 minutes.
- While rice is soaking, fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.
- Once water is at a rolling boil, drain the rice and add it to the pot.
- Cook, without reducing the heat, for 5 minutes (taste and test to make sure it is tender; if not, add another 1–2 minutes), and drain and fluff with a fork.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 367kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 29g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 117mg | Sodium: 364mg | Potassium: 720mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 68IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 66mg | Iron: 4mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love this recipe! The canned soup in other porcupine meatball recipes is always a downer – too acid for my liking. This sauce is easy and super tasty. Totally lifts this meal
So happy to hear that! Thank you Andrew!
I made your meatball last night, they turned out soooo good. Thank you for sharing your recipe keep up those good recipes.
Yay! So glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe!
Can you double this in the slow cooker?
I haven’t personally tried, it may be a little bit much for one slow cooker, but I’m not sure! Sorry wish I could be of more help!
I have a question, it says tomato sauce? Do u mean tomato soup, tomato spaghetti sauce, or like a canned tomato puree? Tomato Sauce can mean many different things 🙁
Tomato sauce
Hope that helps!
hi Chelsea. is it like a tomato puree/passata type sauce? when I click that google link it shows both a tomato puree and soup type options.
Sorry about that! I’ll update the link 🙂
https://www.muirglen.com/products/tomato-sauce/
If I were to make this ahead and freeze for later, would I combine the meatballs and sauce together for freezing purposes?
I’d keep them separate so the meatball don’t absorb too much liquid while freezing/thawing!
I made these with ground beef and my kids loved them.
My mother made these but with a gravy style brown sauce, I had completely forgotten about them so glad to see this recipe!! One question cause I don’t remember how my mom did it but do you use instant rice, cooked white rice or raw/uncooked white rice in the meatballs?? TIA!!
I use regular uncooked white rice in these 🙂 Enjoy!
When I was a kid my aunt would make us similar porcupine meatballs and I was obsessed. Pretty sure back then it was the name that got me. Annnd somehow it still does. Can’t wait to try these out! Nom nom
I’ve never heard of Porcupine meatballs and was very intrigued when I saw this title, haha. 🙂 These meatballs look awesome though! Fantastic idea to cook them in a slow cooker.
I adore the slow cooker!! And meatballs! This recipe is speaking directly to me haha 🙂