Porcupine meatballs in tomato sauce
80 min · 37 g protein · 401 cals / serving
The retro family favorite: tender beef meatballs studded with rice that pokes out like little quills as they bake in a rich, slightly sweet tomato sauce. Grated carrot and zucchini hidden inside keep them soft and juicy, and a heap of green beans on the side makes it dinner.
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 lb 2 oz ground beef (95% lean)
- generous 1/3 cup long-grain rice white rice, uncooked
- 1 small onion, grated
- 1 small carrot, finely grated
- 1/2 small zucchini, finely grated and squeezed
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Sauce
- 2 cans (14 oz each) canned crushed tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups beef broth
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
To serve
- 14 oz green beans, trimmed
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional)
Steps
- Heat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, mix the beef, uncooked rice, onion, carrot, zucchini, egg, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper with your hands until just combined. Roll into 16 meatballs, about golf-ball size, and set them in a single layer in a deep baking dish about 9 x 13 inches (23 x 33 cm).
- Whisk together the crushed tomatoes, broth, Worcestershire, brown sugar and oregano and pour it over and around the meatballs; they should be mostly covered.
- Cover tightly with a lid or foil and bake 50 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes more, until the rice is tender and spiky, the sauce has thickened and the meatballs read 160°F in the middle.
- Near the end, steam or boil the green beans 4–5 minutes until bright and just tender. Serve the meatballs and plenty of sauce with the beans, scattered with parsley.
Good to know
How do I get the kids involved?
Rolling meatballs is a classic kids' job. Give them a wet hand, an ice-cream scoop or a tablespoon to portion with, and let them make the 'porcupines'; they love spotting the rice quills after baking.
Why does the rice go in raw?
It cooks inside the meatballs in the steam and sauce, which is what makes the quills stick out and keeps the meatballs tender. Pre-cooked rice gives a mushy meatball with no spikes.
My picky eater spots the vegetables
Grate the carrot and zucchini on the finest side of the grater and squeeze the zucchini dry in a clean towel. They vanish into the meat and only make the meatballs juicier.
Per
- Calories
- 73
- Protein
- (38%)
- 7 g
- Fat
- (22%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (40%)
- 8 g
- of which sugar
- 3 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 227 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1605 kcal goes into the pot and 2470 g of ingredients comes out as about 2200 g of food: 73 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.