Porcupine Meatballs Recipe (2024)

Meatballs made with rice were a staple of our 2020 lockdown repertoire. We called them “Covid balls,” a play on their similarity to the spiny virus and an acknowledgment of the trying times we all were living through. And while the name may have been a bit tasteless, the meatballs themselves were anything but.

I flavor them with a Middle Eastern/Asian element by adding crushed garlic, ginger, currants, and pignoli nuts. They are adored at my house. Can't keep the freezer stocked!

This was a winter time meal during my midwestern childhood. Meatballs were not fried but braised in a tomato broth. The original recipe used canned tomato soup, but we canned tomato vegetable juice in the summer and used that, more likely seasoned with bay leaf and celery. No oregano, no sugar.

For a faster version of Porcupine Meatballs, try the recipe included in the Presto Pressure Cooker recipe book. Uses uncooked rice and I've never had a crunchy grain. These meatballs were a childhood treat that I continue to cook with enthusiasm.

Wrapped in cabbage leaves you have stuffed cabbage.

Mom made hers with Minute Rice but these days I use an uncooked bowl of microwaveable rice instead. And she simmered hers in a giant can of V8 juice. It reduced a bit, concentrating those vegetal flavors along with the richness of the beef. A simple, humble one pot meal. This recipe seems like a lot of work and dirty pans. Mom would not approve.

My fam loves meatballs and I was intrigued by use of rice. I usually use a very light hand forming the balls and broil them, so frying them was a new try for me. Many of them fell apart while frying as I regretted not having formed them tighter. I was a bit hesitant to use sugar so skipped it and didn’t miss it. Total oven time was a bit too long as the sauce came out dry. Also it needed way more salt (and yes I tasted sauce before oven). Promising recipe but I’d tweak these points next time.

I learned to make Porcupine Meatballs in Girl Scouts when I was kid. It was something that could be cooked over a campfire. (The other was Bags of Gold, a cube of cheese encased in biscuit dough and cooked in tomato soup.)I don't know if being included in the NYT Food Section means that Porcupine Meatballs has arrived or the other way around!My sister, who was a life long Scout, would have gotten a kick out of this.

Fond memories of family dinners in the late 1960s early 1970s, when my mum made Porcupine Meatballs & used Campbell’s Tomato Bisque Soup as the base for her sauce over Uncle Ben’s White Long Grain Rice . . . Yummmm! Thanks from the recipe as don’t know what happened to my mum’s recipe as I will be making this substituting hamburger with ground turkey!

It was a classic recipe I grew up with and loved, but Mom's was with Minute Rice and Campbell's Tomato soup. I like this update but would still use Minute Rice if I didn't have leftover rice already in the fridge. I always like more sauce than less, especially if I am going to have leftovers, so I may add some more tomato sauce, or V8 as another mentioned, at the next making. Some dry mustard is also a nice addition and garlic. Always garlic.

Made a half recipe. Perfect for just 2 adults. Would leave the sugar out of the sauce. Other than that, loved it and will definitely make again!

You serve it with simple cornbread (not the sweet kind) and with collard greens or green beans. Had it today for lunch with my parents in Sweet Home rural Alabama. Also delicious cooked on a Big Green Egg for a smokey flavor.

I changed the recipe a bit, but it's the best I've ever made! So far, yet.

These meatballs were pretty good. I seasoned with 2 tbsp of Vegeta instead of parsley, I also added paprika directly into the meatball mixture. Not a huge texture difference between the rice and the meatball, if you want it I suggest not cooking the rice all the way until its done before adding. I cooking the rice immediately before adding it into the meatball mixture and I think the moisture from the rice helped hold the meatballs together.

Speaking of depression days carryovers, my Grandma and my Mom would put peeled white potato chunks (big) in their red gravy to stretch things and they were delicious and filling.

I went rogue with the sauce. I sautéed onions, carrots, celery, and bell peppers for the sauce. My family loved it! We also added a little chipotle adobo sauce.

The flavor is great, but I didn't find that the cooked rice contributed at all to the texture in a way that made it worth the extra time to make the rice. If I made these again, I might try making the rice "al dente" to add a little texture and really make them porcupine-y. Or, make the rice a day ahead so it's a little drier when it gets incorporated.

Wanted to clarify - the rice needs to be cooked when adding to the meatball ingredient?

gross- no flavor, tough texture- nothing like my childhood

My grandmother made these growing up, but with canned mushroom soup instead of tomato sauce. She'd also do it in a pressure cooker with raw rice. It was always a yummy treat!

Super easy and perfect for a week night dinner with steamed broccoli. As suggested, we used minute rice but next time, we will just used left over rice. One observation, it could have used a bit more sauce. Just a preference.

To make with Impossible (or similar) meat substituteUse 12 oz Impossible beefUse 2 eggsUse 1.5 cups riceAdd 1/3 cup pankoPut mixture in fridge 30 min before formingBalls will be very ‘loose’ when forming. Just go with it you can’t exactly ‘roll’ them. I made 24 large 1.5 inch balls. Brown in neutral oil. Came together really well and tasted yummy!

I attempted the meatballs this evening, and they fell apart when I was trying to brown them. They continued to fall apart when I put them in the pan with the sauce. I eventually had to mix it all together into one big blob and cook it on the stove. Where did I go wrong?

Hit the spot. After reading others' notes, I used two eggs and two Tbs grated parmesan as binder, and omitted sugar from the sauce. Doubled the oregano, added a splash of red wine. A couple of the meatballs threatened to come apart during browning, but overall held well while still maintaining a good texture. Next time, I'll double this recipe.

just came to this page to see if they were actually made from porcupine.

made these with ground turkey instead of beef and used some leftover basmati rice that was in the fridge. they turned out well but i agree with others that they fall apart a little, especially in the browning stage. once i got them in the sauce though they were fine btw im not sure what one person was referencing about too many dirty pans? this is a one pan recipe. you do everything in the same cast iron/dutch oven/whatever

Yuck! These were a total miss for me. I made them exactly as the recipe detailed. The Worcestershire overpowered the entire dish, and my teenage son found the dish too sweet. The dish tasted straight out of the 1970s. Loads of better meatball recipes on NYT Cooking!!