Did They Eat It: Porcupine Meatballs

My mother is...a terrible cook. Mainly because she doesn't really enjoy the process of cooking, so she never learned to do it well. There are few things I think back and think, "Man, my mom made the best [fill-in-the-blank]." It turns out I do like pork chops, meatloaf and scalloped potatoes (not from a box), I just didn't realize it because my mom's recipes were not as good as they could have been.

However, inexplicably I have fond memories of my mother's porcupine meatballs. So when I saw this recipe I thought I'd try it out and see if I could lure Maddie with it. She loves bar-b-que sauce and ketchup. She also likes ground beef (in certain ways) and rice? She loves rice!

This has potential. 

There are lots of ways to make Porcupine Meatballs, here's a Google search. I guarantee my mother didn't put hot sauce or worchestershire sauce in her porcupine meatballs, but I found that combination irresistible and that's why I chose this recipe to try out.

You need to gather:

A pound of ground round
Half a pount of ground chuck
3/4 cup white long grain rice
a 14.5 oz can of tomato sauce
1 medium onion, cut in small dice [The onion I'm showing is way too big, especially for my family]
1 tablespoon dry parsley flakes [2 tablespoons chopped fresh]
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder/granules

Also:
A can of condensed tomato soup
Ketchup
Hot Sauce
Worchestershire sauce
[And if you didn't buy enough tomato sauce, hopefully you've got some taco sauce around to make up the difference]

In a bowl put:
The Meat
3/4 cup white long grain rice
1/3 cup of the tomato sauce
1 medium onion, cut in small dice
1 tablespoon dry parsley flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder/granules

Then combine it, at first thinking you'll use your right hand only and finally giving up and using both hands. Only after trying to take off your wedding rings and realizing you can't get it off. My engagement ring has Mad Cow disease now. 

Here are the meatballs loaded into the skillet. They're supposed to be 2 inches wide, but man, I am the worst at eyeballing measurements. So they're reasonably the same size.

Then drop 1.5 tsp. of the soup on each meatball. Don't they look french? Too bad they're not Rasberry.

Now squirt ketchup across each meat ball.

I forgot to take a picture of the worcestershire sauce, but there it is!
Mix an equal part of it with 1-2 tablespoons hot sauce. I used 2 tablespoons of each knowing Maddie would probably not like this on principle and Logan, Max and me like spicy food.

Sprinkle the worchestershire/hot sauce mix over the meatballs.

Now you add 1 cup of plain tomato sauce to your skillet.
Here's where I realized I didn't buy enough tomato sauce.

So I used the taco sauce to make up the difference. If I'd known I was doing that I may have cut the spice a bit, but there you go.

After that add 1/2 cup of water, cover with a lid and put on the stove to simmer for 45 minutes. After that, remove the lid and simmer 5 minutes more to thicken the sauce. I used a baster to make sure each of the meatballs was coated in sauce.

Here they are, looking remarkably like small porcupines.

Here's the final dish. With our favorite vegetable.

Did They Eat It?

Logan: Whoa this is good. I'm kind of freaked out you had this ready to go at 3:45pm. Are you about to kill me or something?
Max: He ate it like someone eating because he's starving. The kids had a "No Snack" punishment after school for eating on the sofa yesterday. I am not convinced he enjoyed it.
Maddie: Also didn't eat an after school snack and I thought this would mean JACK POT! But she ate a lot of broccoli and one bite of the meatballs before declaring the sauce "Too Sweet" TOO SWEET? Santa just decided not to bring a single piece of candy in case it's TOO SWEET.

Me: I loved the hot sauce taste and how easy this was. I'm currently searching for a crockpot version of this meal. Delicious.

Comments

[kerewin]

I couldn't be more excited about this recipe. I love meatballs and now that I can't have wheat they are generally off the table. I am going to use this next week when we are invited to my husband's Italian family Christmas dinner that usually means I have nothing to eat. Plus the little spiky pieces of rice look so fun.

Thank you!

[Sarah]

This really looks good - and you weren't kidding about them looking like little porcupines!

Nigella Lawson does Pork Noodle Balls - with bits of cut up noodles mixed into them. They're yummy, so I'm all for trying a bit of rice in a meatball too.

[Andria]

I've never had these-- must try!

[Sarah]

These were a staple in my childhood sans the hot sauce. My mom also called them budget beater #9, because her mom found the recipe in a magazine like good housekeeping and this is what it was listed as. In fact, budget beater #9 even made it into my grandmother's eulogy!

Thanks for bringing back lots of memories.

[lynne]

I am tempted to make these with veggie burger. 1) my kid would find them too spicy, and 2) my husband would be annoyed that I used fake meat. So win-win for me! They look fabulous.

[Lucy Arin]

Sounds good, can't wait to try it.

If you do find a crock-pot version of this, will you please post it?

[Krysta]

Hurrah for an 80s Prince reference mid recipe!

[Imanitsud]

Oh yeah, I remember these too. My mom made them with tomato soup, ketchup, and mustard, and I think in the microwave. These sound better -- I'll have to try it.

I second the request for you to post the CrockPot version if you find it!

Have a good one,
Ami

[gwen]

I think you could make this recipe as is without much crockpot conversion. Looking at the crockpot recipes on the internet they all seem very similar to this one. Some brown the meatballs first, but here you don't brown them so this may not be necessary. They all say 7- 8 hours on low which would certainly cook them. I may need to try it out and then report back.

[Melissa Summers]

Heh maddie says "thanks for not forcing me to eat this twice!"

Let me know how it works...

Sent from my iPhone with fat fingers on tiny keys.

[Lora]

OMG...this takes me back. Porcupine meatballs were the very first thing I cooked on my own as a kid. I wonder if my own kid would eat them?

[ella]

Mmmm... I think I'm making this like this weekend!
And why can't you substitute your crockpot for a skillet? It's worth a shot.

[jenB]

Can I ask a dorky and probably obvious question? You cook the rice first?

[Lisa]

The rice goes in dry, jen. It cooks in the juices of the meat. (Hee.)

I have a recipe similar to this but use the oven instead of stove-top, but hey. Potato, potahto. What's hilarious is that my husband SWEARS TO GOD he hates meatloaf, but he loves these. These tiny, tiny meatloaves.

[SueH]

Does the rice really go in dry? I've been making them wrong all these years! Wow, no wonder mine look like regular meatballs with white flakes of rice instead of porcupines. Good to know! Thanks for helping me out on this one ladies.

[Samantha]

Anyone else start humming "Porcupine Racetrack" by The State (or could be Kids in the Hall, those years were a bit fuzzy)

[selzach]

I made them last night with ground turkey breast. OMG, Hubby and I were nearly fighting over them.

I was going to use the ground beef we bought two days ago, but it had already gone stinky. "Use by" date, my ass.

[Gloria]

Thanks for posting these. My kids loved them; I made them a second time for extended family and they loved them too.