Porcupine meatballs are an North American casserole dish of ground beef and rice meatballs cooked in tomato sauce. This recipe, that appealed to cooks in the 1930s, appears to have been developed during World War I when rice was affordable and readily available, but meat was pricey. The recipe appeared as ‘rice meat balls’ in the 1918 cookbook ‘Conservation Recipes’, a clear forerunner of the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (1939). The name comes from the appearance of the meatballs, which appear prickly when the rice pokes out of them as they cook, resembling a porcupine.
Meat, even something as mundane as ground beef, was expensive and home cooks used innovation and imaginative ways to make a small amount of protein stretch to feed a large and hungry family. Porcupine meatballs were one of the answers to the problem. It’s great that generations later we are still enjoying them!
Of course, this simple recipe is very customizable. Other ingredients could be added to the meatballs like green pepper, mustard, celery, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, or other seasonings. The simple tomato sauce made with canned soup could be enriched with molasses and seasoned with chili powder and cumin. A later recipe from 1969 for ‘porcupine meatballs paprika’ replaces tomato soup with cream of mushroom, and adds other ingredients like mustard, or sour cream and paprika. ‘Porcupine meatballs Chinois’ was a variation influenced by Chinese cooking techniques and ingredients. Served with peach sauce, the Chinois meatballs are made with ground pork, shrimp, rice and green onion, seasoned with soy sauce and sherry, and steamed instead of being cooked in sauce.
Ground turkey can also be substituted for the ground beef, just add 1/4 cup oatmeal to the mix to compensate for the extra moisture in the turkey.
I recall my mother making these meatballs numerous times when I was growing up. They tasted great then and still do today. I decided to make some with the tomato sauce and some with mushroom sauce since Brion was not familiar with this meal. I think he will enjoy them.
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SERVINGS
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- 454 gm lean ground beef
- 1/2 cup uncooked, long grain rice
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup onion, finely diced
- 1 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 284 ml tomato OR cream of mushroom soup
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 small onion, diced
- 411 gm Italian crushed tomatoes
- 3/4 cups chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp sour cream
- 1 1/2 tsp olive oil
- salt, pepper & Italian seasoning TO TASTE
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 large sweet onion, diced
- 250 gm button mushrooms, sliced
- 1 1/2 Tbsp beef base
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch
- 2 1/2 cups water
Ingredients
Meatballs
Sauce
Alternative Tomato Sauce
Alternative Brown Mushroom Sauce
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- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- In a medium bowl, lightly mix together all meatball ingredients. Form mixture into 12 meatballs & place in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish.
- In a small bowl, whisk together sauce ingredients; pour over meatballs. Cover & bake 1 1/4 hours or until rice is tender.
- These meatballs are nice served over rice, egg noodles, mashed or baked potatoes. Simple but tasty!
- In a saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Sauté onion until tender crisp. Add crushed tomatoes & simmer for about 5 minutes. Add seasoning to taste & sour cream; combine then whisk in chicken broth. Pour over meatballs & bake.
- In a skillet, heat oil & sauté onion & mushrooms. Add beef base, pepper, garlic powder & 2 cups of the water. Bring to a boil. Combine cornstarch with remaining 1/2 cup water. Gradually add cornstarch mixture to pan & stir as you are pouring. Cook, stirring often, until thoroughly mixed. Pour over meatballs & bake.
- The advertisement picture on the blog was from life magazine in 1948.
