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Why You’ll Love My Recipe
If you grew up in the 1970s, there’s a good chance your mom made Classic Retro Porcupine Meatballs! These tender meatballs are mixed with rice, then simmered in a rich tomato sauce until they’re “prickly” and full of cozy flavor. They’re comforting, budget-friendly, and perfect for picky eaters (trust me, both of my kids loved them)!
These porcupine meatballs are a classic, right up there with my Grape Jelly Meatballs or The Best Easy Homemade Meatballs Recipe. Serve them with Buttery Mushroom Rice and make sure you drizzle the delicious sauce over the top!
Reader Review
This recipe is terrific. Very easy and fast. We thought it was delicious. Since I don’t like tomato soup, I used Bloody Mary mix. Thank you for sharing another great recipe. I rely on you and look forward to seeing you in my inbox.
Karlynn’s Recipe Notes
- Skill Level: This recipe is tried and true, easy to make, and completely no-fuss. It’s been made over and over for a reason!
- Total Time: Dinner is ready in about 1 hour, with around 30 minutes of hands-off simmering time.
- Variations: Feel free to use all beef for your meatballs, or mix in finely chopped onion and garlic for extra flavor. Serve these meatballs with rice, Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes, or Classic Homemade Garlic Bread to soak up every bit of the delicious sauce.
- Tools For This Recipe: You will need a large frying pan, a large mixing bowl, a large lidded sauté pan, and a spoon for stirring and serving.
What You’ll Need for Ingredients
Ground Meat: A combination of beef and pork (1 pound of each) gives these meatballs the perfect balance of flavor and tenderness. Karlynn’s Tip: Use lean ground beef, then let the pork add just enough fat for extra moisture and richness.
Long-Grain Rice: The long-grain rice cooks right inside the meatballs, helping them hold together while giving them their signature “porcupine” look. No need to make your rice in advance!
Onion Soup Mix: This mix is what gives porcupine meatballs their classic flavor. Karlynn’s Tip: Store-bought mix works great, or you can try my Homemade Onion Soup Mix for more control over the salt and seasoning.
Tomato Soup: A single can (10–11 ounces) of tomato soup creates the smooth, comforting sauce. Feel free to use your favourite brand here!
Worcestershire Sauce: Worcestershire sauce adds an unmistakable savory taste that’s classic in beef dishes. Karlynn’s Tip: A store-bought Worcestershire is great, but if you’re feeling adventurous, my Homemade Worcestershire Sauce allows you to customize the tang and depth.
How To Make Classic Retro Porcupine Meatballs
This is a quick overview of the recipe. The full list of ingredients & complete step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Pour the canola oil into a large frying pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the rice, water, soup mix, garlic powder, ground beef and ground pork. Mix well and form into 1 1/2 inch meatballs.
- Fry the meatballs until golden brown on all sides, cooking until they reach a safe internal temperature of 160°F, as recommended by the USDA.
- Drain the excess fat, then combine the last four ingredients and pour over the top of the meatballs.
- Place a lid on the sauté pan and simmer on medium-low heat for 20-30 minutes, until the rice in the meatballs is cooked. Stir every 10 minutes or so.
Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Classic Retro Porcupine Meatballs
- Make Enough for Leftovers: This recipe uses two pounds of ground meat and makes 24-25 big meatballs. Trust me, you’ll want extras – they’re even better the next day!
- Make It a Double: You can absolutely double this recipe! Just make sure you use a larger skillet so the meatballs have plenty of room to cook evenly.
- Skillet Over Roaster: I swear my mom used to dump everything for porcupine meatballs straight into a roaster, cook it, and call it dinner! Feel free to try this method if you’d like. That said, I like using a skillet because it skips a transfer step and makes browning easier.
Storage Instructions
These Classic Retro Porcupine Meatballs hold up beautifully after cooking and are perfect for leftovers or make-ahead meals!
Refrigerator: Store cooked meatballs in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. They stay tender and reheat wonderfully on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Freezer: Once completely cooled, place your meatballs (with sauce) in a freezer-safe container or zip-top bag. They’ll keep for up to 3 months, following USDA food safety guidelines. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat gently before serving!
More Delicious Meatball Recipes
If you love Meatball recipes, you’ll want to try these next:
- Sweet & Sour Pork Meatballs are sweet, tangy, and packed with flavor – this is truly one of the BEST meatball recipes out there!
- My Meatballs with Mushroom Sauce bring rich and savory notes, with truffle oil taking them completely over the top.
- These Crock Pot Meatballs with Mushroom Gravy are slow-cooked to perfection and loved by readers for good reason!
These Classic Retro Porcupine Meatballs took me straight back to my childhood! This was a regular dinner at our table growing up, and they’re just as delicious now.
Give them a try, enjoy every bite, and don’t forget to leave a comment to share how yours turned out! You know that I always love hearing how you make these classics your own.
Happy Cooking!
Karlynn
Classic Porcupine Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- ½ cup uncooked long grain rice
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon onion soup mix
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork
- 10 ounce tomato soup, can
- ½ cup water
- 1 ½ tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Place the canola oil in a large frying pan.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the rice, water, soup mix, garlic powder, ground beef and ground pork. Mix together well (I always just use my hands since I have to form meatballs anyways) and form into 1 1/2 inch meatballs, around 22-25. They will be loose because of the water, but you need the moisture in there for the rice, trust me they will cook up nicely!
- Heat a large lidded saute pan and then fry all of the meatballs until golden brown on all sides. When starting, fry them for a long time on the first side, cooking them until they are really browned so that when you flip them they don’t fall apart.
- When all of the meatballs are done , drain the excess fat off, then combine the last four ingredients together and pour over top of the meatballs.
- Place a lid on top of the saute pan and simmer on medium-low heat for another 20-30 minutes, until the rice in the meatballs is cooked, stirring every 10 minutes or so. I actually just shake the lidded pan back and forth to move things around.
- Serve and enjoy! We make rice and serve these and the sauce over top.
Notes
- You can double the sauce if you want a lot of sauce in this recipe easily, it will fit in the large saute pan.
- The only thing that I sometimes change in the traditional recipe is to use half ground beef and half ground pork. I find that the ground pork makes for juicier meatballs. You can use all ground beef if you like, but I suggest trying them with ground pork, they are so delicious!
- You can definitely double this recipe (I did) you simply need a larger skillet for the meatballs.
- I also use two pounds of ground meat in the basic recipe, if you are going to go to all that effort then you should make enough for a few leftovers as well! This meatball recipe yields around 24-25 large meatballs.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Mary says
Received this recipe via email – but email said it was an instant pot recipe. How would you convert this to an instant pot? Much thanks in advance for your reply.
Leslie says
This recipe is terrific. Very easy and fast. We thought it was delicious. Since I don’t like tomato soup, I used bloody mary mix. Thank you for sharing another great recipe. I rely on you and look forward to seeing you in my inbox.
Jennie says
Karlynn, these sound perfect for dinner tonight. Problem, though: I only have parboiled white rice in the pantry right now, and no chance to shop in time. ?
Do you think the parboiled will be ok to use instead of the long grain white rice? Fingers crossed it’s a yes. I have a hungry lacrosse playing lad who would love these pre-game!
I look forward to hearing your thoughts, Karlynn.
Janet says
I find frying the meatballs kind of tedious. I put them on a baking sheet in the oven for about 15 minutes, then put them in the sauce in a casserole and then back in the oven.
Jennie says
Once again, Karlynn’s been a comfort food recipe hero!
Using parboiled white rice IS doable with this recipe. As per Karlynn’s advice, I simply added two eggs to the meat, and it worked like a charm.
I made the personal decision to further tart things up a bit with extra minced garlic & Italian seasonings in both the meat mixture and the tomato sauce. Also added minced celery and fresh Serrano peppers to the meat. Life is spice in my house.
The meatballs & their delish sauce made for brilliant meatball sandwiches on the way to the lad’s lacrosse game, and the leftovers were great lunches over rice with some veg added.
Yumm!
Laurie L says
Heck, you don’t even have to cook the meatballs. Mix your meatball ingredients – use LEAN meat – and about 1/4 cup long grain rice (uncooked) per pound. Make into meatballs, put into greased roaster (small) or lidded casserole. Mix together 1 can condensed cream of tomato soup and one can water, add any seasonings you might want – whisk to combine and pour over meatballs. Add lid and bake at 350 deg F for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Great with veggies and a salad.
Jennifer says
My mom used to make these. She would layer a casserole dish with minute rice, roll meatballs ( as above) , and place uncooked balls on top. cover all with sauce( need 1 cup to 1 cup ratio of liquid to minute rice) . She would pour additional sauce on top. Seal with foil and bake for about 45 mins at 350. Add more sauce as necessary, after removing foil, and continue to bake til brown. The rice was always SO yummy!
Pam Mansveld says
Our family tradition adds finely chopped onions and celery to the ground beef and also Worcestershire sauce. Glad to see porkies are popular again!