Juicy and plump meatballs made with beef, pork and rice are baked in a creamy tomato sauce. The carrots, onions and garlic make the sauce even more flavorful and is the perfect gravy to serve over mashed potatoes, rice or pasta.
In Russian, these Porcupine Meatballs - Тефтели "Ёжики" are called this way because of the rice that is used in them, that pokes out from the meatballs in little "quills". Baked in a scrumptious sauce that's flavored with carrots, onions and tomato paste and just a bit of cream, it is so comforting and delicious. I have been eating these my entire life, a recipe passed down through the generations.
Thy are wonderful served as a leftover, and in addition to that, they freeze perfectly too. You'll get twice the benefit from your effort of making them once.
What Meat Can Be Used For Porcupine Meatballs?
I usually use a combination of pork and beef. The best results will be to use ground pork shoulder and ground beef chuck or steak. If you use lean meat with less fat, the meatballs will be more dense and tougher.
You can also use any other ground meat that you like, such as ground chicken, ground turkey, ground venison, etc.
How To Prepare the Meatballs
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Partially cook the rice. I usually bring the water to a boil and cook for 5-7 minutes. Drain and cool slightly. (You can also use leftover rice instead of partially cooked rice.)
Combine all the ingredients for the meatballs in a large bowl and mix until evenly incorporated.
The additional water will make the meatballs more tender.
Form the meat mixture into meatballs, about 2 Tablespoons each, placing the meatballs into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
How To Prepare the Creamy Tomato Sauce
In a large skillet, heat the butter or oil. Sauté the onions, carrots and garlic until tender.
Add the tomato paste and flour and mix until incorporated into the vegetables. Pour in the broth, mixing it in until evenly incorporated. Bring the broth to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until it thickens and creates a sauce consistency.
Add the cream and dry herbs at the very end.
Pour the sauce over the meatballs in the baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven, covered, for 45 minutes to an hour, until the meatballs are tender. Garnish with fresh herbs.
Making the Meatballs in Advance
These meatballs can be prepared 1-3 days in advance and then reheated in the oven, on the stovetop or microwave. Store the meatballs in the refrigerator.
Freezing Porcupine Meatballs
Freeze the cooked meatballs and sauce in an airtight container or freezer ziplock bag for 3-6 months. Thaw and reheat.
You can also freeze the meatballs and sauce uncooked, and then thaw and cook just as you would if you were making them from scratch.
Porcupine Meatballs With a Cream Sauce
Juicy and plump meatballs made with beef, pork and rice are baked in a creamy tomato sauce. The carrots, onions and garlic make the sauce even more flavorful and is the perfect gravy to serve over mashed potatoes, rice or pasta.
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
- Yield: 34 meatballs 1x
- Category: Entree
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- ¾ lb ground beef (chuck, steak)
- ¾ lb ground pork (shoulder)
- ½ cup rice, partially cooked (1 ½ cups leftover rice)
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1 egg
- ½ cup water
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Cream Sauce:
- 2-3 Tablespoons butter
- 2 large carrots, peeled and grated
- 2 onions, chopped or sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 ½ cups chicken broth, warm
- ¼ - ½ cup heavy cream
- salt and pepper, to taste
- ½ Tablespoon dry herbs (any spices, herbs, any combination that you like)
- fresh herbs, chopped, to garnish (parsley, dill, thyme, etc.)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Partially cook the rice. I usually bring the water to a boil and cook for 5-7 minutes. Drain and cool slightly.
- Combine all the ingredients for the meatballs in a large bowl. Form meatballs into approximately 2 Tablespoons each. Place in a rimmed baking pan, 9 x 13 inches.
- You can use a portion scoop to make it easier to form the meatballs, or use your hands. Moisten your hands every once in a while so the meat mixture doesn't stick to your hands.
- For the cream sauce, melt butter in a large skillet. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Add the carrots and garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook, covered, for another 5 minutes, until the carrots soften. Add the tomato paste and flour to the center of the pan and cook for another 1-2 minutes, until it's completely incorporated into the carrots and onions.
- Pour in part of the chicken broth and whisk to combine. Gradually add the rest of the broth. Bring the broth to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes, until the sauce thickens and the vegetables soften.
- Take off the heat and stir in the heavy cream. Season to taste with salt, ground black pepper and dry herbs.
- Pour the cream sauce over the meatballs.
- Cover the baking pan with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes to an hour, until the meatballs are tender. Garnish with fresh herbs.
The recipe for these Porcupine Meatballs was originally published on February 27, 2013. I have updated the pictures and clarified the instructions to give you the best results.
Оля! Спасибо за рецепт! Have you ever thought of using a meat substitute for тефтели? I was wondering if you thought the fat content would be high enough, or if you have a rec for extra fat to add in? (I was thinking maybe butter but that might be odd.)
Please keep your Russian recipes coming, I love cooking them, Rich
Wonderful meatballs, I mean like they were awesome,
That's great! I'm so glad you enjoyed them.
This is an awesome way to use up leftover cooked rice. And, yes even if the recipe is so labor intensive, I am so happy I won't have to stand and cook each individual meatball separately like the Kotleti. I am so happy to have recipes that I can also freeze for later too.
Hi Olga,
How would you reheat these for next day use? Back into the oven with foil on??
I prefer reheating the meatballs in a skillet or a saucepan/pot on the stove, it's much faster than putting them back in the oven, but you can put them back in the oven too.
When reheating, you may need to add a small splash of water or broth, since the sauce will soak into the meatballs more and more as it stands and each time you heat it up.
Hello Olga thank you. this food is really lovely and cool.
Thank you:).
Hi olga ive been making your recipe for years and we love It the most. Im updateing my recipe binders and i wanted to print this out but its not printing on my phone or the ipad. Maybe theres a glich?
Hi Ana,
I will try to make a printable version when I get a chance. This is an older recipe and I didn't have printable versions when I first started blogging and when I was updating the website, I missed a few old ones. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
Hi Olga!
Do you think if I omit the tomato paste it will be still be ok? Or should I substitute with something else.? Tomato based sauces give us heartburn so I try to avoid them if I can.
You can omit it, Lyuba. I have found that if you use fresh tomatoes, it isn't as acidic and might not give you heartburn, so you can try that out if you'd like. I think tomatoes help to balance out the flavors of the sauce. You can also add a bit of sour cream to get some acidity.
These were soooooo good! Thank you. I used turkey & chicken. And cornstarch and coconut cream for dairy free & gluten free version.
I froze half of the meatballs, raw, in the meatball shape. Do I have to completely defrost them or can I bake them frozen too? Just longer
Way too labor-intensive. A total of 5 onions to mince and slice! Plus recipe needs to be cut in half or the leftovers will take up all your freezer space. Taste was good, but not great.
Dear Olya,
We love this recipe and make it very often thanks to you for the past few years. I have tried commenting once before but ran in to a little bit of an issue. However, every time we make tifteli and other recipes from your site my mom's says to thank you for such a tasty meal. I want to congratulate you with new addition to your family, we were all excited to hear of the great news. Also, thank you for all the great recipes which we have grown to love on your site. May God bless you and your family for all your hard work and time you put into sharing these wonderful recipes with everyone:)!
Thank you so much for taking the time to write, Oksana. I am so glad you and your family enjoy these meatballs. They are a favorite in my family.
Thank you so much for your kind words.
Dear Olga,
I just made these! They're baking right now. I followed your recipe to a T! Well, I ran out of onions for the sauce, so only used carrots, so I guess that's not entirely true. But they'll still be great! I love, love all your recipes. I
My grandparents are from Poland and I love how your recipes are similar but even better! Hehe shhh!
Christine
I'm so glad you liked these meatballs, Christine:). They are always a huge hit in our family. Polish and Russian food is very similar, so I can see what you mean. I enjoy a lot of Polish dishes too.
Hi! Can I make all this the night before, put it in fridge and just bake in the oven the next day for lunch?
Yes, that would be just fine, Luba. You would have to bake them a little bit longer though.
This recipie does make waaaay too many meatballs... I over looked the part where you mentions how many it makes.... I regret not doing half of what the recipie calls for. Not sure what to do with all those cooked meatballs now! My kids did really like them thanks!
Freeze them! (these bad boys are so good)
Margot, I will in the future ended up sharing with family 🙂 have you tried freezing the sauce too? Or only tje meatballs? My kids did gobble up a few for dinner last night and again tonight. Very yummy!!!!!
I did freeze them in sauce, and then I used a double boiler to reheat them because I didn't think they would do well being microwaved.
Hi Olga! Thank you for this flavorful recipe! I love the sauce! Just wondering, I did make a lot of both the meatballs and sauce, would it be okay to just freeze the meatballs and refrigerate the sauce? Or can I freeze the sauce too?