Porcupine Balls

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen's My First Cookbook

Show: Paula's Best DishesEpisode: Kid Krazy

Rated: 3 stars out of 5Rate itRead users' reviews (10)

RECIPE
COMMENTS & REVIEWS(10)

Cook Time:
1 hr 0 min
Level:
Easy
Yield:
4 to 6 servings

Times:

Prep: 15 min
Inactive Prep: --
Cook: 1 hr 0 min
Total:: 1 hr 15 min

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Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef
1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice, divided
1 teaspoon dried onion
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 (14-ounce) can beef broth

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Put the ground beef into a mixing bowl. Measure 1/2 cup of the rice and put it in with the meat. Mix it all together with your clean hands. Form the mixture into 8 or 9 golf ball-size balls.

In a large casserole dish, add the remaining rice, dried onion, salt, Italian seasoning, diced tomatoes and beef broth. Stir together with the spoon and top with the meatballs.

Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for about 1 hour. The rice in the meatballs will have puffed up all around the meat, and your meatballs will look like little porcupines!

Cook's Note: Let an adult help you remove the dish from the oven with oven mitts or hot pads. When you remove the foil, steam will come out, so be careful!

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Comments & Reviews

recipe Porcupine Balls
Heidi Keller, TX 11-17-2009
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Remember this is a 'kids can cook' dish
Rated: 4 stars out of 5

I saw this episode on tv, and I have to admit I did not make this with my 13 and 14 year old children. I did make some... changes after reading the reviews. I also made a pretty darn good soup with the left overs. Please make sure you prepare and use Paula Dean's seasoned salt. I use this for so many dishes it has become a staple in my kitchen. Add 1 teaspoon of the following to the meatballs-italian seasoning, seasoned salt, cubed fresh bread crumbs smashed in one egg and about 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup of buttermilk and 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese. I also doubled the meat using one pound of ground pork and one pound of ground beef (lean). If you double the meat double the teaspoons of seasoning to 2. Use the same teaspoon of each seasoning in the sauce. Then follow the rest of the directions. The meatballs were a bit dry next time I will probably add minced garlic to the meat balls themselves. Family liked it but did not LOVE it...next night I chopped up the meatballs....sauteed onions and a clove of garlic in olive oil in a soup pan added the cut up meatballs, and all the rice with a quart of beef stock...let warm up and served with toasted cheese bread....the family LOVED that!Read more
recipe Porcupine Balls
Enna Oak Park, IL 11-17-2009
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Will Doctor It Up Next Time
Rated: 3 stars out of 5

I, too, put the seasonings in the meat and also in the rice. I used ground turkey and the meatballs were dry. I think the... recipe is basically good and my grandson thought the meatballs looked "cool", but he only at half of one meatball. Fortunately I served a vegetable he liked with it and served it on top of the rice. He ate seconds of that. If I can conquer the dry meatballs, this will be a good recipe.Read more
recipe Porcupine Balls
Janet West Milton, OH 11-15-2009
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"Excellent! Will make it again."
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

Very firm meatball. I served this over hot mashed potatoes. Good and hearty meal. I combined the beef broth, tomatoes, and... 1 cup of rice together and placed in a dish. I combined the rest of the ingredients together and made the meatballs and put them in the tomato broth mixture. I used Minute Rice. Everything was done in 1 hour. My husband loved this and so did I. Paula never lets us down! Thanks Paula! JanetRead more
recipe Porcupine Balls
darleen baton rouge, LA 11-15-2009
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ate once but not again
Rated: 2 stars out of 5

made this with a few changes after reading other reviews.. i put an egg in with meatball mixture and i did put seasoning in... meat mixture also.. did not have italian seasoning so i used diced tomatoes with seasoning.. i had to cook this dish about 30 minutes longer to get rice done. we ate it but i threw recipe away because i wont make it againRead more
recipe Porcupine Balls
null null, null 11-14-2009
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Porcupine Balls
Rated: 4 stars out of 5

I just got back from the grocery store..I'm going to make the porcupine meatballs tomorrow. I wanted to review this recipe... before I did and I'm glad now that I did. One commented about putting the dried onions, seasoned salt and italian salt in the meatballs...the recipe did not say that and no wonder some had said they had no taste....and was dry. I bought 80 % lean beef. I will come back and let you know how they tasted:-)Read more
recipe Porcupine Balls
Barbara Stafford, GA 11-11-2009
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Vile
Rated: 1 stars out of 5

Absolutely disgusting. I was surprised how awful this tasted. I am a fan and was surprised at the outcome of this recipe. ... And yes, the meatballs were dry and I did put the spice in the meat.Read more