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brown meatballs with rice and sprinkled with parsley
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4.65 from 14 votes

Meatballs and Rice

Baked meatballs and rice, a comforting casserole dish that your children will love! A budget-friendly recipe that you will keep making again and again.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 20 minutes
Course: Beef, Pork and Lamb
Cuisine: American
Servings: 6
Calories: 526kcal
Author: Adina

Ingredients

  • Rice:
  • 1 small onion or ½ medium one
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 ½ cup hot chicken stock
  • 1 ¼ cup hot water
  • ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 ½ cup long grain rice
  • Meatballs Note 1:
  • 20 oz ground meat Note 2
  • 1 small onion or ½ medium
  • 2 large garlic cloves
  • cup dried breadcrumbs
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 tablespoons milk
  • 2 tablespoons chopped dill
  • 1 teaspoon ground paprika
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil for frying the meatballs
  • some parsley for sprinkling on top

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/ 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Rice:

  • Combine: Finely chop the onion and grate the garlic cloves. Place them in a casserole dish of about 30x20 cm/ 12x8 inches. Add the oil, butter, salt, pepper, hot chicken stock, and hot water. Mix well until the butter is melted. Add the washed rice and dried thyme and combine it well.
  • Bake: Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes.

Meatballs:

  • Combine: In a large bowl, combine ground meat, grated onion, and grated garlic, breadcrumbs, lightly beaten eggs, milk, chopped dill, paprika, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Mix well.
  • Form meatballs. Take a heaped tablespoon of meat (or about ⅛ cup) and form meatballs with wet hands.
  • Fry in a bit of oil, in batches, for about 5 minutes per batch or until brown all over; they should only be browned and not thoroughly cooked through.

Bake:

  • Remove and discard the aluminum foil. Nestle the meatballs into the rice and bake for 25 minutes until the rice and the meatballs are cooked through.
  • Serve: Sprinkle with parsley before serving.

Notes

  1. Quick sausage meatballs: remove the casings from about 600 g/ 21 oz sausages, form meatballs, brown on the stovetop as instructed in the recipe.
    Ready-made frozen meatballs: defrost quickly on the counter. Place on the partially cooked rice and continue with the recipe as instructed.
  2. I use a mixture of pork and beef most of the time. You can use only beef, only pork, or ground turkey meat.

Nutrition

Serving: 1/6 of the dish | Calories: 526kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 18g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 156mg | Sodium: 968mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g