Grinding meat into juicy mince and making a dish loved by adults and children is one of the best culinary discoveries. Cooking meatballs with rice in tomato sauce. A step-by-step recipe with photos can be prepared in a frying pan and in a saucepan, in the oven or in a slow cooker.
If you are losing weight, immediately switch to the diet version without frying. However, we indicated calorie content for all recipes.
For many people, this everyday dish evokes warm nostalgia. “Like in kindergarten!” we smack our lips with pleasure, devouring the delicious meat balls. Using our clear algorithms, you can also make a kindergarten masterpiece.
All meatball recipes require simple ingredients. Minced meat, white rice, onions, tomato paste or juice, flour or breadcrumbs for breading, seasonings and herbs to taste. Economical and very tasty!
Meatballs with rice in tomato sauce: recipe with photos
The classic “like in kindergarten” option is not a military secret at all. By making the dish in a saucepan, with pre-breaded frying in a frying pan, you will easily get the delight of your family.
You can also make sour cream gravy. We will tell you about this at the end of preparation.
- Cooking time - up to 50 minutes
- Calorie content per 1 serving - from 280 to 450 kcal (depending on minced meat, breading and amount of oil during frying)
For 4 large servings:
- Minced meat (or meat) - 0.5 kg
- White rice - 0.5 cups
- Onions - 1 onion (medium)
- Chicken egg - 1 pc.
- Flour or ground crackers - about 4 tbsp. spoons (for breading)
- Tomato paste - 3-4 tbsp. spoons
- Salt - 1 teaspoon
- Black pepper (ground) - 1-2 pinches
- Garlic - 1-2 cloves (if you like)
- Spices are also optional, for example, a mixture of Italian herbs with basil and thyme
Important details.
- For children over one year old, offer affordable poultry (chicken, turkey). In general, you can always combine different meats in free proportions, because the meatballs hold their shape well.
- Flour can be replaced with breadcrumbs or ground oatmeal.
How to cook: step-by-step recipe with photos.
Making the meat base.
- If we cook from a piece, then we turn it through a meat grinder with onions.
- If you use ready-made minced meat, run the onion in a blender and mix with the minced meat. For those who like roots with rice: you can add a medium carrot and a piece of celery.
Assess the moisture content of the minced meat. If it's sticky enough, we can do without the egg. There is enough meat juice for the coupling. If the mixture is a bit dry, then it is better to add an egg.
Grandma's secret!
For those who don’t take calories into account and like to eat fat. Add lard to the minced meat: about 50 grams per 0.5 kg of dry minced meat.
The final touch is to add salt, pepper and spices. Choose as you wish: Italian herbs, dried garlic or a clove or two of fresh (pass through a press), red paprika, coriander, cumin. If you have fresh herbs on hand, chop finely and also mix into the meat mixture. We love dill and parsley, and sometimes we indulge in celery leaves.
Boil rice to add to minced meat.
Whether the rice is round or long doesn’t really matter. The main thing is to boil until done. Wash 0.5 cups of rice and add 1 cup of water. Place on the stove and let it boil. Cook over medium heat for about 10-15 minutes. Steamed rice will cook faster than others: only 5-7 minutes.
Drain the remaining water from the cooked rice through a sieve, let it cool and add to the minced meat. If you drain without a sieve, squeeze out the cereal with your hands before adding it to the meat.
The photo shows step-by-step assembly of minced meat, egg and rice
Knead the minced meat with your hands and form into balls.
Our goal after adding rice is a plastic and viscous mixture that holds its shape well.
We form the koloboks into graceful ones - enough for 2-3 bites of an adult. Diameter - 3-4 cm. We work with wet hands. Lightly press each one on both sides. This way they will remain stable during frying. Finally, roll in breading. Flour, oatmeal crumbs, and breadcrumbs will do.
The latter, although they seal the juice inside the meatball as much as possible, but noticeably make the dish heavier in calories and carbohydrates. Therefore, the dietary option is without breading. It is also very juicy and is described in the following recipe with photo.
Close-ups provide delicious photo inspiration with step-by-step recipes!
Fry the meatballs in a frying pan.
Ruddy balls, as in the photo, are obtained in 2-3 minutes. Fry on both sides in hot oil. No need to cover the pan! This will make the meatballs juicier and cook faster. Place the finished beauty on paper napkins to remove excess oil.
Photo for adherents of the classics, just like in kindergarten: your appetite soars in a second!
Simmer the meatballs in a saucepan with tomato sauce.
Place the fried semi-finished products in a deep pan. Pour boiling water up to half the height of the meatballs. Add pasta and spices to taste. A bay leaf and a pinch of the herbs with which we seasoned the minced meat will do.
Simmer the meatballs in tomato sauce, covered, over medium heat for up to 15 minutes. That's all: you can serve the deliciousness along with the usual side dish.
A step-by-step classic recipe with photos - these are always delicious meatballs with rice! Save our description.
We love adding vitamins and fiber to the filling protein. Long live salads made from fresh vegetables, such as beets, black radishes or red cabbage!
Other plain sauce options
Tomato sauce made from fresh tomatoes.
We cut each vegetable crosswise and pour boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Place under cold water and easily remove the skin by prying it with a knife. Chop coarsely and place in a blender bowl. Whack-whack - fresh tomato mass can be poisoned in a pan for stewing with meatballs.
In season, cut half a bell pepper or zucchini into the gravy, grate carrots, chop broccoli and cauliflower. The new ingredient will revitalize the texture and improve the taste of the dish.
Sauce with sour cream and onions and carrots.
We make the frying as for soup: from chopped onions and carrots, grated on a coarse grater. Together with 3 tablespoons of sour cream, add the fried mix into the pan at the last stage. This mixture will include celery root and cabbage shavings grated on Burnet or a spoonful of oat bran. Anything that enriches the gravy with dietary fiber is a useful find!
By the way, 1-2 tablespoons of sour cream will make the classic tomato filling more tender.
With buckwheat
Meatballs in tomato sauce in the oven, where buckwheat is used instead of rice, will not only diversify the daily menu, but will also surprise guests.
For cooking, it is permissible to use the remaining porridge that was cooked the day before.
Composition of ingredients
Product set:
- meat fillet (beef, pork in equal proportions) – 600 g;
- buckwheat (raw) – 3 tbsp. l.;
- tomato paste – 2 tbsp. l.;
- onion – 1 head;
- carrots – 1 pc.;
- flour – 60 g;
- vegetable oil – 40 ml;
- ground pepper, salt - to taste.
What can be added and changed in the composition
For a dietary menu, you can skip frying and use chicken breast minced in a meat grinder instead of mixed minced meat. The gravy will be tastier if you add 1 tbsp to it along with tomato paste. l. sour cream.
Step-by-step cooking process
Cooking instructions:
- First you need to cook buckwheat porridge, pour cold water over the cereal in a 1:2 ratio. You need to cook over low heat after boiling until fully cooked. Next, the cup should be set aside and cooled.
- At this time, you need to deal with the meat, rinsing the flesh with a stream of cold water and cutting off the film and veins from the fillet. Shape into cubes and grind in a food processor or meat grinder along with the peeled half of the onion.
- Place the porridge with minced meat in one cup, beat in the egg, salt and spices. All that remains is to thoroughly mix the composition and form meatballs of the same size.
- Roll the semi-finished products in flour on all sides and fry in a frying pan hot with oil until golden brown. You need to place the prepared products in a deep baking pan or baking dish.
- The rest of the onion should be chopped, and the peeled carrots should be chopped on the coarse side of a grater.
- Vegetables need to be sautéed until half cooked, and then filled with water (1/2 cup) mixed with tomato paste and spices.
- Pour the gravy over the meat products and place in the oven preheated to 180°C. After 15 min. the dish can be taken out.
Decoration and serving rules
More often, this dish is served on its own or with vegetable salad as a side dish, portioned into plates and sprinkled with generously grated cheese and herbs.
Meatballs with rice and gravy in the oven “Dietary”
You can avoid frying by using the oven.
Cook according to the ingredients from the first step-by-step recipe. We get 220-270 kcal with a large portion of lean minced meat (chicken breast, chicken or veal). Significant weight loss benefit!
The oven cooking process is pleasant and easy.
- When we have formed the koloboks, we do without breading. Place them in a deep baking pan or large baking dish. On top is the finished sauce: tomato paste diluted in water with seasonings.
- We will bake at 180℃ for up to 40 minutes. Check readiness after 30 minutes.
- We observe the evaporation of moisture. If the sauce begins to dry out, cover the baking sheet with foil.
Save the step-by-step recipe with photos - lose weight deliciously!
In the photo - a baking tray full of dietary yummy minced meat with rice
Eh, the rice babies are good! Ruddy, as in the photo, and juicy, as in kindergarten
Meatballs: recipe with rice, ingredients
Meatballs are a popular dish made from minced meat or fish. The classic recipe for this dish includes only minced meat with onions, herbs and seasonings. Meatballs are boiled in broth or added to soups. The dish also differs from others in size: one meat ball should be small in size, about the size of a walnut.
Nowadays, meatballs are prepared in many ways: fried, baked in the oven or stewed in a variety of sauces. Meat is also mixed with various additives, such as vegetables or cereals.
The most delicious tomato sauces for diet meatballs
Rice does not boast of healthy fiber content. Make tomato sauce from juice or paste, combining it with dietary supplements that are high in fiber. This thickens the gravy and makes the dish healthier.
Fiber for tomato sauce: proportion “by eye”.
Wheat and oat bran, apple pectin, psyllium and various whole grain flours. And also cauliflower, canned peas and natural beans, chopped in a blender, carrot shavings (on a fine grater). Try all your favorite root vegetables and ground grains.
If there is not enough water, you can add it if you notice the dish drying out during baking. A little bit of boiling water from the kettle - directly onto a baking sheet in the oven. Believe me, a simple tomato sauce for meatballs with rice is difficult to mess up, but there are many ideas on how to improve it for health benefits.
And two more interesting ingredients for the original tomato sauce for diet meatballs - the juice of one medium orange and parsley (half a small bunch). Finely chop the beauty and send it along with the juice to the meat 5-7 minutes before the end of stewing. Mmm, delicious! And we follow the diet, and we receive the usual delights of our husband and children. An invaluable combination!
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