Baked Meatballs and Rice
An easy one-pan dinner where the oven does most of the work.
Dinner doesn’t always have to be something super colorful and creative — sometimes what you really need is something that’s maybe a little basic but sure to please, and sure to comfort. That’s this Baked Meatballs and Rice. It’s a one-dish wonder where the oven does most of the work for you and rice and meatballs are cooked right in the same baking dish. In other words, it takes all the dinner stress right out of a busy weeknight, no problem.
Here’s how you go about making this easy dinner:
You add chopped onion and minced garlic to a baking dish, along with a nice drizzle of olive oil…
… And then you top it with some butter, hot water, and hot chicken stock. The hot liquid will melt the butter so the cooking liquid is nice and flavorful.
You’ll add your rice — long grain white works best here — and cover the dish tightly with foil before you pop it in the oven to get a head start.
While the rice bakes, it’s time to make the meatballs, which is just a matter of mixing together ground meat, onions, egg, breadcrumbs, and a few seasonings. You can use just ground beef, or you can go with a combination of beef and pork if you’d like.
Drop the meatballs onto the parbaked rice and pop the whole thing back in the oven until the meatballs are cooked through and the rice is tender. Easy!
You end up with fluffy, fragrant rice that’s flavored not only by the onion, garlic, butter, and stock but also by the savory juice that’s dripped off of the meatballs as they bake. (In other words, heaven.) Everyone loves meatballs, everyone loves rice, so cooking them together like this is a no-brainer.
Baked Meatballs and Rice
Diet: Gluten-Free
Ingredients
- 1 small white onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 1/2 cups chicken stock, heated
- 1 1/4 cups hot water
- 1 1/2 cups long grain white rice
For the meatballs:
- 1 1/2 lbs ground beef, or a combination of beef and pork
- 1 small white onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 egg, beaten
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- First, make the rice:
- Add onion and garlic to a 9x13-inch baking dish. Add olive oil, butter, hot chicken stock and hot water, and season liberally with salt and pepper. Stir until butter is melted.
- Add rice, cover dish tightly with foil, and bake 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the meatballs:
- In a large bowl, combine ground meat, onion, breadcrumbs, milk, Worcestershire, garlic powder, and egg. Season well with salt and pepper and mix to combine.
- Scoop out meat mixture in heaping tablespoon portions and gently form into balls.
- Uncover baking dish, and place meatballs atop rice. Bake, uncovered, until cooked through, about 40 minutes. Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Where Is My Spoon.