There are a huge number of options for making meatballs - and this is not surprising, the dish is very tasty, healthy and nutritious. Both a child and an adult will eat it with pleasure, so it is also universal for any kitchen.

How to cook meatballs

The recipe for meatballs in tomato sauce is recognized as quite unusual. There are two options for cooking such meatballs - you can put out on the stove, or you can bake in the oven.

To stew on the stove, you must first fry them in sunflower or olive oil. Before that, fry the meatballs in flour, fry in oil and place in a heavy-bottomed saucepan or stewpan. If there are a lot of meatballs, stack them in several rows. You need to cook them in sauce over low heat for 30 - 50 minutes.

Let's dwell on the recipe with a photo of meatballs in the oven. For the second option - baking in the oven - you should grease a deep baking dish with oil. Form meatballs from minced meat, soaked in water with hands, arrange them in a baking dish (as close to each other as possible). Now put them in the oven at a temperature 200 degrees, bring it down to 180 degrees and bake for half an hour.

During this time, your meatballs should brown a little, now is the time to fill them with tomato sauce and place in the oven for another half hour. You need to add cooked rice to minced meat or half-ready rice, if rice and carrots are present in your dish - they need to be passaged a little. Raw vegetable ingredients can be added, though.

Will significantly improve the taste of the dish finely chopped greens, which should also be added to the minced meat itself.

For a change, you can add bell peppers or mushrooms to the minced meat, but they also need to be fried a little beforehand. You can also add an egg or chopped parmesan to the middle of each meatball.

The classic recipe for meatballs from mixed minced meat step by step with a photo

For this recipe, you need half a kilogram of minced meat ( pork mixed with beef), 400 grams of boiled rice or 150 grams of rice cereal, onion, carrots, 50 grams of butter, a couple of tablespoons of vegetable, egg and salt with pepper and spices.

Getting started cooking

If you use non-raw rice - boil it completely or halfway... Rinse it several times in water (it is recommended to wash the rice up to 8 times), so that the water becomes clear. Dilute the washed rice with water, one to two, salt, cover with water and bring to a boil.

Then reduce the heat to a minimum, cover the pan with a lid and cook 10 minutes... Now add butter and it. cover, cover with a towel and let brew for 15 minutes... While the rice is infusing, peel the carrots and grate on a medium grater.

Peel the carrots and grate on a medium grater. Prepare the onion - peel and chop finely. Sauté the onions and carrots in the oil until they are lightly golden brown. Now you need to wait for the rice and vegetables to cool.

When all the ingredients are at room temperature, mix the rice with the minced meat, add the egg, salt and pepper there, add the onions and carrots and mix thoroughly again. The minced meat should become homogeneous. Now form meatballs out of it.

As always, it is better to work with minced meat with your hands moistened with water. Place the meatballs on the prepared baking dish, put them as close to each other as possible. Put the dish in the oven (200 degrees), reduce the temperature a little and cook meatballs at a temperature of 180 degrees within half an hour.

When the meatballs have a light ruddy color, it's time to take them out of the oven, if you overexpose them in it, the taste will deteriorate.

What to serve meatballs with

You can serve meatballs with any porridge (except rice, of course) or potatoes and sauce of your choice. While your dish is baking, you have half an hour to prepare a delicious and unusual sauce to make the dish irresistible. For instance, pink garlic-onion sauce.

To prepare it, you will need: a small onion, a couple of cloves of garlic, 200 grams of sour cream, the same amount of tomato juice, salt and pepper. First, chop the garlic, fry it a little, then peel and chop the onion and add to the garlic. When the onion turns golden brown, pour sour cream into the pan, let it steam for a couple of minutes and pour in the tomato juice. Simmer all ingredients over low heat for 8-10 minutes.

Meatballs are a very nutritious and healthy dish, and an unusual sauce for them, in addition, will not leave indifferent even the most picky gourmet.

Any housewife knows, many cook zrazy perfectly. But how to cook meatballs with gravy, not every novice cook knows. Let's shine the light of truth on this tasty, healthy and satisfying dish.

To start making classic meatballs at home, you need to find out how they differ from ordinary meatballs. First, it is an additional ingredient in the meatball. A cutlet is minced meat, onions and an egg, but a meatball is also cereal (mainly rice) or bread. Secondly, delicious gravy. It can be tomato, sour cream, mushroom or vegetable.

Thirdly, this is the cooking method. Traditionally, meatballs are first fried and then dipped in gravy and stewed for a while. But if you have problems with your gastrointestinal tract or are simply tired of everything fried, skip the toasting step. Also meatballs can be breaded or quickly baked in the oven.

How to cook meatballs with gravy

We will cook meatballs in 3 stages.

Stage 1 - minced meat

Minced meat is needed to make meatballs. It can be chicken, meat, or even fish. It all depends on your gastronomic preferences. Chopped beef and pork are popular options. The proportions can be either equal or unequal, this is determined by your wishes for hardness and fat content. To make the meatballs tastier, cook the minced meat yourself, if you don't have time, buy a store one.

We're going to cook lean ground beef. To do this, take 500 grams of frozen veal and let it thaw a little at room temperature. How much to defrost? When frozen, the approximate defrosting time is 30-40 minutes.

Tip: in order for the meat to scroll easily in a mechanical meat grinder, it must be partially frozen, that is, not completely thawed, but not frozen like a bone. You cannot even cut frozen meat, and thawed meat will look crushed and chewed. Twist the meat using a large wire rack. Minced meat is ready.

Stage 2 - meatballs

To make meat balls, you need to add onions, eggs and cereals (or bread crumbs) to the meat. Traditional meatballs are meat and rice, and we will make them.

To do this, take 150 grams of rice, preferably steamed long-grain rice. Rinse it well and cook until cooked through. It is also permissible to boil the rice in half or not cook it at all, but pour boiling water over it. If you are using half-baked rice, be sure to increase the stewing time of the meatballs in the gravy later.

While the grits are cooking, peel and finely chop the onion. Send it to browse, and rub the carrots yourself. Once the onions are browned, add the carrots to the skillet. When ready, combine the boiled rice and sautéed vegetables. Add this mixture to the meat. To prevent the meatballs from falling apart, add an egg there for viscosity.

Sprinkle the entire contents with seasoning on top. We use curry, sweet paprika and black pepper. You can use a different set of spices.

Mix all the ingredients and beat the minced meat. This is necessary in order for future meatballs to become lush and delicate in taste. Take the minced meat in your hands, throw it abruptly on the table, pan or into the bowl where you kneaded it. Repeat this procedure 15-20 times.

Next, make your own meatballs. Moisten your hands well with water, this is necessary so that the minced meat particles do not stick, and start rolling small balls 3-4 cm in diameter. Too small lumps can get very fry, and large ones risk not baking. In addition, small meatballs can be stewed in a frying pan, which comes out much tastier than in a stewpan. Dip the finished meatballs in flour.

After you're done with the minced meat, wash your hands and dry them dry. Dip the meatballs in flour. To give them a more beautiful shape, roll each meatball in your hands again, squeezing a little so that the balls cannot fall apart during the cooking process. If the meat sticks to your hands, dip your hands in flour and dip each meatball.

Like cutlets, meatballs are perfectly stored in the freezer. Therefore, you can safely make a large number of meat balls and freeze them for the future. Then all you have to do is make the gravy and stew the meatballs in it.

Stage 3 - gravy

We will make the gravy with mushrooms. Read about making sour cream and tomato gravy in the next section.

Take 3-4 cloves of garlic and crush them with the side of a knife. Place the garlic in a skillet with boiling oil and burn it to black coals. This procedure will remove the smell of sunflower oil and add a spicy aroma to the dish. Remove the remaining embers.

Take care of mushrooms. For gravy, it is permissible to use porcini mushrooms, boletus, champignons, etc. We will use honey mushrooms. Due to the fact that the mushroom season is far behind, we take 200 g of pickled mushrooms and rinse them well. If the mushrooms are too sour, you can soak them in water for a while. Next, chop them finely and send them to a skillet with garlic oil.

Once the mushrooms are lightly fried, add the finely chopped onion to the skillet.

At this time, lightly brown 2 tablespoons in a dry frying pan. flour, which you later send to mushroom sauce.

Pour 1.5 cups of boiling water into the gravy, mix everything well.

Add more spices (rosemary, curry, cumin and coriander) and let the mixture thicken slightly. If you crave, prefer stews, or don't want to deeply fry your patties, dip the meatballs in this mixture. If you prefer a more tasty option, then the meat lumps must first be fried or baked until a beautiful crust appears. Then put them in the gravy to stew.

The sauce should hide the fried meatballs by more than half to make them juicy and tasty. Consider this in advance and add water if necessary. After the food has boiled, set the timer for 10 minutes. When the time is up, add 2 small bay leaves.

Sprinkle with herbs after another 10 minutes. Meatballs with mushroom gravy are ready!

1. Beef meatballs with bread crumbs

This option resembles regular cutlets. Take 2 tablespoons of sour cream and mix them with the same amount of bread crumbs. Add 100 ml of water to this mixture. Add a finely chopped or twisted onion to a pound of ground beef. Combine minced meat with breadcrumbs, mix thoroughly and beat it off.

Some cooks add soaked stale bread to the meatballs. This allows the meat juice to remain inside and the meatballs are juicier and tastier.

2. Sour cream or tomato sauce

For the preparation of the gravy, it is advisable to use the broth or the water in which the cereal was cooked. If neither one, nor the other, use ordinary boiling water. For sour cream sauce, add 4 tablespoons to boiling water. sour cream and a little salt. For the tomato gravy, use 4 tablespoons. tomato paste, do not add salt.

Excellent tomato sauce comes out of tomato juice. When using juice, never dilute it with water, otherwise your gravy will not thicken. Be sure to use spices, especially basil. It will give your tomato gravy an unforgettable taste and aroma.

3. Meatballs with gravy in the oven

It differs from the option in the pan only in the last step. The previous two are absolutely identical to the general recipe.

Instead of stewing in a skillet or saucepan, use a baking dish, preferably teflon-coated. Put the meat balls in it and pour the pre-prepared sauce on top. You need to bake meatballs at a temperature of 200 ° C. As soon as the gravy begins to boil, the power must be reduced to 150 ° C. The total extinguishing time should be 40-50 minutes. If you have gastritis or are on a diet, then use a steamer or microwave instead of a multicooker.

4. Meatballs with gravy in a slow cooker

Such meatballs differ from the usual recipe again in the third stage. Only in this version you do not need to prepare the gravy in advance, you simply put all the ingredients in a slow cooker and the process takes place by itself. For example, if you are using sour cream sauce, add 400 ml of boiling water, add 4 tablespoons of sour cream or mayonnaise, add your favorite spices, laurel and salt. Select the "extinguish" mode and set the timer for 60 minutes. After the dish has cooked, serve the meatballs with a side dish.

If you are using a multicooker pressure cooker, the cooking time is reduced to 30 minutes.

Experiment, add different grains, combine different minced meat, use lamb, try adding vegetables to gravy. Change sauces, add other spices. Side dishes are perfect for meatballs - pasta, potatoes, rice, stewed cabbage, dressings - ketchup, mustard, onion sauce. Even rice will go well with such a dish. It is so multifaceted that each of its preparation can be absolutely different from the previous culinary delight. expand the familiar with delicious dishes.

Bon appetit and see you soon!

Minced meatballs are the simplest dish. The same minced meat can be used to prepare different types of meatballs, the same products can be served with various side dishes and sauces. This is a versatile dish, because they are prepared from any type of meat. And now more about how minced meatballs are prepared.

Classic minced meatballs with rice

We all come from childhood, so the catering that fed us in kindergartens, schools, student canteens, is firmly entrenched in our heads and taste preferences. Many people still remember the distant taste of meatballs baked on a baking sheet, which were sticky, fragrant, in a light, but not at all tomato sauce, as usual. They seemed to be delicious. We tried to find this classic recipe to remember that time.

Meatballs are made from minced meat, but they differ from cutlets in that they always have a filling in the form of rice, vegetables or bread, are in the form of balls and must be rolled in flour before frying or baking, but not bread crumbs, as is done with cutlets. In addition, meatballs are usually cooked in a sauce.

So, to cook classic minced meatballs with rice, you need an oven.

And also the following products (given per serving):

• cutlet meat (you can use beef, pork, mixed minced meat, as well as veal and lamb) - 105 g;
• water - 12 g;
• rice - 11 g;
• onions - 29 g;
• animal fat (can be replaced with vegetable oil) - 4 g;
• flour - 8 g.

It is clear that if you are preparing for a family, then accordingly multiply the number of grams to the desired proportions.

Progress:

1. Chop the onion and sauté in fat.
2. Boil rice until half cooked. It is important to know that in this recipe and in all others, rice is not washed after boiling in order to maintain its stickiness.
3. Mix onion with rice, add minced meatballs, salt, pepper, mix and form medium-sized balls, cutting three meatballs per serving.
4. Breaded the balls with flour and transfer to a greased baking sheet or skillet in one row.
5. Bake until half cooked, transfer to a saucepan and pour over milk so that the minced hedgehogs are almost covered. Put on fire and extinguish over low heat. You can leave them on a baking sheet, if it is small, pour milk and send them to a minimum heat in the oven. After extinguishing, turn off and leave to absorb the milk. So the hedgehogs will absorb the delicious creamy taste.

Many called such meatballs - hedgehogs.

With rice - like in kindergarten

On the Internet, there is another recipe, which is also called meatballs from kindergarten. It's actually called meatballs with red sauce, and you can find it in a 1985 cookbook. The taste is really delicate and pleasant. According to this recipe, meatballs can be made either from pork alone or from mixed minced pork and beef.

Here's what you need:

• 0.4 kg of finished minced meat;
• one egg, onion;
• a glass of rice;
• salt and pepper.

Meatballs are a versatile meat dish that will suit any side dish: rice, pasta, buckwheat, etc. Meatballs are usually cooked in a sauce based on tomato paste, sour cream, cream and other ingredients. Thanks to the gravy, the meatballs will turn out to be more juicy and give additional flavor to the meatballs themselves and the side dish. Adults and children will love this dish. So how do you make delicious meatballs with gravy in a skillet?

Meatballs with gravy in a pan

Ingredients:

• Minced beef or pork 500 gr. (you can mix them).
• Onions 1 pc.
• Chicken egg 1 pc.
• Rice ½ cup.
• Water 2 cups.
• Tomato paste 2 tbsp l.
• Sour cream 1 tsp
• Flour.
• Bay leaf.
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• Vegetable oil.

Sequencing:

• Peel the onion and chop it finely and fry it in vegetable oil until cooked through.
• Boil rice and mix it with chopped onion and minced meat. Then add the egg, salt, pepper and mix everything thoroughly.
• Form small meatballs from the minced meat and roll them in flour. Then fry them on both sides in vegetable oil until cooked through.
• Mix warm water with tomato paste, sour cream and 1 tsp. flour. Add salt and stir everything thoroughly until a homogeneous consistency is obtained.
• Add the mixture to the meatballs, put bay leaves on them and simmer them under a closed lid for 15-20 until cooked.

Meatballs in mushroom sauce in a pan

Ingredients:

• Minced meat 500 gr.
• Onions 2 pcs.
• Chicken egg 1 pc.
• Rice ½ cup.
• Flour.
• Fresh mushrooms 100-200 gr.
• Garlic.
• Water 100 ml.
• Vegetable oil.
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Sequencing:

• Finely chop one onion and fry it in vegetable oil until transparent. Mix it with minced meat and a raw egg.
• Boil the rice and add it to the minced meat. Then add salt and mix everything thoroughly.
• Make small meatballs from minced meat and fry them in vegetable oil until cooked on both sides.
• Peel the garlic and fry it in vegetable oil for 2-3 minutes. During this time, the garlic will transfer all its flavor to the oil, which can be used to prepare the gravy.
• Cut the onions and mushrooms into small pieces. Fry the mushrooms in the resulting vegetable oil for 2-3 minutes. Then add the onion, 2 tsp. flour and a little boiled water. Salt and mix everything.
• Add the gravy to the cooked meatballs and simmer them over low heat for another 15-20 minutes.

Secrets of cooking meatballs in a pan

To make the dish even more delicious, it is important to remember a few important tips.

• For meatballs, it is best to cook the minced meat yourself. This will make it even more juicy, and will not contain impurities that can affect the taste of meatballs.
• If desired, you can add some soaked black bread to the meatballs. He will give the meatballs splendor and juiciness.
• If frozen minced meat is used for cooking, then defrost it at room temperature.
• Eggs can be excluded from meatballs. From this they will not lose their taste of juiciness.
• For breading meatballs, you can use not only wheat, but also rice flour.
• Ground beef and pork can be substituted for chicken, or turkey can be used. This dish will turn out to be light and delicate in taste.
• You need to fry meatballs without a lid, and only after adding the gravy can they be stewed under the lid.
• If the gravy turned out to be very thick, then you can dilute it with plain water or meat broth.

If you wish, you can add a variety of ingredients to the gravy as you wish: vegetables, cheese, your favorite spices, garlic. Cooked meatballs can be garnished with herbs or cheese, which will add a delicate taste to the dish and make it even more delicious. All this will make the dish more original and tasty just for you.

If you don't have time to deal with meat dish and sauce for the side dish at the same time, then you should try to cook meatballs with gravy. They will combine both options at once. The dish will complement any assorted vegetables, the usual mashed potatoes, cereals or pasta.

Classic meatballs with tomato sauce

It is better to take not ready-made minced meat, but a piece of fresh meat. For example, 800 g of fatty pork. And, besides her, 3 garlic cloves, salt, 1-2 chicken eggs, 4 tbsp. thick tomato paste without additives, oil, 2 white onions, 80 g of rice, bay leaf.

1. A piece of meat with garlic teeth and onion turns into a homogeneous minced meat.
2. The groats are boiled in salted water until half cooked.
3. Rice is combined with meat mass.
4. Ingredients are salted to taste.
5. From the resulting minced meat, meatballs are molded and fried in fat or oil.
6. In the same pan, the dish is stewed after boiling for another 45 minutes under a sauce consisting of 2 tbsp. water, tomato paste, salt and bay leaves.

If the dish is intended for children, then the meat balls should not be pre-fried.

Oven cooking recipe

You can cook juicy meatballs with gentle gravy in the oven. No rare ingredients are required for this, only: 450 g of minced cutlet, 65-75 g of tomato paste, salt, 80 g of rice, 1 tbsp. low-fat liquid sour cream, an egg, a mixture of peppers, 1 tbsp. with a heap of wheat flour.

1. The groats are boiled in salted water until half cooked. It is important to rinse it thoroughly beforehand.
2. The egg is minimally beaten with a mixture of peppers (usually hot, allspice and black).
3. Meat, rice and egg mixture combine. Salt.
4. The meatballs should be the size of a small potato.
5. Tomato and sour cream are mixed and diluted with salted water. Flour dried in a dry frying pan is added to the sauce.
6. Put meat balls in a baking dish and fill with the resulting mixture. It will take 40-45 minutes to cook meatballs with gravy in the oven.

The dish is served hot, decorated with green onion rings.

Hedgehogs - meatballs with rice and gravy

To externally the food really looks like hedgehogs, you need to take long rice. And also: 270 g of minced poultry, ¼ tbsp. cereals, a small egg, half an onion, 2 ripe tomatoes, salt, a small carrot, aromatic herbs, a little less than 2.5 tbsp. drinking water, dessert spoon of wheat flour.

1. Rice is cooked in unsalted water for no more than 5-7 minutes. It should be minimally saturated with liquid and not boiled over.
2. The groats are mixed with the meat, an egg is driven into it, aromatic herbs and fine salt are added.
3. In a container with a wide bottom, miniature meatballs from the resulting minced meat are laid out.
4. Half of the white onion is finely chopped, the carrots are rubbed on a grater with the smallest cells, together the vegetables are sautéed in any fat.
5. Last of all, tomatoes without peels are laid out for frying, and the contents of the container languish until the amount of liquid is reduced by 2 times.
6. The gravy is mixed with pan-dried flour, diluted with water, salted and cooked for 3-5 minutes. Then it is poured onto meat balls.
7. The dish is stewed right in the saucepan for 35-40 minutes.