Cooking meatballs in a slow cooker is a pleasure. Fast, easy, and also very tasty and healthy. It is enough to roll the meat balls, pour them with delicious tomato sauce and turn on the desired mode. But what nuances are important to consider when cooking?

Classic meatballs with tomato sauce in a slow cooker

Classic meatballs with tomato sauce are prepared from a mixture of several types of meat, which scroll simultaneously. It can be chicken and pork, pork and beef, turkey or rabbit - you choose. Minced chicken comes out juicier from a whole chicken carcass, but from a filet the dish will turn out to be rather dry. It is better to take pork slices moderately fat, for example, use a ham or a neck. Pure beef (especially veal) is a dietary dish, and it’s important to choose the right sauce for it. In general, the amount of ingredients is small, and they are usually always in stock with housewives.

For meatballs you will need:

  • Minced meat - 500 g;
  • Bulb (large) - 1 pc.;
  • Rice cooked until half cooked - 250 g;
  • Chicken eggs - 2 pcs.;
  • Tomatoes in their own juice, tomato paste for sauce - 500 g or 3 tbsp;
  • Spices and salt to taste.

Mix the meat, rice, eggs, onions, cut into small cubes, salt and pepper. From the resulting mass, we make balls a little larger than a tennis ball. Bone each in flour. In the "Frying" mode, fry meatballs to a delicious crust, if possible, from all sides.

Knead the sauce in parallel. Ideally, this should be mashed tomatoes without skins, where they add a little salt and spices to taste.But you can replace fresh tomatoes with canned in their own juice, tomato juice or pasta diluted in boiled water at the rate of 3 tbsp. 250 ml. You can add cream to the tomatoes, a couple of tablespoons of sour cream or a little milk to give the dish a creamy tint and soften the acid that is always present in tomatoes.

The sauce should completely cover the meatballs, and even better if the meat balls in it “float” in it: you can’t save on the sauce in this case, otherwise the dish will turn out dry. And also, do not forget about the size: the balls should not be huge, and should have time to prepare completely. But you shouldn’t grind them too: they are not meatballs.

At the bottom of the multi-bowl, greased with vegetable oil, put meatballs, then fill them with sauce. Cook on the "Extinguishing" mode for 20-30 minutes. Serve with any garnish or on your own, pouring with ready-made sauce, sprinkled with fresh herbs. Meatballs are a completely self-sufficient dish, although they are perfectly combined with side dishes: mashed potatoes, buckwheat or pasta.

The recipe for hedgehogs with rice

 

Hedgehogs with rice is a favorite children's dish. They are especially tasty from tender minced chicken, which is scrolled from several chicken parts - breast, thighs or legs. Meatballs are sculpted, as in the classic recipe. The difference, moreover, is fundamental in the degree of rice preparedness. It should be practically raw, because during cooking, each rice swells, which is why meatballs resemble “hedgehogs”. Grain is more suitable for long-grain, steamed: thus, cooking time is reduced.

Hedgehogs are cooked in sauce, but it is even better to steam them, and so that they do not turn out dry, serve with sour cream and herbs.

Crockpot meatballs in a cooker

Some housewives fundamentally do not add tomatoes, considering them too aggressive for the stomach. But sour cream 2.5% fat is a wonderful sauce that gives a creamy taste to meatballs. In order for the sour cream to not curd up during the stewing, it can be mixed with cream and two tablespoons of flour added - such a sauce will be tender, tasty and thick. True, you need to knead everything well so that the gravy does not contain unpleasant flour lumps.

Preparing the balls is very simple: we make them from minced meat, fry them (as in the basic recipe), put on the bottom of the multi-bowl. Cook until cooked on the "Stew" mode, serve meatballs in sour cream sauce with mashed potatoes or pasta.

If you wish, you can stew meatballs under the “hat” of onions, carrots, bell peppers and herbs. But, if you pour the balls with sour cream sauce, you should not add all these vegetables: they do not combine with each other.

Cooking, as in kindergarten - a delicious recipe

For meatballs in kindergarten, they always take either chicken or beef - pork is prohibited in kindergartens. Even cooks in kindergartens do not put eggs in meatballs, but they fry onions in butter: the meat becomes juicy, sweet, which, of course, is very appreciated by little eaters.

Next, "cook" in stages:

  1. Stuffing is well knead with rice and onions.
  2. Roll the balls in flour.
  3. Fry in a skillet.
  4. Pour with sour cream sauce, where we add only a little tomato sauce.
  5. Tomim in a slow cooker on the "Extinguishing" 15-20 minutes.

You can serve meatballs with small noodles, buckwheat or mashed potatoes on the water: the fat content in meatballs is enough.

Roll in flour is not a mandatory part of cooking technology. But it is this stage that helps the balls to keep their shape and not crack when frying, and then stewing.

Option meatball with gravy - steamed in a slow cooker

Many multicooker models have a grill in their set to cook steamed dishes. Easy to cook in this way and meatballs with rice in a slow cooker. By the way, such meat balls can include any cereals, for example, buckwheat and oatmeal. Believe me, taste only decorates it.

Cooking a meal is simple by following these steps:

  1. We form meatballs by mixing cereals and meat.
  2. Balls, without deboning in flour, put on a greased grate.
  3. Place the sauce on the bottom of the bowl. To do this, mix tomato sauce with a couple of tablespoons of flour, spices, salt.
  4. Cooking on the "Extinguishing" or "Steaming" (who has what opportunities).
  5. Meatballs served, pouring sauce, or separately.

Cereals should be cooked to al-dente. However, multi-pressure cookers manage to cook them to the desired condition. In such models, they can be put raw in minced meat.

The undoubted advantages of the cooking method is the ability not to weight the meat with sauce, which in other cases (say, with stomach diseases) may be contraindicated. But anyway, our meat balls are soaked in sauce and only win by juiciness. This is verified.

Chicken Stuffing Recipe

As already mentioned, steamed meatballs in a slow cooker or meatballs in sour cream sauce become much more tender if they are made from minced chicken.

What parts of the bird are best suited for minced meat?

  1. Chicken fillet (if you are on a diet). In this option, you can not put rice, but give juiciness with a large amount of onions.
  2. Chicken thighs.
  3. Chicken legs, without skin.

Scroll the minced meat in a meat grinder or in a blender, knead well, form meatballs and cook them, following the classic recipe. Serve with baked potatoes, pasta or any cereal without sugar.

Gravy fishballs - step by step recipe

Surprisingly, the meatballs in the multicooker are very unusual, tasty, light, if you replace the meat with fish. What kind of fish are preferred? This is cod, pollock or haddock (if you are not too lazy to bother with it for quality cutting). From river fish, meatball is good for meatballs - it is fleshy, baked well, contains few bones. And from the sea try rasp: here it is important to find its extreme freshness and last catch.

It is interesting:stewed pollock recipe with carrots and onions

Cooking fish meatballs is simple:

  1. We cut the fish, separating the fillets, scroll in a meat grinder, or grind in a blender.
  2. Add the squeezed crumb of bread soaked in milk or cream to the minced fish.
  3. We form meatballs and roll them in flour.
  4. Fry at the bottom of the multi-bowl in a small amount of vegetable oil.
  5. Pour in tomato sauce.
  6. Cooking on the "Extinguishing".

Serve fish meatballs better with vegetables. In the winter season, fried cabbage is ideal for fish - red, colored or white.

When cooking minced fish, remember the rule: the fish drinks milk! Be sure to soak the fish in milk or add bread crumb soaked in milk filling. But it is better not to put sour cream in such a dish: enough tomatoes.

Nuances of cooking in a slow cooker: Redmond, Polaris

Many housewives worry: is there a difference between brands? Does the brand affect the cooking time and quality of the finished meatballs? If you believe the reviews, there is not much difference: read the instructions carefully and everything will be fine. The main thing is not to overload the dish with spices, especially bright oriental ones. Meatballs themselves are very tasty with proper proportions.

More sour cream or less, fresh tomatoes or canned, steamed meatballs or stewed - the choice is always yours. Easy interpretation, a slight change in technology - and the dish will always delight you with a fresh taste, appetizing look. Pamper your loved ones with home cooking, be full and happy!

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