Name: Meatballs and Rice
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 3 cups thinly sliced kale; 1 1/2 cups long grain white rice; 1 onion onion (minced); 1 clove garlic (minced); 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning; 1/4 tsp salt; 3 cups chicken broth or water; 1 lb ground beef; 1 egg; 2 tbsp milk; 2 tbsp bread crumbs; 1 tbsp minced parsley; 1 clove garlic (minced); 1/2 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Baked meatballs and rice is an easy, one pot dinner with beef meatballs and fluffy garlicky rice and kale. This dish has everything you need for dinner and is ready in under 50 minutes.

Baked meatballs and rice with kale in a white 9x13 dish.

There’s nothing that I love more than developing a recipe that is the kind of dish that I can imagine someone enjoying on a weeknight. What I love about this recipe is that this is literally a dinner in one pot. You’ve got your protein, your grain and your vegetable.

You could absolutely add a salad or another side, but why would you?

Why this recipe works

I love creating dishes that are made in one pot and actually delicious. For this recipe, you stir all of the ingredients (except those that are for the meatballs) in a 9×13 casserole dish.

Then you mix and shape the meatballs, place them on top of the rice, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Ingredients you’ll need

Long grain white rice is my go-to for mildly flavoured rice and is the perfect base for this dish.
Onion adds flavour to the rice, the key is to mince it quite finely so that it cooks through.
Garlic is used in both the rice and the meatballs.
I like to use Italian seasoning in this recipe, but you could use dried thyme or dried oregano.
Kale is an ingredient that I love to use in one pot recipes (try my one pot curried chicken and rice) not only is it really quick to prep, but it’s also quite sturdy and can hold up to cooking in the oven.
I like to use chicken broth for the liquid to cook the rice, but you could absolutely use water as well.
For the meatballs, I use ground beef but you could also swap this for ground pork or a combination of both.
Egg acts as a binder for the meatballs.
Along with the thyme and garlic, the meatballs are flavoured with parsley.
Bread crumbs and milk help to keep the meatballs moist.

Expert tips

After the dish is done cooking, you’ll want to throw it under the broiler to brown the kale and meatballs. Since we’re not searing them before cooking them in the oven, they won’t have a nice browned exterior without this step.
Make sure to mince your onion very finely to ensure that it cooks through and doesn’t have any of that raw onion flavour left.

Step by step instructions

The first step is to mix the rice with kale, onion, garlic salt and Italian seasoning in a 9×13 casserole dish.
Next, you’ll make the meatballs. Mix the ground beef, egg, milk, bread crumbs, minced parsley, garlic, salt and Italian seasoning in a large bowl. Shape them into twelve even meatballs and place on top of of the rice.
Bring your broth or water to a boil and carefully pour into the rice, cover with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.
Remove the foil, and place under the broiler for 2-3 minutes until meatballs and kale have browned slightly.

A serving of the rice and meatballs on a white plate.

Other one pot recipes you might like