I am not ashamed to admit I’m a fickle friend when it comes to food – ready to transfer my loyalty from fresh fruits and light salads to casseroles and baked goodies. But there is one thing that remain in my heart at all times – the good, soft and juicy meatballs. So, today, I’m trilled to share this recipe of my all time favorite comfort foods – Russian meatballs aka Tefteli!
For me a good meatball is all about the softness and the texture of that rich meat and the way it sort of melts in your mouth. These Russian meatballs are traditionally made with addition of rice which gives them an incredibly soft, rich and juicy texture. And the creamy tomato sauce makes them intensely packed with flavor.
These meatballs are going to be the best ones you’ve ever tried!
They are delicious and freeze so well. We all know it’s not easy to come up with delicious healthy meals night after night. So having a freezer packed with delicious home cooked meatballs can be a real life saver.
Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup Arborio rice
1/2 medium yellow onion
1 medium carrot
2 cups San Marzano strained tomatoes
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 egg
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Rinse the rice for a few minutes. This will help to remove some starch and prevent the rice from being too sticky. Meatballs will never be dense this way.
In a medium pot bring 1/2 cup of rice and 1/2 cup of water to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and simmer covered for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave covered for another 5 minutes. Remove the rice to a bowl and let it cool down to room temperature. It will be fluffy and just a tiny bit undercooked. Don’t worry it will continue to cook inside the meatballs.
Peel, cut and using a food processor purée the onion. The puréed onion instead of just chopped will give us a really nice and juicy meatball consistency.
Then finely shred the carrot and combine it with the onion, rice, meat, garlic, egg, salt and pepper.
Mix well and using your hands form the meatballs to a size of a golf ball. Place meatballs on a hot non-stick skillet with oil and get them nicely browned on all sides. Then turn off the heat.
In medium saucepan combine San Marzano strained tomatoes and cream. Season with salt and pepper and stir well. Bring it to a nice simmer and add parsley. Turn off the heat and pour the sauce over the meatballs. Simmer covered for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and sprinkle with more chopped parsley.
That’s it! My best and super easy Russian meatballs aka Tefteli are done! Throw them on a warm plate with your favorite pasta or mashed potatoes and spoon over that amazing sauce!
OBSESSED!
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/2 cup Arborio rice
- 1/2 medium yellow onion
- 1 medium carrot
- 2 cups San Marzano strained tomatoes
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 egg
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Rinse the rice for a few minutes. This will help to remove some starch and prevent the rice from being too sticky. Meatballs will never be dense this way.
- In a medium pot bring 1/2 cup of rice and 1/2 cup of water to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and simmer covered for 5 minutes.
- Remove the rice to a bowl and let it cool down to room temperature. It will be fluffy and just a tiny bit undercooked. Don’t worry it will continue to cook inside the meatballs.
- Peel, cut and using a food processor purée the onion. The puréed onion instead of just chopped will give us a really nice and juicy meatball consistency.
- Then finely shred the carrot and combine it with the onion, rice, meat, garlic, egg, salt and pepper.
- Mix well and using your hands form the meatballs to a size of a golf ball.
- Place the meatballs on a hot non-stick skillet with oil and get them nicely browned on all sides and turn off the heat.
- In a medium saucepan combine San Marzano strained tomatoes and cream. Season with salt and pepper and stir well.
- Bring it to a nice simmer and add parsley. Turn off the heat and pour the sauce over the meatballs. Simmer covered for 10 minutes. Then turn off the heat and sprinkle with more chopped parsley.
- Serve with your favorite pasta or mashed potatoes.
- Spoon over that amazing sauce and enjoy!
We love meatballs here in Greece, we call them keftedakia. The Tefteli version sounds fantastic. We loved the addition of cream to the tomato sauce, this must be taking the dish to a whole new level!
Your photos are amazing. Thanx so much for the delicious recipe!
Panos and Mirella
Thank you! I never heard of keftedakia before, but now that I know, they are on my to do list!
Sadly, my meatballs were not as nice as on this picture. I followed the recipe step by step by my meatballs were falling apart. I even added an extra egg and drained the meat 🙁
Oh nooo, sorry to hear about your experience Torrya! It sounds like your meatball consistency was too runny and extra egg contributed to even runnier consistency. They have enough stickiness due to the rice, so no need to add extra egg. Also, have you used a non-stick pan to fry them?
You can add bread crumps and it would thicker the meat
Would brown rice fare ok or will it take away from the rich texture?
Hi Stephanie, I’ve never tried these meatballs with brown rice. I would stick to the white rice though as the proportions might be different. Cheers!
Using Arborio rice is, in itself, different from basic white rice. It is the rice of Risotto, so has a creamy consistency when cooked. Love arborio rice and will try this recipe. I am looking for an authentic red borscht recipe. Took my daughter’s to dinner once at the Russian Tea Room restaurant and it was amazing! Real beets, onions, meat…any ideas?
Thanks Kim! There is recipe for borscht on the blog that I hope you will like. Cheers!
I’m confused about the tomatoes. Do you use the juice or the tomatoes after draining off the juice. If it’s just the strained whole tomatoes wouldn’t they need to be broken up for sauce consistency? help?
Hi Sandymags! I actually never saw whole strained tomatoes, mine were always saucy like a regular tomatoe sauce. Hope this helps and good luck!
I too need further clarification on the tomatoes. True San Marzano tomatoes ONLY come whole and peeled in the can (so sayeth the Food Network!!) and I have gone to every local grocer we have and no one carries anything that is already “saucy” …do you feel this would work if I purees the whole San Marzanos into a sauce and then drained excess water? Really want to try this but don’t want to toss money out on ingredients! Help!!
Hi, I’m not sure if this helps or maybe a little late… but I am in Australia and I was searching for it also. I ended up purchasing a ‘Passata sauce’. Hope this helps 🙂
Thank you Louise! And yes whole blended tomatoes totally work!
Thank you so much ~ took almost a year but a reply is a reply!
Such a delicious recipe, subsitiuted coconut cream for heavy cream as a non dairy alternative and was perfect! Thanks so much for sharing this with us!
I am so happy you liked it! Thank you!
This is a great recipe! There are a couple things I would suggest to change though. I used slightly less rice (about 2/3 cup uncooked) and I cooked it for about ten minutes before adding it to the meat.
This tastes just like something my Baba would have made. Thanks!
Oh, no, sorry it didn’t work for you Ella 🙁
Very good! The meatballs themselves were delicious and the sauce was nice and creamy. I will make the full recipe next time, had no leftovers. Adding to my Russian recipe collection, thank you!
Thank you so much Leah! I’m thrilled that you loved my Tefteli recipe!
your recipe call for 1/2 cup of rice, but then the instructions say cook 1 cup of rice. Which is it?
Oops! Thanks for catching that Karen! It’s 1/2 cup of rice.
Hello there. This is one delicious recipe. I made it just as the recipe states. It was a big ‘hit.’
Thank you so much Patricia!
Hi Lily! I know you posted this recipe a few years ago, but I just wanted to tell you I’ve been making your tefteli recipe for about a year now for my husband, who is Ukrainian, and he LOVES it. He says the meatballs are just like the ones he used to have growing up (don’t tell his mom, but he says they are even a little better!). They are truly tasty.
Just some reassurance for anyone whose meatballs are falling apart – I had a number of them break apart the first time I made this recipe, but with a little practice and some experimentation with “turning” utensils, I’m now proud to say they don’t break at all. I actually use a regular old spoon to turn them, as I find it is gentler than a spatula.
Thanks for this great recipe!
aww thank you so much Stacy! I’m so happy you guys love this recipe! Enjoy!
The best meatballs ive eaten ever, and thats because your recipe and my wifes cooking!
Thank you very much! 🙂
Just made this tonight and it was amazing. I used a grater for the onion and carrot. Too much work to use a food processor lol. Also used a spoon to turn the meatballs. Can’t believe the difference it makes in the flavor rather than just cutting the veggies up. I also added another clove of garlic, just a personal preference. This recipe is a keeper.
It looks amazing thanks for sharing it with us will try to make it next weekend surely.
I’m having trouble finding heavy cream here in Russia, ironically. I’m from the US and the dairy system here still baffles me. Can I use Sour cream instead?