4-Ingredient Skinny Slow Cooker Porcupine Meatballs Recipe

WW Recipe of the Day: Slow Cooker Porcupine Meatballs
(278 calories | *6 WW SmartPoints)

I’ve got an updated, blast from the past (my past anyway) recipe for you today: Healthy Slow Cooker Porcupine Meatballs.

Do you remember “porcupines” – ground beef, raw rice and seasonings formed into balls and then cooked in tomato sauce, or soup, in a skillet or baked in the oven?

My old Betty Crocker Cookbook (affiliate link) (1978) has a good recipe for this old-fashioned family-friendly favorite.

But the inspiration for these skinny slow cooker gluten-free porcupine meatballs came from another source: 4 Ingredients: More Than 400 Quick, Easy, and Delicious Recipes Using 4 or Fewer Ingredients (affiliate link), a basic little paperback of easy everyday recipes by a pair of Australian moms, that I discovered in a London bookshop a few years back.
 

Skinny on Skinny Slow Cooker Porcupine Meatballs

The original 4-ingredient recipe called for just ground beef, cooked rice, egg and canned condensed tomato soup.

I added a little dried onion, garlic powder, salt and pepper to the mix.

And instead of plain condensed tomato soup, I opted for a can of Amy’s Organic Chunky Tomato Bisque (affiliate link) which is slightly sweet, a little creamy, and full of fresh tomato flavor.

I carefully placed the uncooked meatballs in my 4-Quart oval slow cooker (affiliate link), poured the soup on top and let them cook on LOW for about 4-1/2 hours.

If you prefer, you could bake them in a 350F degree oven for about one hour instead.

Served with mashed potatoes and broccoli, these slow cooker porcupine meatballs received an enthusiastic thumbs up from both of us.

Which just goes to show dinner doesn’t have to be complicated to be satisfying, especially when you like old-fashioned comfort food the way we do.

According to my calculations, each generous serving has about 278 calories and *7 Weight Watchers PointsPlus, *6 WW Freestyle SmartPoints. Enjoy!

Are You Ready To Slow Cook Yourself Slim?

I used the following ingredients & kitchen tools to make these porcupine meatballs:

• Hamilton Beach 4-Quart Stay-or-Go Slow Cooker (affiliate link)
• Amy’s Organic Soups, Chunky Tomato Bisque (affiliate link)
• 4 Ingredients: More Than 400 Quick, Easy, and Delicious Recipes Using 4 or Fewer Ingredients (affiliate link)

If you like these old-fashioned slow cooker porcupine meatballs, be sure to check out my other easy healthy Weight Watchers friendly meatball recipes including Easy Slow Cooker French Onion Meatballs, Weight Watchers Spaghetti & Chicken Meatballs, Slow Cooker Hawaiian Meatballs, Slow Cooker Cranberry Meatballs and Easy Slow Cooker Sweet & Sour BBQ Meatballs

If you’ve made these Crock Pot Porcupine Meatballs, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it.

Source: inspired by 4 Ingredients: More Than 400 Quick, Easy, and Delicious Recipes Using 4 or Fewer Ingredients (affiliate link) by Kim McCosker and Rachael Bermingham

*PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT Weight Watchers Zero Points fruits and vegetables using the WW Recipe Builder.

This video shows how easy it is to make your own crock pot porcupine meatballs at home:

More Weight Watchers Recipes for Meatballs:

• Turkey Meatball Stroganoff (SkinnyTaste)
• Light Italian Meatballs (LaaLoosh)
• Buffalo Chicken & Quinoa Meatballs (SlenderKitchen)
• Salisbury Steak Meatballs (SkinnyTaste)
• Baked Salmon Meatballs with Creamy Avocado Sauce (Cookin’Canuck)
• Skinny Greek-Style Meatballs (SkinnyKitchen)

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