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Meatballs with sour cream in a frying pan

Skillet Meatballs in Sour Cream Sauce

Made from everyday ingredients — a main dish or dinner for the whole family! These skillet meatballs in sour cream sauce are a quick, hearty, and delicious meal. They're simple enough that even a beginner cook can pull them off. Absolutely any side dish pairs well with them, and the thick sour cream sauce ties it all together.

Julia M.

Recipe author

Meatballs with sour cream in a frying pan

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Ground meat

500

Rice (cooked)

Onion

Sour cream

100

Water

Vegetable oil (for frying)

Dried spices

Salt

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 16 % 7 g

Fats 44 % 19 g

Carbohydrates 40 % 17 g

268 kcal

GI: 6 / 94 / 0

Cooking method

Cooking time: 40 min

Step 1:

How do you make skillet meatballs in sour cream sauce? Gather your ingredients. Use any kind of ground meat you like — I use ground pork. Cook the rice ahead of time; you'll need 1 cup of already-cooked rice. Any fat percentage of sour cream works. Choose your spices to taste.
Step 2:

Cook the rice. How do you cook rice? Put it in a saucepan and rinse it in several changes of water until the water runs clear. Cover the rice with cold water and set it over low heat. Stirring occasionally, cook until tender — about 15–20 minutes, depending on the variety. Drain the cooked rice in a colander and let it cool. In a roomy bowl, combine the cooled rice with the ground meat.
Step 3:

Add a little salt and spices to taste. Mix everything well until evenly combined.
Step 4:

Pour a little vegetable oil into a hot skillet. Shape the mixture into balls with your hands and place them in the pan. Fry the meatballs on all sides over high heat until browned.
Step 5:

While the meatballs brown, peel the onion, rinse it in cold water, and cut it into medium dice.
Step 6:

Add the diced onion to the meatballs in the pan, tucking it in between them. Cook everything together for a few minutes until the onion turns translucent. Then pour in a little boiling water, cover with a lid, and simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes.
Step 7:

Separately, stir the sour cream into a little water.
Step 8:

Near the end of cooking, pour the sour cream sauce into the pan. Bring everything to a boil, warm it for a couple of minutes, and take the pan off the heat. To thicken the sauce, you can stir in a little flour — but I prefer to simmer it longer with the onion, which breaks down and thickens the sauce on its own.
Step 9:

Serve the finished meatballs hot. Enjoy!

Both kids and grown-ups love this hearty dish — and for good reason: it has a lovely tender, creamy flavor. It's a foolproof choice for a satisfying everyday menu. The sour cream sauce pairs beautifully with the meatballs and softens their flavor. If you like, you can round out the sauce with tomato paste, garlic, or various spices. Meatballs are lighter than, say, cutlets, which is why many people reach for them over other meat dishes.
For tips, tricks, and all the most useful advice, see the article on keeping cream and sour cream from curdling in a cream sauce.
Important! For rice dishes that turn out delicious every time, it's worth reading up on choosing the right rice and the secrets to cooking it.
Use an oil with a high smoke point for frying! Every oil is only good up to a certain temperature — its smoke point — beyond which it starts to burn and form harmful compounds, including carcinogens. With few exceptions, unrefined oils have a low smoke point: they're full of unfiltered organic particles that scorch quickly. Refined oils stand up to heat far better and have a higher smoke point. Whenever you bake, pan-fry, or grill, make sure you're using an oil with a high smoke point. The most common ones are refined sunflower, olive, and grapeseed oil.