Meatballs in tomato sauce in a slow cooker

Tender and juicy meatballs in tomato sauce in a slow cooker are prepared without worries about the balls burning or drying out. Properly set parameters of the slow cooker ensure a guaranteed excellent result.

Yield: 7 servings (5 pieces each).

Cooking time: 70 minutes.

Calories: 171 kcal per 100 grams of the dish.

Cuisine: Russian.

Ingredients

• chicken fillet - 750 g;
• white onion - 140 g;
• juicy carrot - 170 g;
• long-grain rice - 100 g;
• tomato paste - 90 g;
• garlic - 2 cloves;
• white sugar - 5 g;
• rock salt - 10 g;
• bay leaf - 1 pc;
• mixed peppercorns - 4-5 pcs;
• odorless vegetable oil - 1 tbsp.

Preparation

1. Prepare the ingredients for making meatballs in tomato sauce in a slow cooker. You can use not only chicken or turkey meat - the same algorithm and slow cooker program are suitable for pork, beef, or lamb. The only thing to consider is to make the meatballs slightly smaller.

2. Rinse the rice several times, washing away the rice flour (starch).

3. To make the meatballs more tender and acquire a colorful appearance, add carrot to them. Grate it on a medium grater.

4. Prepare pieces of fillet, onion, and garlic cloves for grinding. Cut the onion and fillet into small pieces.

5. Grind all of this into minced meat.

6. Combine the minced meat in a mixing bowl with the rice and half of the grated carrot. Add salt, mix.

7. In the bowl of the slow cooker, spread a spoonful of oil over the walls and bottom.

8. From the prepared minced meat, shape meatballs with wet hands, slightly bigger than a walnut but smaller than a chicken egg.

9. Place half of the meatballs on the bottom of the slow cooker.

10. Cover the first layer of meat with some of the remaining carrot.

11. Next, layer the balls again (since the cooking pot of the slow cooker expands towards the middle, a larger number of preparations will fit into the second layer).

12. Sprinkle all the remaining carrots over, add the bay leaf and peppercorns.

13. Dilute the tomato paste with water up to the 400 ml mark. Stir and add sugar and salt for flavor balance.

14. Pour the tomato mixture over the meatballs.

15. Close the lid and set the slow cooker program. Choose the product type - poultry, then - stewing and time - 1 hour. Press the start button. While the process is running, you can do other things and not control the wonder machine at all - the result will be perfect.

16. When the sound signal goes off, the dish is ready. You can immediately turn off the slow cooker and open the lid, or you can do nothing, and then by default the appliance will set the program to keep the dish warm.

17. All meatballs have retained their shape perfectly, have not stuck together, and can be easily stirred and taken out in the desired quantity.

18. The cooked meatballs in tomato sauce in the slow cooker can be served with any side dish or just with vegetables. When serving, the balls are poured over with the remaining sauce in which they were stewed, and sour cream is added.

Try it, enjoy your meal!