Beautifully spiced Moroccan Lamb Meatballs served with a Minted Yoghurt Sauce. Stuff ’em into pitas for a street food experience, pass them around at a party or pile them over pilaf!
These juicy lamb meatballs are loaded with Middle Eastern flavours. Caramelised on the outside, juicy and flavour loaded on the inside!
Juicy Lamb Meatballs with Moroccan flavours!
Monday Meatball Mania is here! On the last Monday of every month, Jo from Jo Cooks and I each share a meatball recipe, because we both believe that ball shaped food rocks (fabulously high ratio of golden brown surface to juicy meat inside) and there should be more of it in this world.
This month I’m sharing Moroccan Lamb Meatballs, inspired by a visit to the Lakemba Night Markets during Ramadan (26 May – 24 June 2017).
Ramadan is a holy month for Muslims which involves intensive prayer and fasting from dawn to dusk. During this period, the main drag of Lakemba transforms at night with food stalls lining the pavements and is a popular place to enjoy iftar, a communal feast to break the fast.
Fragrant Middle Eastern spices
If you love Middle Eastern food, you’ll be in street food heaven. A vibrant, lively mood, the smell of charcoal, the sizzle of BBQ’s, and the most amazing smell of spices that Middle Eastern food is so well known for wafts through the street. Totally worth driving 50 km / 30 miles for this aaaalll the way from the Northern Beaches!
One of the (ahem – many!) things I tried were spiced lamb meatballs stuffed into pita pockets which I enjoyed so much I wanted to recreate it to share here.
These lamb meatballs are made using my Middle Eastern Lamb Koftas recipe as a base. Lamb is a protein made for heady Middle Eastern spice flavourings! It pairs so well, and the smell when they’re cooking are outrageous!
These Moroccan Lamb Meatballs would also be terrific made with beef, chicken or turkey. Probably with pork too.
But lamb is Middle Eastern through and through. So I do urge you to try this with lamb if you can!
Bake ’em or pan fry ’em. It will worth great either way because lamb, like beef, browns nicely in the oven. For chicken or turkey, spray liberally with oil if you want to bake them, otherwise you won’t get that gorgeous caramelisation. 🙂 – Nagi xx
Try these on the side
If you opt out of pita bread pockets, consider these sides. Because the meatballs are heavily spiced, opt for sides with fresh flavours:
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Middle Eastern chopped salad (skip the chickpeas if you want)
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Pico de Gallo (Mexican, but the flavours pair well with Middle Eastern)
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Lemon Pilaf (fab pairing!)
PS You all know those aren’t my hands in the photo below. I had someone helping me on the day I shot these. She has gorgeous long, slim hands and I couldn’t resist borrowing them. 😂
Moroccan Lamb Meatballs
Watch how to make it
Moroccan Lamb Meatballs recipe video!
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Moroccan Lamb Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 1 lb / 500 g lamb mince (ground lamb) (Note 1)
- 1 small onion, grated (~1/2 cup, including juices)
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, I use panko
- 1 egg
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1/4 cup coriander/cilantro leaves and stems, finely chopped
- 1 tsp EACH cumin, coriander, paprika (any, I like smoked)
- 1/2 tsp EACH cinnamon, cayenne pepper (add more for spicy)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Black pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Minted Yoghurt Sauce:
- 1 cup plain yoghurt (I use Greek)
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 2 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped (or 1 tbsp dried mint)
- Squeeze of lemon juice
- Salt and pepper, to taste
To Serve as pockets:
- 4 flatbreads Lebanese or pita bread
- Shredded Red Cabbage, Carrot and Mint Salad OR lettuce leaves / tomato slices / finely sliced red onion
- More mint and coriander/cilantro optional for garnish
Instructions
- Mix Minted Yoghurt Sauce ingredients in a bowl. Set aside for 20 + minutes.
- Place Meatball ingredients EXCEPT OIL in a bowl. Mix well.
- Measure out 1 heaped tablespoon, then roll into balls. Repeat with remaining mixture - should have 22 - 24 meatballs.
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add half the meatballs and cook, turning to brown all over, for 8 minutes, or until cooked through. Transfer to plate, then cook the remaining meatballs.
- OVEN OPTION instead of stove: Preheat at 200C/390F. Spray with oil then bake for 20 minutes until browned. Sometimes I put them on a rack to keep them round (put the rack on a tray).
- Cut pita pockets in half, warm for 10 seconds in the microwave, then pry it open. Stuff with Salad, then meatballs. Finish with Yoghurt Sauce and more fresh mint and coriander if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
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Life of Dozer
All that mocking of the photo of him in his hoodie. I ask you – does he look unhappy? Humph! He looks perfectly comfortable to me! 😂 #MockingDozerIsFun
Made a double batch for dinner last night. They were great! I baked them in the oven and paired it with pita, hummus, and roasted veggies. My 2.5 yr old kept asking for “more meatballs!” Definitely a win!
Absolutely delicious! Paired with the flatbread and cabbage/carrot/mint salad as suggested. 3 amazing recipes, will definitely repeat again and again
This recipe looks amazing! All
Of your recipes are great. You’re my number one reference when I need to cook something. However, as a Moroccan born and raised, this isn’t how we make our kafta. This recipe is very middle eastern. We also never use yogurt sauces in our culture. Just FYI. I’d love to share the Moroccan kafta recipe if you’d like. We make it in a tomato sauce with cracked eggs or simply grilled. Xoxo
Tried this tonight and it was amazing! We had some leftover fresh dill from another recipe so we put that in the yogurt sauce with some extra fresh coriander and chilli powder.
We did the oven version of cooking. I can’t recommend this recipe highly enough. It was incredibly delicious and really easy to make. We will be using this recipe again.
Your lamb meatball recipe was a big hit with me… and my husband loved them too! The sauce…oh yes!
We buy grassfed ground lamb from a local farmer and I decided to try something different.
Am making them a second time and will probably make them umpteen times again.
I think grating the onion is the seceret (along with the right mix of spices)!
Thank you so much!
I tried this recipe yesterday and it was so delicious. Thank you
Amazing, amazing and delicious. Thank you
This is the best new recipe I’ve tried in over ten years.
Amazing!!! Fabulous flavour.Served as suggested with pitta and cabbage,carrot salad.Had a few sweet potato fries for full on dinner.🤭.Have frozen enough for another 2 meals.