This Smashed Beef Kofta is a streamlined take on koftas where spiced beef mince is cooked in raggedy chunks rather than threading on skewers. Based on a wildly popular New York Times Cooking recipe, it’s impressively fast, incredibly delicious, and there’s so many ways to serve it!
Smashed Beef Kofta Kebabs with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce
Every year the New York Times publishes its most popular recipes and last year, Smashed Beef Kebab recipe by Zaynab Issa took the top spot. It’s a streamlined take on Persian kebabs where turmeric spiced beef is dropped in a hot pan in rough chunks, hard seared on one side then served on a bed of cucumber yogurt sauce.
Like traditional Persian koobideh kebabs, grated onion is mixed through the beef, along with walnuts and raisins that would usually be sprinkled over Persian yogurt sauce.
I love the technique and how you can make it your own. I wanted more kofta flavour (the original recipe only uses turmeric), so I used my lamb kofta spice mix. It all gets piled over cooling cucumber mint yogurt sauce and finished with a drizzle of pomegranate molasses – don’t skip this, it’s *chef’s kiss*! (Balsamic is a perfect substitute). Then you serve with warm pita for scooping or stuffing.
Extremely tasty and extremely quick!
Ingredients in Smashed Beef Koftas
Here’s what you need to make this.
1. For the kofta kebabs
Beef – This recipe uses beef mince but lamb would be equally as delicious. Chicken or turkey could also be used but just be aware they are leaner so the meat won’t be quite as juicy.
Kofta spices – As mentioned above, the original recipe on New York Times Cooking only uses turmeric. I made it as written, but wanted more kofta spices so I used the spice mix from my lamb koftas. Feel free to omit the cayenne for zero spiciness, but whatever you do, don’t skip the cinnamon! This is what makes it special. 🙂
Cranberries – or raisins. Raisins is actually traditional but I liked the extra tartness that cranberries brings to this.
Walnuts – Or almonds or pecans roughly chopped.
Whole onion – This is grated using a box grater. If you wear contacts like me, lucky you. If you don’t, look, nobody will laugh if you wear onion goggles. It’s worth it, trust me! Grating onion is a fabulous flavour-adding secret I regularly deploy, and the Persians have been doing it for centuries! 🙂
2. cucumber yogurt sauce
Yogurt – Just any plain, unsweetened yogurt. Full fat is better, but low fat will work. 🙂
Large cucumber – One large Lebanese cucumber (Persian cucumber), about 25cm / 10″ long, or two medium ones. There is no salting and sweating or squeezing liquids out, the grated cucumber is just mixed straight into the yogurt and the water loosens it into a sauce.
Mint – The recipe calls for fresh mint which really does add a beautiful hit of freshness into the sauce. Coriander/cilantro makes a great alternative for a different flavour that goes with the spices in the beef. Otherwise, dried mint can be used.
Salt – This gets added in right at the end, just before spreading on the plate. If you add it at the beginning then the cucumber will sweat which will make the sauce more watery.
How to make Smashed Beef Koftas with Yogurt Sauce
Don’t try to be neat and roll balls when dropping lumps of meat into the pan. The whole point is raggedy lumps of meat so you get lovely texture when those jaggedy edges crisp up!
Yogurt Sauce – Make the yogurt sauce first, to give it a bit of time for the flavours to meld. Grate the cucumber in a bowl using a standard box grater. Add the mint and yogurt, mix, then set aside on the counter while you make the smashed koftas. We will mix salt in just before serving – if you do it now, it makes the cucumber sweat and go watery.
Grate the onion using a standard box grater straight into a bowl.
Make kofta mix – Add remaining kofta ingredients into the bowl and mix well with your hands.
Drop chunks – Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan over medium high heat (or if using a very well seasoned cast iron pan, you won’t need oil). Then drop 2.5cm / 1″ chunks of meat into the pan – no rolling, no precision here, just raggedy chunks of meat. Move at a solid pace and just eyeball the size.
Hard sear one side – It’s fine if your pan is full, the meat shrinks. Leave it undisturbed for 5 to 7 minutes until the underside is dark golden brown. If your heat source is patchy, rotate and shuffle the pan as needed to make the pieces brown as evenly as you can.
Add fruit and nuts – Once the underside is really well browned, flip the beef as best you can to get a bit of colour on the other side. Add the cranberries and walnuts (I crumble whole walnuts in with my hands) then after 1 minute, stir gently and make sure all the beef is cooked through.
Serve – To serve, mix salt into the yogurt then spread it on a large-ish plate. Pile the beef over. Drizzle with pomegranate molasses (about 1 tablespoon), extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with remaining mint and pile warm pita bread on the side. And it’s ready to serve!
How to eat Smashed Beef Koftas
This dish is fabulously versatile! Here are some options (I’m sure there are more):
Pita for scooping – use pita bread to scoop the yogurt and pile some beef on.
Stuff – split the pita bread pockets open and stuff the yogurt and beef inside!
Wraps – make gyros-like wraps by using flatbreads and adding shredded lettuce, tomato slices and chopped red onion.
Bowls – Make bowls with basmati rice, and a pile of diced tomato and cucumbers on the side. There’s plenty of yogurt sauce that you won’t need to make a separate dressing for the salad.
To be honest though, I think you’ll even find it enjoyable just eating spoonfuls of the yogurt sauce and beef. It’s such a lovely combination – the warmly spiced beef with the refreshing yogurt sauce.
Any other suggestions for how to serve these smashed koftas?? Share your thoughts to inspire others! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Smashed Beef Koftas with Yogurt Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Smashed Beef Kofta Mix:
- 500g / 1 lb beef mince (ground beef) (Note 1)
- 1 large onion , peeled, kept whole
- 2 tsp cumin powder
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- 2 tsp paprika , sweet/regular
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper , optional (for a bit spicy)
- 1 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt (halve for table salt, +50% for flakes)
For cooking:
- 1/4 cup walnuts , crumbled into large pieces with your hands – or chopped almonds or pecans
- 2 tbsp dried cranberries or raisins
Cucumber Yogurt Sauce:
- 1 large Lebanese cucumber (Persian cucumbers), about 25cm/10" long
- 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt , full-fat
- 3 tbsp finely sliced mint , plus extra for sprinkling (substitute coriander/cilantro, or 2 tsp dried mint in yogurt sauce)
- 1/2 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
For serving:
- 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses (balsamic glaze is an excellent substitute – Note 2)
- Pita bread , warmed
- Extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Cucumber Yogurt Sauce – Grate the cucumber into a bowl using a standard box grater. Add yogurt and mint, mix, then leave on the counter while you make the beef.
- Smashed beef kofta – Grate the onion into a bowl using the same box grater. Add all the remaining kofta ingredients and mix well using your hands.
- Raggedy lumps of meat – Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan over medium high heat. Use your hands to drop chunks of beef into the pan – about 2.5 cm/1" lumps (no need to be accurate), no rolling, just pinch off raggedy lumps. The pan will be full, it's ok, the meat shrinks.
- Brown first side 5 – 7 min – Leave undisturbed and cook for 5 to 7 minutes until the underside is dark golden (beef juices might come out because the pan is crowded but then it will evaporate), all the clumps of beef should be cooked through.
- Add walnuts and cranberries – Flip the beef as best you can (there's lots of pieces so hard to be accurate, it's fine, just do your best) and leave for 1 minute to get a bit of colour on that side. Add the walnuts and cranberries then gently stir for another 1 minute. Remove from the stove.
- Salt – Add the salt into the yogurt sauce and mix.
- Serve – Spread the yogurt sauce on a large plate, or in 4 individual bowls. Spoon the beef over, drizzle with pomegranate molasses, olive oil, scatter with mint and serve with warm pita bread on the side.
- How to eat – The idea here is to use the pita bread to scoop yogurt and beef straight off the plate, or you can stuff inside pita pockets! You could also make wraps and add tomato, shredded lettuce, and onion, or make rice bowls with basmati rice and chopped tomatoes on the side.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Jaffle
Jaffle had his best mate Charlie over for a play date! Let’s just say it was quite difficult to get much work done with these two rascals around… hmm, JB??!
They spent the whole day rumbling, sometimes outside, but mostly inside, where Jaffle pulled out his signature move (just pin Charlie down with his weight).
They rumbled for hours upon hours, and finally, they stopped, and it was eerily silent without the panting and grunting and thundering paws and occasional squeaks as the background music we had gotten used to on that day!!
Just another day in the Life of Jaffle – and Charlie!
I wonder if you could use pine nuts instead of the walnuts? They are more typically middle eastern. And could you almost chop/purée the onions in a magic bullet rather than cry the whole time grating them?
But I’m anxious to try this recipe. I’m salivating thinking about it!
Hi Kathy, pine nuts would be lovely in this dish too. I’d toast them lightly first for extra flavour. And you can use a food processor for the onion but I would cut in 4 first and pulse it until finely chopped rather than puréed, to avoid making the mixture too wet.
I immediately thought the same thing about the pine nuts. I’m in the Detroit, Michigan area (US) and a large number of Lebanese restaurants here. Pine nuts are quite expensive but I think that they’d be great. Question for JB: I thought the idea of grating the onion is to specifically get the onion juices, so why should we avoid getting the mixture wet in the food processor with the onion juice?
I made this for my kids, worried it would be too exotic, and they devoured it! The whole pot was gone! This is a keeper! Thanks Nagi!😀
Sounds like a big winner in the family! Thank you for making it Yuna!
Looks good. For the Cucumber Yoghurt Sauce I’d be squeezing out the water from the grated cucumber and also adding some grated garlic
Hi Tom, these are great suggestions, a little grated garlic would be delicious too! 😊
I will have mine in savoury crepes!
Awesome! I hope you like them!
Would it be ok to omit the fruit and nuts please? We aren’t fans in savoury dishes😬
I hope someone answers you because My husband is fructose intolerant – so I never cook with fruit.
Thanks for writing back. We shall wait and see 😁
The function of the fruit & nuts, especially in those minor qualities, probably simply add a texture or taste counterpoint. I would just leave them out altogether, as they are not an “incorporated/homogenous” ingredient like minced onion or garlic. This reminds me of picadillo; ground beef with green olives and cranberries. These kinds of recipes are quite forgiving. Perhaps substitute with some yellow squash for a nice contrast flavorwise. You don’t miss the flavor of those ingredients because they don’t flavor the dish but remain as standalone texture and taste add-ons, probably to cut the richness of the meats or add crunch. Easily achievable with some squash or even bell peppers. Hope this helps.
I also follow a FODMAP diet because of Fructose and Fructan Intolerance. I would replace onion with the green tops of spring onions and leave the cranberries in. According to Monash University FODMAP App, 2 tablespoons or 22g dried cranberries is fine.
Hi Sharon, you can leave out both the fruit and nuts. They add little pops of sweetness and crunch but the koftas will still be delicious without them!
I am thinking this would be amazing in savoury crepes! Even those pre packaged frozen ones if you cant be bothered – I am making myself hungry 🙂
That would be delicious Nic!!
Perfect Nagi, off camping for a week & this recipe has just been added to the menu. Like the idea of the lettuce leaf wraps. Have plenty in the garden.
Would you consider doing a post on all the different spice mixes you have developed, like the Kofta mix. The more common ones would be handy already mixed up especially when you are caravanning.
The “boys” are just so cute together. 💗
Hi Debbie, having the spice mixes ready to go, especially when camping is a great idea! I’ll pass the suggestion on to Nagi. 😊
Is there any recommendations to make this nut free?
Just leave out the nuts. Not everyone can do nuts anyway. You might substitute corn for extra crunch.
Hi Beth, you can simply leave out the nuts or replace them with toasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds if you like the crunch.
Love koftas – this is a great variation…….aaah the play date our Tommy grabs Pachi’s face then they tear off over the lounges out the sliding door a lap of the yard 😅🐾💛🧡 and finally like Jaffle & Charlie some peace !
What can you use as a sub for the cranberries??
Hi Shane, raisins would be a great substitute here.
My husband is coeliac. I will try it with lettuce cups to fill.
now THAT is a fantastic idea!
I’m making this as a double batch as I type this…. Can’t wait!
Judy – watchout for gluten in some dried cranberries (ie, Ocean Spray). Angas Park is safest brand, does not contain gluten
I definitely think Jaffle wants to to be “Top Dog”
They are adolscent boys fighting it out! 😂
Oh, those pups are just adorable! I was wondering if you can use ground lamb instead of beef? If I’m going to eat red meat, I try to make it lamb.
Otherwise, this looks delish! Thanks Nagi for all your great recipes and wonderful dogs!!
Lamb is almost better than beef 🙂 Natural pairing with Middle Easter spice mixes 🙂
Yes, you can. Nagi has included minced lamb and other ground meat in her first recipe note.
Wow! This is such a good idea- I will have to make this soon.
Hugs to Jaffle and Charlie 🥹❤️🥺
It really is! All credit to Nayneb Issa 🙂
That is sooo sweet!!!
No! CHEEEEKY!!
Found pomegranate molasses in the fridge. Waited for this recipe . . . TY Nagi and cute wan-chan
It’s meant to be! 🙂
Oh my, I’m salivating whilst watching the video, definitely going to make this when we return home.
The smell from the spices when it’s frying up is SO GOOD!!
I would top it with the chopped Veggies and scoop it all up with pita chips. Or Tortilla chips if I’m feeling lazy.
YES!! Like a middle eastern nachos?? Is that very crass to say 😂
Nuh!!! 🤭
Didn’t cook the recipe – too taken by those two goofball dogs. Recipe is on my to do list this week. Looks amazing.
He he I love it. They are distractions, those two are!!
Hey Nagi, I wonder if this would work on a baked potatoe. I love a good baked potatoe. Jaffle and his friend are adorable.
Thanks i need it this to make this double batch this week. I think the leftovers would be good.
Leftovers are amazing! I would know – I was eating it for days 😂
YES! That is such a terrific idea!! Split the potato open, pile the meat in then spoon over lots of yogurt sauce (or actually you could do it the other way – yogurt sauce first then meat!) – N x