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!
This was really good!! Already keen to make it again! Partner really enjoyed it too!!
Yum!! This was so nice and so easy! I had to trust to not stir, but it turned out lovely!
My goodness this HIT THE SPOT..I’m on a weight loss journey and it fits into my daily macros perfectly. New hyper fixation meal for sure. I’m obsessed. You’ve done it again. This is my new meal prep rotation
I’ve glad you enjoyed it LuLu!! Thank you for letting me know! – N x
Omg the yummiest dinner I’ve cooked in ages!!!
Economical and the range of flavours just work!
Thank you
Now THAT is a response that made my day! 🙂 So glad you love it too Andrea! – N x
I made it last night, it was incredible
I’m so pleased you enjoyed it Rebecca! Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know! – N x
I found this kofta recipe to be very dry. Despite the delicious sauce and glaze.
I’m sorry to hear that Susan. The sauce does go a log way to add juiciness if you use lean meat or overcook it 🙂 Isn’t that glaze wonderful though! Such a great finish! – N x
Another wonderful recipe. Cooked this for dinner this evening and we really enjoyed it. We had it with pitta pockets with shredded lettuce topped with this delicious kofta mix and the creamy minty yogurt. Easy, very economical and quite delicious. Thanks Nagi. Just love that boy🐶
Excellent! I love not having to shape 40+ koftas (I always double the meat in the recipe, but not the sauce, imagine 3 cups of yogurt!) and the main comment at the dinner table was that it’s easier to eat when stuffed into Lebanese bread.
💯 YUM! I wouldn’t change a thing! (Except to say that IMO pomegranate molasses is vastly superior to balsamic.) I would put out a bowl of your Blue Cheese Dip (next recipe) as an additional choice. Every serving suggestion tempts me.
Turkish manti is basically a meat filled pasta topped with a yoghurt sauce – this could almost be a cheat version of that if you tossed it through some pasta!
I made this for dinner tonight, so quick and easy, love the idea of cooking the mince like this. it was absolutely delicious 😋👌 leftovers for lunch. Thanks for the great recipes that you all share.
How do we get rid of the annoying person (recipe tin grandma recipes) constantly on my Facebook
Ohhh Karen 👋🏼 how lucky you are to have a grandma that cooks this amazing and connects with you via Facebook ✌🏼💕
Maybe ask google how to use Facebook?
We made this tonight – super yummy! Great flavors, tons of sauce. Looking forward to the leftovers. Highly recommend. Thanks Nagi for a great variation on NYT’s recipe and for always offering substitutions in your recipes (we subbed balsamic glaze for the pomegranate molasses)
It would be great if Charlie has a growth spurt and winds up being the one pancaking Jaffle for a while 😉😇💞
BTW, Happy International Chefs Day (Oct 10th). If Nagi doesn’t define and embody the word with her dedication and labours of love, nobody does! 💝🌟
Made this last night for dinner, and it was delicious. It was easy and fairly quick to prepare. I will definitely be putting this in the dinner rotation
I made this last night – delicious! I served it with pitas, hummus and of course, a few chips! Having made your tasty lamb koftas several times, I may just be making them like this next time! Breaking pieces into a pan and leaving them to really brown was a brilliant idea. Thanks for another brilliant recipe xx
This recipe looks delicious, I have a vegan friend coming for dinner and wondering if I could sub tofu for the meat?
I think cubed sweet potatoes and/or cauliflower, well-browned and with these seasonings, would be delicious
I subbed half the beef mince with lentils last night and my partner devoured it… I think you could do it with only lentils too
I had my first Kaftas as a young child. My best friend’s family had to flee Lebanon before the war started back in the 70s. I will try your recipe; it will bring back wonderful memories.
Jaffle and his friend had a good time. Great pictures!
Hi Alexandra, we hope you can try them soon! Please leave us a feedback 🙂
I hope Nagi is alright and just busy. It’s a bit confusing to find someone else answering for her about her recipes.
They often answer each other recipes as they work closely together…better that than not get an answer because he/she is busy elsewhere…
I have loved your kofta recipe and have been making it for a few years. I am of Armenian heritage living in the San Francisco area, and we are lamb fans! I have used the pan fry/smash technique far more frequently than the grill version (both are mainstays). What was an eye opener for me with both is grating, not chopping the onion and the cucumber. Pure genius.
Hi Alice, we love hearing this! Especially coming from someone like you. Thank you!
How adorable these rascal💗😅
I think Jaffle is cream golden retriever since father is from Scotland (am I right?🤔) and Dozer golden retriever with “true” color while Charlie is more red in color (usually American golden retriever(?)) Whatever they are so adorable🤗
For the recipe where can I get pomegranate molasses? Thank you, Nagi, you’re so adorable too!
Yes, they are adorable! You can find pomegranate molasses quite easily here in Australia, including at Coles and Woolworths, usually in the international foods aisle. Thanks Nind!