Lamb Kofta Recipe
This Lamb Kofta is full of warm spices, sautéed onions and garlic, Italian parsley and baked in the oven. Serve it with hummus, rice and a cucumber tomato salad.
Prep Time10 minutes mins
Cook Time12 minutes mins
Total Time22 minutes mins
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: American, Greek, Middle Eastern
Diet: Low Calorie
Servings: 6
Cost: $12
Lamb Kofta:
- 1/3 cup pine nuts
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ yellow onion (peeled and roughly chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic (peeled and smashed)
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 pound ground lamb
- 2 tablespoons finely minced Italian parsley (from a small handful of parsley)
- 1 teaspoon olive oil (for baking sheet)
For Serving:
- Cucumber and tomato salad (for serving)
- Hummus (for serving)
- Pita (for serving)
- Grilled lemons (for serving)
To Make Lamb Kofta:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
In a medium skillet, set over medium heat, add the pine nuts. Toast for about 2 to 3 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Transfer to a food processor and allow to cool. Alternatively, you could chop everything up if you don't have a food processor.
To the same medium skillet, pour in a teaspoon or two of olive oil. Add the onion and smashed garlic. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to the food processor, along with the salt, cumin, paprika and coriander. Pulse until everything is minced into small bits.
Pour into a medium bowl. Add the lamb and finely minced Italian parsley. Mix together gently until everything is combined. Brush a half baking sheet with a teaspoon of olive oil. Using a medium cookie scoop, add mounds of the lamb kofta to the baking sheet, placing them about 2-inches apart.
Transfer to the oven to bake for 10 minutes, until lightly golden brown on the tops and cooked throughout. Feel free to halve a lamb meatball in order to ensure doneness.
Serve with rice, hummus, cucumber and tomato salad and pita.
Tips and Tricks:
- Be sure to add the spices and salt to the onion mixture. This will help avoid any pockets of salt and/or spices.
- Don’t over mix the lamb mixture. This will create tough meatballs. However, you still want to mix them up because you want to be sure the onion mixture is evenly dispersed.
- The high heat from the oven ensures super moist but delicious meatballs.
- Lamb beef kofta - There are variations to this recipe and sometimes people combine ground beef and ground lamb. You can definitely do that with this recipe!
- Lamb kofta accompaniments - I like to serve this with rice, grilled lemons, hummus, a little tomato and cucumber salad and pita.
Serving: 6g | Calories: 85kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 583mg | Potassium: 72mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 1mg