These juicy Greek Meatballs rock! A traditional recipe, beautifully flavoured with red onion, fresh parsley, a touch of mint and hint of dried oregano. These meatballs are slightly crisp on the outside and are brilliant served as an appetiser with tzatiki and pita bread as part of a mezze spread (very Greek!), or as a meal with a salad.
Monday Meatball Mania is here! The rules are simple and the logic powerful: my friend Jo from Jo Cooks and I both agree that meatballs are the King of all Ball Shaped Foods. There cannot be too many meatballs in this world.
So at the beginning of this year, we embarked upon a mission to make this world a better place by contributing even more meatballs.
So on the last Monday of every month, we each publish a meatball recipe. And that, my friends, is the only rule. Giant meatballs, mini meatballs, stuffed meatballs…..ahh, the possibilities are endless!
Today, I’ve kept it respectably “normal” with these Greek Meatballs. One day I’m going to shock you with an outrageous meatball creation…. just you wait!
These Greek Meatballs are a step up from the basic meatball recipe. Grated red onion provides a fabulous flavour base as well as making these meatballs gorgeously juicy. And the flavourings are from herbs – fresh parsley, a hint of mint (I really love this touch), and some dried oregano. Oh, and garlic of course. Wouldn’t be Greek if there wasn’t garlic in it! 🙂
Just pop all this in a bowl, then squidge away with your hands to mix it all together. To make them easier to roll and to maintain a nice round shape while pan frying, just pop the mixture in the fridge for an hour before rolling into balls.
Greek Meatballs are dusted lightly with flour before pan frying. This creates a lovely light crust, sort of like when you dust fish / chicken etc with flour before pan frying. I really love this touch, but it’s not essential, you could actually skip it.
Greek Meatballs are not made with a sauce, so I like to serve this with tzatziki so I’ve provided my recipe for that as well. But even if you don’t have cucumber, plain yoghurt will work well too. The meatballs are certainly juicy and flavoured enough to eat plain, but having a sauce definitely adds that extra something-something. 🙂
Serve a big bowl of these as a starter with pita bread to tear up and make “mini” wraps, like I do in the video. Or make a big Greek Meatballs dinner plate with a side of Greek Salad and pita bread – mmmmm!!! – Nagi xx
PS If you really want to go all out, serve this with Easy Soft No-Yeast Flatbreads!
PPS This past weekend I went camping and made Greek “Burritos” with these meatballs using Lemon Rice Pilaf, baby spinach and cheese. Rolled them up in foil and pan fried them to warm up and melt the cheese, then we dunked them in tzatziki. No washing up and lip smackingly delish – even the kids went nuts over them!
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Greek Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 1 red onion, grated
- 500g / 1 lb beef mince (ground beef) (or lamb!)
- 200g / 6.5oz pork mince (ground pork), or more beef
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup / 60g panko breadcrumbs (or use normal)
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 6 large mint leaves, finely chopped (spearmint if you can, it’s authentic)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 tsp salt
- Black pepper
Cooking / Serving:
- 1/2 cup flour any white
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- Finely chopped parsley optional, for garnish
- Tzatziki (Note 5) or Greek yoghurt
Instructions
- Grate the onion straight into a large bowl, then add remaining Meatball ingredients. Use your hands to mix well for a few minutes until the mixture is quite smooth and very well combined.
- Optional: Refrigerate for 1 hour – makes them easier to roll + retains round shape when cooking.
- Measure out heaped tablespoons and dollop onto a work surface – should make around 32 – 35. Then roll into balls.
- Heat most of the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat (medium if you have a strong gas stove). Use enough oil to cover the surface of the skillet.
- Cook in 2 to 3 batches: Dredge meatballs lightly in flour, shaking off excess, then place in the skillet. Roll them around and cook for 5 – 6 minutes, until nicely browned all over. Remove onto plate, cover to keep warm and repeat with remaining meatballs.
- BAKING: Alternatively, spray generously with oil (preferably olive oil) then bake at 180C/350F for 20 minutes or until browned. The pan frying method is the traditional way and the meatballs are slightly juicier.
- Serve as a starter as part of a mezze platter with pita bread and tzatziki, or make dinner plates by adding a salad like a Greek Salad!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Greek Meatballs recipe video!
LIFE OF DOZER
Took Dozer camping the weekend! He really needs to learn camping etiquette – i.e. no running around the campsite like a lunatic, shoving his furry face and breathing his stinky breath into every tent at 6 am in the morning. 😣 Lucky it was a private campsite so it was just my friends and I. ❤️
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OMG. I never comment on recipe posts but I have been moved by these meatballs. This was my first time making keftedes and—at the risk of sounding blasphemous—I think they may have turned out better than my Yiaya’s 😯? This recipe is amazing. Definitely use fresh mint if you can!
question about FREEZING! would you freeze these RAW or cook them and THEN freeze? looking to make these ahead of time but want to know what you do to freeze them. thank you!
Hi Tiffany, better to freeze raw in my opinion! N x
Would you cook from frozen or should we let fully thaw first?
OMG!!!! Just made these with turkey and they are FREAKING OUTSTANDING!!! I ate on pita bread with my homemade hummus and homemade tzatzki. THANK YOU for this DELISH recipe! I am going to make these all the time! Big kiss! Much love, xo Jennifer
That’s so great to hear Jennifer – thanks so much for letting me know!! N x
These meatballs are judt delicious. Easy to make and brilliant to have some in the freezer for hungry teenagers to make their own pittas by popping a few balls in the microwave. They only take a few minutes then add tomato/cucumber and ready made garlic sauce… I know the shame of it 😔 but they still find it delicious and definitely healthier than frozen pizza! Thx Nagi
What are the white cubes in the picture? Tofu? Feta? Potato? Just wondering if I want to include it.
Hi Judy, that’s feta – it’s a greek salad which is linked in the post 🙂 N x
GREAT Recipe. My First easter not with my family ( Divorce) and now this COVID!!! So I Am Made these!! Bravo! Well Done
I’m so glad you enjoyed them Chris!! N x
Ooooooh these were so tasty and easy to make. Loved the flavor profile with just enough mint. Very tender too. Great recipe!
I’m so happy you enjoyed them Ann! N x
Nagi, I live with my in-laws and have always been nervous to cook, but with your recipes I feel so confident and you make this amateur look good. Your dishes are first class and spot on every time. Please keep them coming!! X
Wow!! They taste like they’re from a Greek restaurant. Holy moly.
I’m so glad you loved them Sarah! N x
PLEASE TELL ME THAT ALL THAT SODIUM, CALORIES & ALL THE LISTED IN THE ABOVE NUTRITIONAL GUIDE– ISN’T JUST FOR 1 LONELY MEATBALL??
It’s for 1 serving – the whole dish makes 5 servings. N x
Firstly I love your site, Delicious recipes that are easy to follow.
Can I make the mince meat mixture the day before and leave in the fridge. Thanks
Yes definitely!! Enjoy Anna! N x
Firstly I love your site, Delicious recipes that are easy to follow.
Can I make the mixture the day before and leave in the fridge. Thanks
I have a friend from Athens. She and I and other friends get together often and I served this recipe and a Greek salad along with pitas at our last gathering and Aphrodite told me my meatballs were the best she has had since leaving home. I gave you full credit for the recipe that earned that accolade, I agree, they were delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Woah that’s amazing to hear Sybil, thanks so much for letting me know!
Such an easy and tasty recipe! Everyone in the family commented on how delicious it was! This is the best recipe for meatballs, and will be one to add to my recipe collection! Thank you for sharing.
You’re so welcome Joyce! N x
Recently moved from a big city to a small town and I have been craving good Greek food, since there are no Greek restaurants here. I made these tonight and they are delicious!! Who needs to eat out when you can make authentic delicious food at home!!
Exactly Kodi!!!
Hi Nagi can these meatballs be served at room temperature?
Sure can Emily! – N x
I made these today adapted for keto. In place of the Panko I used crushed pork rinds and rolled the meatballs in almond flour. They were so moist and delicious. Thanks for sharing.
The tomato/cucumber/red onion/feta ‘salad’ you have on the side…is there anything drizzled over this? If so, can you share what you used? Thank you!
Hi, I can’t eat hamburger anymore because it makes me sick so I tried ground turkey with a half pound of ground pork and added an extra egg and extra olive oil and it was amazing! Even my husband and son who liked nothing but beef can’t eat enough of them. Amazing recipe:)
I thought I’d let you know that I made this recipe with Impossible ground “meat” and it came out well! I’d made this a number of times in the past but, having switched to being vegetarian early this year, it had been a while. I followed the recipe as written, but subbed two 12 oz packages of the Impossible ground for the meat and threw in a handful of ground feta. I added the cheese because I was concerned that they might be dry without any animal fat, but in retrospect it really wasn’t necessary at all, so the keftedes could be made vegan if desired. Maybe use silken tofu to make the tzatziki?
My vegetarian teen and, still meat eating, husband really enjoyed the “meat”balls as well.
That’s so great to hear Kendra!!
My husband and I are both half Greek and this has got to be the best Greek meatball recipe ever! We appreciate the nutritional information so we can calculate our points for Weight Watchers. I have several of your other recipes and they are awesome! Thank you!