Keftedes Recipe | Grilling

By
Joshua Bousel
a photo of Joshua Bousel, a Contributing Writer at Serious Eats
Joshua Bousel
Joshua Bousel is a Serious Eats old-timer, having started sharing his passion for grilling and barbecue recipes on the site back in 2008. He continues to develop grilling and barbecue recipes on his own site, The Meatwave, out of his home base of Durham, North Carolina.
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Updated August 09, 2018
20100722-keftedes-large.jpg
Joshua Bousel

A few weeks ago I had a good friend come over packing a giant tub of a ground beef mixture, which was formed into spheres and grilled into some of the best meatballs I've ever had. The next week I couldn't help myself from trying to show him up create my own little balls of excellence, choosing to do them Greek-style to up the ante.

What seemed like a ton of onion, garlic, oregano and mint in proportion to the meat at first, ended up being just the right amount of flavor to make these taste distinctly like the keftedes I so often enjoy at Greek joints in my neighborhood.

Although just a tad on the soft side for the grill, the meatballs cooked up into browned beauties that didn't necessarily need the accompanying tzatziki and lemon to make them delicious, but put them altogether, and they were outstanding.

Recipe Details

Keftedes Recipe | Grilling

Prep 30 mins
Cook 10 mins
Total 40 mins
Serves 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground beef, 80% lean

  • 4 slices white bread

  • 1 cup milk

  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped

  • 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh oregano

  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped mint

  • 4 cloves garlic, minced

  • 2 large eggs, beaten

  • Kosher salt

  • Freshly ground black pepper

For Serving:

Directions

  1. Place the milk in a swallow bowl and dunk each piece of bread in and then squeeze the excess liquid out. Tear bread into chunks and place in a large bowl.

  2. Add the beef, onions, oregano, mint, garlic, eggs, salt and pepper in the bowl with the bread and then mix with your hands until thoroughly combined. Roll out meat mixture into balls 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

  3. Light one chimney full of charcoal. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and spread the coals evenly over the charcoal grate. Clean and oil the grilling grate. Place the meatballs on the grill and cook until well browned all over and cooked through, about 8 minutes total, 2 minutes per side. Remove from the grill and serve with tzatziki and lemon wedges.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
267Calories
10gFat
28gCarbs
17gProtein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories267
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 10g13%
Saturated Fat 4g18%
Cholesterol 123mg41%
Sodium 717mg31%
Total Carbohydrate 28g10%
Dietary Fiber 2g9%
Total Sugars 9g
Protein 17g
Vitamin C 12mg58%
Calcium 179mg14%
Iron 4mg19%
Potassium 390mg8%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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