You guys, I am SO IN LOVE with this meal! Browned beef full of warm spices, a medley of roasted vegetables with caramelized edges, and a bed of warm rice makes a fabulously well rounded meal that is a perfect candidate for meal prepping. These Beef Kofta Meatballs with Roasted Vegetables are my new easy-peasy healthy prep for the week!
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Vegetable Substitutes
You have a few options with this meal. I highly suggest tailoring the vegetable selection to what you have available for a good price in your area at the time. Some other vegetables that work well for roasting are eggplant, mushrooms, and bell peppers. Whichever vegetables you choose, try to get a range of color.
How to Serve Beef Kofta Meatballs
I placed my meatballs and roasted vegetables over a bed of rice because I loooove rice, but if you want to go a low carb route you can place them over some spinach or baby greens. If you want something a little more special than plain rice as a bed, you can do Spinach Rice with Feta. If you’re the type that likes your meals saucy, you can do a simple yogurt dill sauce, like the one in my Greek Chicken Wraps, or my famous Lemon Tahini Dressing, which can be in my Mediterranean Farro Salad recipe.
Beef Kofta Meatballs with Roasted Vegetables
Servings 4Ingredients
Roasted Vegetables*
- 1 zucchini ($0.84)
- 1 yellow squash ($0.58)
- 1 pint grape tomatoes ($1.89)
- 3/4 red onion ($0.48)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.26)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- salt & pepper ($0.05)
Meatballs
- 1 lb. ground beef ($5.29)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 1/4 red onion, minced ($0.16)
- 2 Tbsp parsley, chopped ($0.11)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp cumin ($0.03)
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp cloves ($0.02)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.03)
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.08)
Other
- 4 cups cooked rice ($0.76)
- 2 Tbsp parsley, chopped, for garnish ($0.11)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Dice the zucchini and yellow squash. Reserve 1/4 of the red onion for the meatballs and cut the remaining 3/4 into 1-inch slices. Place the chopped zucchini, squash, onion, and grape tomatoes on a large baking sheet.
- Drizzle the olive oil over the vegetables, then add the garlic powder, oregano, salt and pepper. Use your hands to toss the vegetables in the oil and spices until they are evenly coated. Spread the vegetables out evenly over the baking sheet, then transfer them to the oven.
- Roast the vegetables in the oven for 40 minutes, or until they are wilted and browned on the edges, stirring once half way through.
- While the vegetables are roasting, prepare the meatballs. Mince the remaining 1/4 red onion. Add the ground beef, red onion, minced garlic, chopped parsley, oregano, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, and salt to a bowl. Mix the ingredients together until they are well combined.
- Shape the meat mixture into 16 ping pong sized meatballs. This is a good time to begin cooking your rice so that it’s finished at the same time as the meatballs and vegetables.
- Heat a large non-stick or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Once hot, 1 Tbsp cooking oil and swirl to coat the surface of the skillet. Add half of the meatballs and cook on each side until well browned (about 7 minutes total). Be careful as you turn the meatballs, as they can be quite delicate. If it’s easier, you can flatten them into mini patty shapes. Transfer the cooked meatballs to a clean plate, add more oil to the skillet, and cook the second batch in the same manner.
- Once the meatballs are cooked and the vegetables have finished roasting, it’s time to assemble the meal. Place about 1 cup cooked rice on each plate or container, add 1/4 of the roasted vegetables, then top with four of the beef kofta meatballs. Top with a little more chopped parsley and enjoy!
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Beef Kofta Meatballs – Step by Step Photos
Start with a few vegetables for roasting. Be sure to pick vegetables that are in season or on sale for a good price in your area at the time. This recipe is wonderfully flexible in this way. I used a zucchini, a yellow squash, a red onion, and a pint of grape tomatoes, but you could also choose something like an eggplant, mushrooms, or bell peppers. Preheat your oven to 425ºF.
Dice the zucchini and squash into one-inch pieces. Reserve 1/4 of the red onion for the meatballs, and slice the rest of it into one-inch slices. Place the chopped zucchini, yellow squash, red onion, and the pint of cherry tomatoes on a large baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 Tbsp olive oil, then add 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Toss the vegetables until they are evenly coated in oil and spices.
Roast the vegetables for about 40 minutes, or until they are wilted and browned on the edges. Stir once, half way through. While the vegetables are roasting, you can prepare the meatballs.
Mince the remaining 1/4 of the red onion. Add 1 lb. ground beef to a bowl, then add the minced red onion, 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 Tbsp chopped parsley, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/8 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp cloves, and 3/4 tsp salt.
Use your hands to mix the beef and seasonings together until they are well combined.
Shape the meat mixture into 16 ping pong sized meatballs. The easiest way to do this is to divide the mixture in half, then in half again, then in half again and so on until you have 16 fairly equal sized pieces, then shape them into balls. This is also a good time to start cooking your rice if you want it to finish cooking at roughly the same time as your vegetables and meatballs.
Place a non-stick or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add 1 Tbsp cooking oil (high-heat oil of your choice) and swirl to coat the surface of the skillet. Add half of the meatballs and cook them until they are browned on all sides. Turn them carefully as they cook because they are fairly delicate. They should take about 7-ish minutes to cook on all sides, but this will depend on the heat of your skillet. Once cooked, transfer the meatballs to a clean plate, add a little more oil, and cook the second batch in the same manner.
When your meatballs are finished cooking, the vegetables and rice should be finished at about the same time. And then it’s time to build your bowls/plates/containers! Place about 1 cup cooked rice on your plate, top with 1/4 of the roasted vegetables, and 4 of the cooked meatballs. Sprinkle a little chopped parsley on top, and enjoy!!
And like I said, these Beef Kofta Meatballs with Roasted Vegetables make the PERFECT meal prep! If you feel like you need some sauce, you can do an easy dill yogurt sauce (like the one in this recipe) or my lemon tahini dressing (like in this recipe). I would pack the dressings separately from your meal prep containers so you can heat them up and add the dressing after.
I made this dish today for finger food (party). With the family around, there was a few samples going out and everyone loved them. My daughter is on a fairly restricted diet at present and couldn’t believe she was able to eat these. No gluten (no breadcrumbs), no egg, and to me they bonded perfectly well. I made the meatballs about the size of half a ping pong ball. They cooked quickly, stayed together and tasted delicious. I also made the tahini lemon sauce for dipping. Very tasty indeed. I think next time I would add coriander and more garlic to both meatballs and sauce. Just that not everyone is a fan of coriander. Very easy to make and like a lot of others mentioned, everything was on hand.
So from a cool winters day in Southern Highlands NSW Australia its a big thumbs up. Thanks for the recipe- first time stopping by. Cheers
Made this for the second time tonight. This time I wasn’t lazy and made the lemon tahini dressing to go on it — it’s AMAZING! I highly recommend the whole meal, but the dressing makes it next level. Thanks again Beth.
If I wanted to make the meatballs in the oven instead of stovetop, what temperature and time would you recommend? I’ve never had great luck with meatballs on the stovetop.
I haven’t tested it to know for sure, but I’d probably lower the heat a little to 400F, and maybe try about 15 minutes.
So delicious and surprisingly easy! Even my pickiest eater loved it. The leftover meatballs (there isn’t much!) will be stuffed into a pita with chopped red onion, cucumbers, lettuce, black olives, and tzatziki. I cannot wait!
I made this last night, used venison instead of ground beef. I didn’t have cloves, so I used coriander. It was so good! I couldn’t get over the seasoning.
Made this last night with the yogurt dill sauce on the side. It was wonderful. Thanks for this recipe.
This look tasty! I really like the variety of spices you have in this dish. Also, serving it on rice is perfect for a Mediterranean dish like this.
I think next time I make this I’ll do roasted potatoes in with the veg instead of the rice, and I’ll cook the meatballs in the oven to keep things more simple. It’s not actually a very complicated recipe but I found it time consuming to have three different things going on at once. I also found it difficult to cook the meatballs through without burning them in the pan, I have an electric stove and my cast iron gets really hot even when I set it to medium. I think the oven would be so much more simple and you’d still get some good browning action.
The flavours in the meatballs were absolutely amazing, but they came out dry because I had to overcook them to get them up to temp on the inside.
I love the spices in these meatballs! I had never thought to flavor them this way. I made just the meatballs with turkey instead of beef (and without parsley, added turmeric) and served with your marinated lentil salad over arugula. So yummy!!!!!
I’m excited to try this recipe! My husband loves the Beef Kofka at a local Mediterranean street food place. They serve theirs with hummus on top and it’s delicious.
Just wanted to say, here at the end of the year 2018, that this was my favorite new BB recipe. It is just genius and we’ve made it probably ten times already. (Well, had an abundance of zucchini for a while there, and cherry tomatoes!) Thank you so much for your continued creativity. Your blog has been a real boon. Thank you Beth.
Thank you, Sue!!
This is legit my favorite recipe. I keep coming back to it! Easy enough for the world’s laziest weeknight chef (me), inexpensive, reasonably healthy, and forces me to actually eat vegetables. Can’t go wrong!
I make the Albanian version of this (very well could also be Turkish), called qofte— pronounced “choft.” Qofte is shaped more like a kebab, while byftek is the patty shape very similar to this. We use mint instead of the cumin/cinnamon flavors, and I use lean ground beef and bake instead of fry. Soaked bread or breadcrumbs and eggs are the binder. They don’t get quite as crispy in the oven, of course, but I prefer bake to fry and they’re still DELICIOUS. Many versions of this dish exist throughout Mediterranean, and it’s one of my first and favorite.
Really tasty and easy! I used red onion, red bell pepper, carrots, and cauliflower for the vegetables because that is what I had on hand. We also baked the meatballs instead of frying (just how we like to prepare them in general).
I really enjoyed this one. I was out of onion and parsley, so I used dried versions of both. Probably not as fresh tasting, but I thought it worked. I also used zuchinni, quartered Roma tomatoes, and a can of chickpeas for the roasted veg. We ate it with rice. I was trying to use up the last of our fresh food before vacation, and this meal was perfect for that! Thanks