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.
Beth:
Quick question? If you could not find cloves since it maybe hard to come by nowadays as we are still in this pandemic. Would nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice work in its place?
Thanks
I don’t think nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice would be the right fit, but if you can find allspice that might get you close. :)
Thanks
I found ground cloves. Yippee 👏 Can’t wait to make this .
Can’t wait to try this recipe. I was wondering though. If I want to make the meatballs ahead of time to use later. Should I cook them before I freeze them?
Anyways thanks in advance.
You can freeze them cooked or uncooked. :) Freezing them uncooked will give you the most “fresh” results because all of the browning on the outside will be fresh. If you cook them frozen you’ll basically just reheat them and it will be a bit more like a reheated meal in their freshness. I hope that makes sense!
Wow! Just polished off this dish, amazing!
This is an amazing recipe!!!! My family is Egyptian so I have eaten kofta all my life and these are legit! Even my family members who don’t use these exact spices thought it was delicious.
Could you make the meatballs in the oven with veggies?
Yes, they won’t brown quite the same way that they do in a hot skillet, but you can if you’d like. They’ll probably only take about 15-20 min. to cook through.
Thank you!
I absolutely LOVED this recipe. The flavors were so on point. I made some modifications – added an egg into the meatballs for cohesion, and served with feta crumbles on top. My husband liked it but said that it seemed there was a crucial element lacking… maybe a drizzle sauce or something? Spiced rice? Not sure…
This recipe is delicious! I served it with rice and the whole family loved it! Thanks for another great recipe!
These kofta are great and my family enjoyed them. I felt the amount of spices could be increased though, to make for more flavourful meatballs. I cooked them in a preheated airfryer using a kebab grill attachment, at 200deg for 9min. Paired with the grilled vegetables and hummus, it made for a satisfying meal.
i like the way to explain the recipe i must try on Saturday
Beautiful meatballs it looks so yummy and tasty…
Such an easy, versatile, and delicious recipe – I’ve made this twice in the past week! I was looking for a decent way to cook ground beef other than spaghetti, and this hits the spot. The first time I had an eggplant on hand so I threw that in with the zucchini/tomatoes/onion. I’ve also found that dried parsley works pretty well for the meatballs if you don’t have fresh. Thank you Beth for giving me so much cooking inspiration over the years!
Also forgot to mention, the only major modification I made was roasting the veggies for 20 minutes instead of 40. That way the zucchini and tomatoes get quite soft but the onions still have a bit of crunch.
Flavor of the meatballs was amazing! However, next time I think I’ll cook them in my airfryer–I cooked the meatballs in two batches for about 10 minutes each and they were still very pink-red in the middle. I like my meat medium/medium-rare, so it was fine for me, but I feel like they should have been much more done after 10 minutes. The veggies were good but way too mushy. Overall, delicious dish, but the timing seems off.
Looks delicious. How do you recommend reheating the meal?
Turned out solid! Next time I’ll roast the veggies for half the time, they turned out mushy. the meatballs were awesome. Thanks from a beginner cook!
This meal was absolutely amazing, and so easy to make. I was wondering, do you use ground cloves or whole cloves?
Hi Amanda! Ground cloves for this recipe. Enjoy! It’s one of my favorites.
LOVED the oven roasted veggies. I make my meatballs the Hungarian way so those are a little different–basically your recipe but add one medium grated yukon gold potato, panko bread crumbs, fresh chopped dill, paprika, and an egg. In my experience, they hold together better in the pan and they bite easier. They also freeze very well. Highly recommend the veggies and meatballs over mashed potatoes or egg noddles.