Keftedes (Greek Meatballs)
Keftédes (κεφτέδες) may be one of the best Greek appetizers (mezé) around! They are little round meatballs served as an appetizer or with tzatziki, Greek salad and pita or pasta for a full meal.
Of course there are many recipes for this dish. Keftedes different from many meatballs because of their size. Greeks make them very small, which is called “one bite.”
Usually keftédes are made from lamb but you can mix beef and pork which I did here. I used breadcrumbs and also added carrots and zucchini to the meatballs, they gave great flavor and help keep the meatballs from becoming too dry.
The traditional way of cooking these is frying them. Fry the keftedes in batches of 10-15 at a time, until nicely browned on all sides. This time I baked in the oven instead.
They taste best served at room temp and make for wonderful leftovers. Crispy, juicy and absolutely delicious!
Keftedes (Greek Meatballs) Recipe
By Published: February 18, 2019
- Yield: ~35 (3-4 Servings)
- Prep: 10 mins
- Cook: 30 mins
- Ready In: 1 hr 40 mins
Keftédes (κεφτέδες) may be one of the best Greek appetizers (mezé) around! They are little round meatballs served as an …
Ingredients
- 250 g pork ground
- 250 g beef ground
- 1 zucchini
- 1 carrot
- 1 onion
- 2-3 cloves of garlic
- 1 egg
- 4 tbsp bread crumbs
- 1 tbsp mint leaves
- 1 tbsp basil leaves
- salt, pepper to taste
Instructions
- Grate the zucchini on a coarse grater and the carrots on a fine grater. Next finely chop the onion, mint and basil.
- Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, knead, cover with foil and leave in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes.
- Roll the meatballs into a tiny ball (about 1 1/2 inches), put on a greased baking sheet and cook in a preheated 200C oven for 20-30 minutes, turning them 1 time.
- I cooked meatballs for about 20 minutes then fried them for another 5 minutes to sear.
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