This Middle-eastern dish is very easy to make and is family-friendly!
The unique flavor but familiar ingredients will help you break free of that dinner rut without a ton of effort involved.
★ Why You'll Love this Recipe ★
This dish is very easy to make and eat! Big kids can help skewer the vegetables, mix the beef and/or man the grill.
It's a really fun process that doesn't take a ton of time and is made easy with a few shortcuts.
Onions, tomatoes and seasoned ground beef is cooked them assembled in a Greek pita along with mixed greens and tzatziki sauce.
It's similar to a taco just with totally different textures and flavors.
You can find tzatziki sauce ready-made at most grocery stores which is a big time saver. This is a tangy yet creamy and cool, yogurt-based sauce with small chunks of cucumbers. It's the perfect topping to finish off assembling your pitas.
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
The biggest hurdle is collecting Mediterranean spices, if you don't already have an extensive spice collection. All the other ingredients are very basic. You may even already have them on hand.
Here's everything you'll need:
- Ground beef. You can use ground turkey, lamb or chicken if you prefer. This might affect cook time. Check for a safe internal temperature using a meat thermometer to determine doneness.
- Eggs. Eggs help the meat retain its shape and not fall off when wrapped around the skewers.
- Tomatoes. Grape or cherry tomatoes work best but you can also slice roma tomatoes into chunks, in a pinch.
- Onions. White onions are best. Red onions also tastes great. Or yellow if you can't find white or red.
- Mixed greens. Lettuce, spinach, kale... really whatever blend sounds good and healthy to you.
- Greek pitas. These are the ones without a pocket. However, you can opt for the pita pockets and fill them up if you prefer.
- Spices: garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, oregano, sumac, cinnamon and dried parsley.
- Optional: You can drizzle on some Greek dressing, a squeeze of lemon, and/or spread a layer of hummus onto your pitas.
So really just 7 main ingredients and then spices. You probably already have all the spices except for sumac. If you have trouble finding sumac at the store, you can order sumac from Amazon.
★ How to Make this Recipe ★
Here's a quick glance at what's involved.
- Add spices and eggs to ground beef.
- Form beef around skewers.
- Add tomatoes and onion to skewers.
- Grill beef and vegetables.
- Layer pita with beef, vegetables and tzatziki sauce.
That's it! Super simple and easy to pull off something today new and delicious for dinner.
★ Tips & FAQs ★
Grease your grill.
You can use spray oil, or lightly brush oil directly onto the grill before turning on the heat. This will help prevent the beef and vegetable kebabs from sticking and falling off the skewers.
Soak your skewers.
If using bamboo skewers, you want to soak them first. This helps prevent them from burning or catching fire when grilled. Soaking least 20 minutes prior works but overnight is even better.
Grill or Bake
You can grill or bake your kebabs. Grilling is fun to do in the summer, bake if it's too cold to grill.
What is kofta?
Kofta (sometimes spelled kafta) is made with round beef and is seasoned with herbs and spice. It's very similar to meatballs or meatloaf but it's grilled on a skewer and the beef is seasoned with a blend of Mediterranean spices.
Types of Skewers to Use
I prefer to use half-length, bamboo skewers. They fit nicely on the grill and are disposable for easy clean up. You can find them at most stores or shop 6" bamboo skewers on amazon.
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Grilled Beef Kofta Kebabs
Ingredients
Beef Kofta Kebabs
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 2 eggs
Seasonings
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon sumac
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon parsley
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt (double if using regular table salt)
Vegetable Kebabs
- 3 white onions each cut into 8 wedges
- 10 grape tomatoes quartered
Pitas & Filling
- 10 Greek Pitas
- 5 oz mixed greens
- 5 oz Tzatziki style dip more or less to taste
Optional Sides
- 2 cups cooked basmati rice
- 8 oz hummus
Tools
- 30 bamboo skewers soaked
Mighty Mrs. is a #WalmartPartner.
Instructions
- Heat grill to 450˚
- Soak bamboo skewers in water to prevent from burning when grilled.
- In a bowl, combine beef with eggs and spices. Use clean hands to thoroughly blend.
- Take about 3 tablespoon of beef mixture and wrap it around 20 skewers. Use a cookie scoop to measure if you have one.
- Prepare 10 skewers, alternating grape tomato and onion wedges.
- Add beef and vegetable skewers to lightly greased grill. (Grease grill before lighting)Cover and cook for 4 minutes.
- Uncover (be careful grill will be hot!) and using a metal spatula or tongs, slowly flip each beef stick and vegetable stick.
- Place pitas on the top rack of the grill if you have one. *If not, see notes.
- Cover and cook for an additional 4-6 minutes or until beef and vegetables are your desired level of doneness.
- Remove beef, vegetables and warmed pitas. Plate beef skewers and vegetables along with a dollop of tzatziki sauce, and mixed greens. Offer hummus and rice if desired.Pitas can be assembled and eaten like a taco.
Video
Notes
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