★ Why You'll Love this Recipe ★
Here's something new and exciting to cook on the grill. This Middle Eastern dish is very easy to make and is family-friendly too!
The unique flavor but familiar ingredients will help you break free of that dinner rut without a ton of effort involved.
Easy and Fun to Make
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 then assembled in a Greek pita along with mixed greens and tzatziki sauce.
Meat, Veggies, Pita + Sauce
Similar to a taco just with different textures and flavors.
You can find tzatziki sauce ready-made at most grocery stores which is a big time saver. Or you can make your own tzatziki sauce. 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.
Make it a Meal
Pair these beef kofta kebabs with Homemade Hummus, Couscous Summer Salad and Chocolate Frosted Zucchini Brownies for dessert!
★ 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 taste 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.
- Tzatziki sauce. To save time, you can grab this ready made or use my recipe to make your own tzatziki sauce.
- 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 and vegetables.
- Top with tzatziki sauce.
That's it! Super simple and easy to pull off something new and delicious for dinner today.
★ 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 at least 20 minutes prior to grilling 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.
Kofta (sometimes spelled kafta) is made with ground beef and is seasoned with herbs and spices. 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.
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.
★ More Greek Recipes ★
Love ethnic foods?
Browse all my Mediterranean recipes.
Browse all my dinner recipes. Pin your favorites for later!
Grilled Beef Kofta Kebabs
Equipment
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 halved
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
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Instructions
- Preheat grill to 450˚.
- Soak bamboo skewers in water to prevent from burning when grilled.
- Season beef. In a bowl, combine beef with eggs and spices. Use clean hands to thoroughly blend.
- Make beef skewers. Take about 3 tablespoon of beef mixture and wrap it around 20 skewers. Use a cookie scoop to measure if you have one.
- Make veggies skewers. Prepare 10 skewers, alternating grape tomato and onion wedges.
- Grill beef and veggies. 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.
- Warm pitas. Place pitas on the top rack of the grill if you have one. *If not, see notes.Cover and cook pitas, beef, and veggies for an additional 4-6 minutes or until beef and vegetables are your desired level of doneness.
- Plate kebabs. Remove beef, vegetables, and warmed pitas. Plate beef skewers and vegetables along with a dollop of tzatziki sauce and mixed greens. Pitas can be assembled and eaten like a taco. Offer hummus and rice, if desired.
Video
Notes
- This recipe can be cut in half to serve a smaller family or group.
- Use a thin metal spatula to separate meat and vegetables from the grill as needed before flipping.
- Heat pitas on the grill surface for about 30 seconds on each side (or longer if desire). The goal is to just heat up the pita and add a slight crunch to texture before serving.
- Make your own tzatziki sauce: use my simple 5-ingredient homemade tzatziki sauce recipe.
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