Moroccan Meatballs with Pomegranate Glaze can be a festive holiday appetizer, or served up as a main- either way, you’ll love the tasty combination of flavors. Love appetizers? See our 25 Best Appetizer Recipes!
Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. ~Picasso~
Hi friends, hope this finds you well and rested. Just one more celebration to go! You can do it!
Here is a little appetizer inspiration for New Year’s Eve – a big hit in our catering business. Festive Moroccan Meatballs with Pomegranate Glaze – sumptuous and flavorful and best of all, these easy guys can be made ahead, then reheated in the oven right before your guests arrive.
They also make a delicious holiday dinner, served over fluffy mashed potatoes, couscous, quinoa, or a bed of seasoned lentils. Make them with ground lamb or beef, your choice. Here, I used lamb.
Our favorite Moroccan Meatballs!
We love this Moroccan meatballs recipe because they are fragrant and bursting with Moroccan Spices! Bathed in a pomegranate glaze, it’s a marriage made in heaven! There is something truly special about cooking with pomegranate that makes your soul come alive. They are so vibrant, potent, mystical and healing.
If cooking for one or two, know these will freeze well, so save half for later. I promise you won’t forget about them in your freezer, they are that good. 😉
How to make Moroccan Meatballs
To make the meatballs, place all ingredients in a bowl and mix with your hands until well combined. EASY right? You can use ground lamb or round beef.
Using wet hands, form ping-pong-sized balls and set aside. You’ll have roughly 12-16 meatballs.
Make the Pomegranate Sauce!
Heat a little oil in a skillet and brown on all sides lightly over medium heat. Reduce the pomegranate juice at the same time (it takes about 15 minutes).
Cook the Moroccan meatballs, pan-searing in a skillet.
Pour the warm glaze over the meatballs, garnish with fresh pomegranate seeds and herbs and serve as an appetizer with mini forks.
Ways to Serve Moroccan Meatballs
- Serve as an appetizer with mini forks on a platter.
- Serve as a sumptuous main course – think holidays or even Valentine’s Day over fluffy mashed potatoes, rice, couscous or quinoa.
The deep and flavorful Pomegranate Glaze is bright and tangy.
Hope you enjoy!
More Ground Lamb Recipes:
- Turkish Lamb Wraps!
- Middle Eastern Meatball Soup
- Lamb Meatballs with Indian Curry Sauce
- Pastitsio | Baked Greek Pasta with Lamb
- Grilled Lamb Kofta Wraps
- Grilled Lamb Burger with Harissa Aioli
- Grilled Lamb Kebabs with Herb Salad and Yogurt Sauce
- Thai Larb Salad
- Turkish Cabbage Rolls
P.S. Get ready for January “Detox” – clean, plant-based recipes for the WHOLE entire month!
xoxo
Moroccan Meatballs
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 45 mins
- Yield: 16 meatballs 1x
- Category: appetizer, entree, beef, lamb
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Moroccan
Description
Moroccan Meatballs with Pomegranate Glaze – a festive holiday appetizer or sumptuous dinner served over fluffy cous cous, rice or quinoa.
Ingredients
MEATBALLS:
- 1 fat shallot, very finely chopped – reserve 1/3 for the sauce.
- 1 lb. ground lamb, beef, or a combo
- 4–5 large garlic cloves, minced or crushed through a garlic press
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup chopped herbs – flat leaf parsley, mint or cilantro or a blend
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, more to taste
- 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup toasted bread crumbs (feel free to use gluten-free bread crumbs
Pomegranate Glaze
- 1/3 of a shallot – finely chopped
- 1 1/2 cup pomegranate juice
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey.
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- pinch salt and pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Garnish: pomegranate seeds, fresh herbs (cilantro, parsley or mint), or optional toasted pine nuts
Instructions
- Sart the Pomegranate Glaze. In a small saute pan or pot ( do not use cast iron) saute shallot in a drizzle of olive oil, over medium heat for 3 minutes, or until tender. Add pomegranate juice, a pinch of salt and pepper, maple, balsamic, and allspice. Bring to a simmer, turn heat to medium, then simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes or until it reduces to ½ cup. Turn heat off.
- While its simmering make the Meatballs, place meatball ingredients in a medium bowl and, using hands, combine well, adding enough breadcrumbs to make them easy to roll into balls.
- Using wet hands, roll them into ping-pong sized balls (about 1 ¾- 2 inches in diameter) and set aside. You should have about 12-16.
- To cook the meatballs: Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Working in batches (don’t overcrowd) brown the meatballs, giving the skillet a little shake now and then to roll them around a bit and cook each side. Once browned, turn the heat down to the lowest setting, cover and cook through for just a couple of minutes.
- Place in an oven-proof dish, pour glaze over top and keep warm until ready to serve, or refrigerate and reheat.
- Garnish with fresh pomegranate seeds and herbs.
Notes
The pomegranate juice may react to a cast-iron or aluminum pan, so use a stainless or enamel pan.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 meatball with pomegranate sauce
- Calories: 156
- Sugar: 4.3 g
- Sodium: 271.5 mg
- Fat: 6.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 17.1 g
- Fiber: 1.1 g
- Protein: 7.5 g
- Cholesterol: 41.4 mg
served with yogurt mint & dill sauce. Excellent!!!!
Awesome Kathleen!
This was great. We served over jasmine rice and had for dinner. The only adjustments I made were that I made a
slurry with only about 1 teaspoon of corn starch to thicken up the sauce at the very end. I used a combination of all three herbs and went 50/50 with the maple syrup / honey.
Perfect Todd!
Made it today! Loved it 😍
Yay- glad you enjoyed this Jamila!
I am making ahead of time. Can you also freeze the glaze?
Hi Shelley! I haven’t tried freezing the glaze…so not 100 % sure here?
Absolutely stunning dish and very delicious.
Glad you enjoyed this!
When do you add the balsamic?
Sorry about that- left it out,it is in step one!
hi there! gonna make tomorrow but i’m out of cumin. could i leave it out?!
I think it would be ok without. Maybe increase the coriander?
The best!!!
Love love love this recipe. Very easy to make. And the lovely herby /spicy smell coming from the mixing bowl was wonderful.
I made them as a starter for a dinner party. We all loved them. Quite frankly we could have had them as a tasty main course with added extras.
Will I make them again …. oh yes definitely
Yummy yummy yummy 😋
Really, really delicious. Thank you. I added pistachios
Absolutely delicious! We used lamb as the protein option. Loved the flavor and texture provided by the chopped mixed fresh herbs. Needed only one egg – we get ours from a local farm and these were pretty big ones – and I used panko for the crumbs (about 3T of those seemed to be right). Otherwise, per recipe as written. Started with just a ‘tad’ over 1# of lamb and yield was 16 – thanks for the “ping pong ball” reference point and yield range in the text. It helped when shaping the meatballs. Tender, flavor filled and we made these ahead of time then found they reheated really well in the oven with the glaze poured over top of them. As a home cook who cooks for fun and ‘stress relief’and as a means to have healthy eating be part of our lifestyle I so appreciate how creative your recipes are and also reliable to create outcomes that are delicious and whole foods focused.
Hi- when you made this ahead of time did you already have the glaze on the meatballs? If so did it dry out when reheated? Or did you save the glaze until the day you reheated the meatballs? I’m trying to make ahead of time for a party and I would love to hear how you did it 🙂 thank you so much.
Ha! I’m trying to remember that far back! I think either way could work, but I might lean towards reheating them first (like in the oven, in a foiled baking dish) then adding the warmed sauce over.
Hi Sylvia,
I was planning on quadrupling this recipe for a party we are having this weekend, and decided I should do a test batch first, before making the full amount. I’m so glad I did!
The meatballs came out great and delicious! Love the herbs and spices in these!
I realized the importance of rolling each ball several times, so they stayed together well, and don’t fall apart when cooked.
For the reduction, I used a little cast iron skillet like pictured in your photos.
After nearly 45 min. it was finally at 1/2 cup volume, but not really glaze-like, still very thin liquid. When we tried it, it had a terrible metallic, dry, chalky taste, and we could not figure out why! Once we poured it out, my husband realized that our cast iron pan was completely eaten through its nice seasoning, and was bright grey and new looking on the bottom and sides, that had been in contact with the juice. The acid from the pomegranate juice had compleeeetely removed the bottom layer of our pan, causing the iron particles to mix in and ruined the reduction.
I was using organic, 100% pure pomegranate juice, not from concentrate.
Maybe stronger than from concentrate?
I was shocked no one else here had shared this experience or chemical reaction!
Our pan is a great quality cast iron, so I know this was not the issue.
We made another batch of the glaze, this time in an enamel lined cast iron, and it came out great. Another 45 min to reach 1/2 cup, and still very thin consistency, but the flavor this time was really nice! Looking forward to serving this for our gathering.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my experience and maybe suggest making a note of this for others making this in the future. XX Laura
Wow- interesting, thanks for sharing! I will note!
The recipe says not to use cast iron pan for this exact purpose. Too much sugar and acid is going to ruin your cast iron.
Delicious!!
Great recipe, clear instructions. Prep time was closer to an hour…worth it.
These were a huge hit at Easter Party!!! I tweeked very slightly. Added roasted pine nuts to meatballs, and a bit of Marash Pepper flake. Baked meatballs on rack because I am lazy. So good. Great recipe. When party of 40 and 5 people ask for recipe. That’s a good recipe. Tahanks
Love these flavors! So fun. Have used the glaze for other meals, too.
WOW it looks delicious!,
Help, I quintupled the recipe and I can’t get the glaze to reduce. Other than that, it is fabulous.
It will just take more time.
Hi! If I intend to make & freeze these, at what step do I do that? I noticed the instructions say you can refrigerate w/ the glaze on the meatballs, but would I freeze them the same way? Or just make the meatballs and freeze those, and then while reheating, make the glaze? Thanks!
Nevermind! I see the above comments now. Thanks!!
I am hoping to make these for a Moroccan theme dinner club … making ahead of time and taking to a friend’s house. What would be the best way to reheat? Should I make glaze ahead or that evening?
I would make the glaze ahead and store separately. Reheat the meatballs in the oven, covered, pour the glaze overtop for the last 10 minutes of baking. Or you could heat the glaze up o the stove and pour over when meatballs are warm.
These look fantastic! I want to make them for a gothic Halloween party because they look so elegant and I’m sure my guest will love them.
One quick question–if I make these ahead of time and freeze them, do you think it would be best to cook them first, freeze and then reheat, or should I freeze them raw and cook the day of?
Many thanks!
Beth, I would cook them first then freeze!
The best recipe ever !!!! All spices gives a unique taste and it smells so good !!! Try it of you didn’t yet !!!
thanks Selma, so glad you liked this!
Wow… these are stunning.
Hi Sylvia! Fantastic recipe! We only have a small question: does the meat cook through just by rolling the meatballs in the pan or do you also bake them with the glaze?
Thank you for the yummy idea!
If the meatballs are smallish they really should cook through, if bigger may need to place in the oven for a bit. I will clarify the recipe…thanks!!!
Bonjour Sylvia.
Tout à fait fortuitement,j’ai découvert ton très beau blog.
Merci de m’accepter dans ton cercle de lecteurs.
Cette recette de boulettes me plait beaucoup,et je vais m’empresser de la faire.
Je sais par avance, que je vais me régaler.
Je t’envoie un beau bouquet de fleurs de ma Côte d’Azur. Bisous Chris 06
Oh, my gosh – these look wonderful! Here I was at an Asian Market yesterday (T&T) and almost bought myself a pomegranate. I did not, dang it. Wish I had seen this post first! This is a definite keeper. I’ll have to sneak these in amid the plant-based detox recipes – haha!
Thanks again Sylvia 🙂 .
Wishing you a great Sunday, January 1st and a whole year filled with blessings!
Heather
Thanks Heather, just seeing this! Somehow I missed it…hope you are well. xo