A delicious Middle-Eastern recipe for Zaatar Meatballs with Green Tahini Sauce that can be made with your choice of ground turkey, chicken, beef or lamb. A fast, easy, low-carb weeknight dinner!
Here’s a simple Middle Eastern dinner that I’ve been enjoying since I was a child! Zaatar Meatballs are full of flavor and super easy to make. We’ve made them with ground turkey and ground lamb- but they would work just as well with ground chicken or ground beef. Paired with our Green Tahini Sauce and Lebanese Slaw, they make for light, low-carb, and incredibly satisfying meal!
How to make Middle Eastern Meatballs
Mix the meat, spices and herbs. Start by mixing the ground meat with the herbs and spices. Like I mentioned above you choose what meat you prefer- chicken, turkey, lamb or beef. Chicken and Turkey are obviously lighter and lower in fat and calories, but lamb offers up a really nice richness. Fresh mint gives these Middle Eastern meatballs a lovely flavor- but feel free to sub other herbs like dill, or parsley.
Form into meatballs. Mix and knead the meat together well with damp hands. Form into twelve golfball-sized balls.
Tip: Sprinkle the outsides with a little Zaatar to coat if you like.
How to cook them. Pan-sear the Zaatar Meatballs in a skillet over medium heat. You can finish them in an oven if you like or turn the heat low to cook through. You want them deliciously golden.
Above are the lamb meatballs, and below are the turkey meatballs- both delicious!
Make the green tahini! While the meatballs are cooking through, blend up the Green Tahini Sauce.
Green tahini sauce is basically Tahini sauce blended with fresh herbs and a few slices of jalapeno. Blend until smooth. Trust me you’ll be happy you will have a little extra here.
Serving Middle Eastern Meatballs
Place some Green Tahini Sauce on the bottom of your plate and swirl with the back of a spoon.
Top with the Zaatar meatballs and add a side salad. Top with fresh herbs and Urfa Biber.
What to serve with Zaatar Meatballs
Salad– Lebanese Slaw (Salatet Malfouf), Classic Greek Salad , Tabouli Salad (Tabbouleh) or Israeli Salad
Storing Middle Eastern Meatballs
Leftovers will keep 3-4 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Freeze meatballs for up to 3 months! You can freeze tahini sauce as well, but green tahini sauce can discolor.
Such a simple but satisfying meal! Give it a try and let us know how you like it in the comments below.
xoxo
More Favorite recipes!
- Middle Eastern Instant Pot Lamb Stew
- Meatball Soup with Turmeric, Spinach and Lime
- Lamb Meatballs with Indian Curry Sauce
- Thai Turkey Meatballs with Lemongrass Coconut Sauce
- Moroccan Meatballs with Pomegranate Glaze
- Chimichurri Poblano Turkey Burger!
- Paleo Chicken & Wonton Soup with Bok Choy
- Sloppy Joes!
Middle Eastern Meatballs with Zaatar
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4
- Category: main
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Zaatar Meatballs with Green Tahini Sauce can be made with ground turkey, chicken, lamb or beef. A quick, low-carb weeknight meal that is full of flavor. Serve with Israeli salad or Lebanese Slaw on the side.
Ingredients
Zaatar Meatballs
- 1 lb ground turkey, beef, chicken or lamb
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon zaatar spice
- 1 teaspoon sumac or sub 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/3 cup onion, very finely chopped (or 2-3 scallions)
- 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 1/4–1/2 cup chopped herbs (mint, dill, Italian parsley or cilantro- a mix is nice)
- 1/2 teaspoon aleppo or chili flakes (optional)
- 1–2 tablespoons sesame seeds or zaatar to coat (optional)
Green Tahini Sauce
-
1/2 cup water
-
2 tablespoons lemon juice
-
3 tablespoons olive oil
-
2 fat garlic cloves
-
3/4 cup fresh herbs (cilantro, Italian parsley, dill or basil or a combo!)
- 2–3 slices jalapeno (optional)
-
1/2- 1 teaspoon salt ( start with 1/2, add more to taste)
-
1/2 cup tahini paste, stirred
Instructions
- Make the meatballs: Place ground meat, salt and spices in a bowl and mix and toss with a fork to distribute evenly. Add onion, garlic, herbs and chili flakes, mixing again with a fork.
- With wet hands, knead the mixture a couple of times adding olive oil if need be (please see notes). Divide into 4 balls, then form into 12 meatballs with wet hands (3 meatballs per ball).
- Optional: Coat the meatballs in sesame seeds by rolling them or sprinkle lightly with zaatar (if using zaatar, know it may contain more salt so go light or do a tester first)
- Heat a large skillet with 1-2 tablespoon olive oil over medium-low heat, add the meatballs turning as each side gets golden. Lower heat to low to continue cooking all the way through or cook through in a 350F oven.
- While the meatballs are cooking make the Green Tahini Sauce: Place all the ingredients (except the tahini paste) in a blender or food processer and blend until combined but not overly smooth. Add tahini paste. Blend until creamy. Taste, and adjust salt, acid and heat. If you want a “looser “sauce, add a little more water until the desired consistency.
- Serve the meatballs over the Green Tahini Sauce with a side salad.
Notes
If using very low-fat turkey or chicken, knead in 2 teaspoons olive oil- or meatballs will be rubbery. 😉
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 Turkey Meatballs w/ 3 tablespoons Green Tahini Sauce
- Calories: 387
- Sugar: 2.7 g
- Sodium: 796.1 mg
- Fat: 28.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 5.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 10 g
- Fiber: 2.7 g
- Protein: 26.2 g
- Cholesterol: 78.2 mg
Can you use beef or lamb instead of the turkey or chicken?
Yes, Bronwyn- use any ground meat you like! I love these with lamb.
Delectable. The green tahini sauce didn’t get fully blended in my upright vitamix but was still yummy. I served it inside of an Ezekiel sprouted tortilla. The second night I heated up some of the new Costco fire roasted veggies, which was SO yummy! We had tahini cookies for dessert, which made for a very sesame meal 😋
Sounds yummy Megan! Do you think it just needed to blend longer?
My meatballs turned out WAY too salty, without the Zatar & sesame finish.
The sauce was fabulous & served with Lebanese slaw (amazing). Made Lebneh yogurt dip round out the meal.
Will do again, minus 1/2 the salt.
Oh dear, glad you were able to save them.
Have you ever frozen the green tahini sauce?
It should freeze okay!
How long to cook in the oven?????
These are cooked on the stove top, or after pan frying you can switch them to the oven to finish them off. An internal temperature thermometer is the best tool to determine when they are done. It also will depend on the type of meat you use. If nothing else cut one open and make sure they are not raw inside.
The tahini sauce just tasted like tahini to me. Although maybe it’s because I used a runny tahini and not a paste? Anyway to salvage this? I like tahini, I just don’t really taste any of the other flavors.
Add more lemon juice, herbs and jalapẽno and maybe salt?
This is why it says to balance the acid / salt to taste after the sauce is blended. You likely need to add more lemon juice and salt.
Exactly- thanks Anne!
Awesome! Made with ground lamb. Perfectly balanced seasonings and super flavorful.
Glad you liked these Katie!
Excellent flavors, especially when dipped with a generous amount of the green tahini sauce. I made these smaller, 16-18/ batch, to serve as an appetizer. I used mint, dill and parsley in the meatballs, and cilantro, parsley and dill in the sauce.
Sounds perfect!
I noticed that no binder like eggs are used for meatballs. Did meatballs stay intact or crumble?
Hi Deborah, you don’t need a binder for meatballs- they do stay intact without, if you knead the meat a little with your hands!
This is an outstanding recipe–I used ground turkey thighs for the meat, and the crusted meatballs ended up tender and flavorful. The tahini sauce is outstanding–I’ll be making this for more than just meatballs.
So happy you enjoyed!
OMG…this is one the best recipes Ive ever made (and Im a former chef). The tahini sauce is to die for! We now make it in big batches and use it for dressing and dip for EVERYTHING. I also use Yuzu instead of lemon…thank you so much
Great tip about Yuzu! So glad you are enjoying, Dennis. 🙂
Oh man, this recipe just rocketed to the top of my “low carb favorites” file! A seriously good dinner. Thank you, Sylvia!
Awesome Michael, so glad you enjoyed!
Exceptional! I made this with ground bison. The meatballs were juicy and so flavorful. I love that you don’t need any egg/bread crumb filler. A bit with my teen boys, too!
Awesome to hear Tracey- thanks so much, and love that you tried it with bison- so many nutrients. 🙂
My whole family loved these. I made a double batch and they ate them as snacks the next day. Quick and easy to make
Nice to hear Debbie!