This tutorial is all you need to make the BEST authentic Kofta kebab recipe. Grilled kofta (or kefta) are skewers of ground beef and lamb mixed with fresh parsley, onions, garlic and warm Middle Eastern spices! These kabobs will feed a crowd and there are many sides and salads you can serve alongside (lots of ideas at the bottom of this post). And be sure to watch the video and the step-by-step tutorial!
Watch the video for how to make these Kofta Kebabs
The Middle East boasts a few signature foods: vegan-friendly falafel; shawarma; and of course, kabobs of all sorts, including kofta!
What is Kofta or Kefta?
Let’s chat kofta kebabs. The word kofta (or kefta) has its origins in Persian, and it means grounded or pounded. You can have meat kofta, seafood kofta or even a vegetarian kofta.
But today’s kofta kebab recipe is one of the more popular dishes in Egypt–a mixture of ground beef and lamb, blended with onions, garlic, parsley and a few of my favorite Middle Eastern spices including, allspice, cardamom, sumac, and nutmeg. Flavor heaven! In fact, I use a similar spice blend to make meatballs with hummus, or marinated salmon depending on my mood.
My earliest memory of kofta kebab goes back to my elementary school days and a place called Abdu Kofta, a family-owned restaurant near Port Said’s boardwalk.
The place was iconic and known for it’s delicious kofta kebabs, heavy on the spice and cooked over open fire till perfectly charred.
There are more than a dozen ways to prepare kofta kebab. This kofta kabab recipe is easy and fairly authentic. It is my best rendition of Abdu Kofta’s; and a tribute to Port Said, my Mediterranean hometown.
Let me show you step-by-step how easy it is to make kofta (Kefta), and I have a bunch of ideas below for what you can serve along.
Step-by-Step for this Grilled Kofta Recipe:
*Note: If you’re using wooden skewers, be sure to soak them for 30 minutes to 1 hour before using so they don’t catch on fire.1. Chop onions garlic and parsley in food processor.
2. Now, add ground beef, lamb, bread (make sure to squeeze out any water out of the bread), and spices. Run processor. Scrape sides of processor and run again until the meat mixture is well combined.
3. Remove the meat mixture from the food processor and place in a large bowl. Take a fistful portion of the meat mixture and mold it on a wooden skewer. Repeat the process until you have run out of meat.
3. b) Be sure each kofta kebab is about 1 inch in thickness, this is best for grilling. Lay the kofta kebabs on a tray lined with parchment paper for now.
4. Place kofta kebabs on the lightly oiled, heated gas grill. Grill over medium-high heat for 4 minutes on one side, turn over and grill for another 3-4 minutes (total of 7-8 minutes.)
5. Serve the kofta kebabs immediately with pita bread, tahini and fixings (tomato wedges, onions, more parsley) and other sides you prepared (see ideas just below!)
What to Serve Along Kofta (Kefta)?
These kofta kebabs are a big crowd pleaser, and you can easily turn them into a big Mediterranean picnic by adding a few sides and salads. The possibilities of what to serve alongside kofta kebabs (or kabobs) are endless! Here are just a few thoughts..
Salads: Fattoush; Tabouli; 3-Ingredient Mediterranean Salad; or this Fresh Tomato Salad.
Sauces and Dips: Ezme (Spicy Turkish Salsa), Tahini Sauce, Creamy Hummus, or Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Sides: Mediterranean Grilled Vegetables; Spicy Skillet Potatoes (Batata Harra); Lebanese Rice; Roasted Eggplant; Persian Rice With Potato Tahdig
Similar Recipes to Try:
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Kofta Kebab Recipe
- Total Time: 28 minutes
- Yield: 10 skewers 1x
Description
A must-try authentic Kofta kebab recipe: ground beef and lamb mixed with fresh parsley, onions, garlic and Middle Eastern spices. Add some Mediterranean sides and salads for your next picnic! (Ideas and video in post above)
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion, quartered
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 whole bunch parsley, stems removed (about 2 packed cups parsley leaves)
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/2 lb ground lamb
- 1 slice of bread, toasted until browned and soaked in water until fully tender
- Salt and pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp ground allspice
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground green cardamom
- 1/2 tsp ground sumac
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- Pita bread to serve
For the Fixings:
- Tahini Sauce
- Tomato wedges
- Onion wedges
- More parsley
Instructions
- Soak 10 wooden skewers in water for about 30 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from water when you are ready to begin. Lightly oil the grates of a gas grill and preheat it to medium-high for about 20 minutes.
- Prepare pita bread and fixings. If you plan to, make the tahini sauce from this recipe. Prepare other sides and salads before you begin grilling.
- In a food processor, chop the onion, garlic, and parsley.
- Add the beef, lamb, bread (be sure to squeeze out the water completely), and the spices. Run the processor until all is well combined forming a pasty meat mixture.
- Remove the meat mixture from the food processor and place in a large bowl. Take a fistful portion of the meat mixture and mold it on a wooden skewer. Repeat the process until you have run out of meat. For best results, make sure each kofta kebab is about 1 inch in thickness.
- Lay the skewered kofta kebabs on a tray lined with parchment paper
- Place the kofta kebabs on the lightly oiled, heated gas grill. Grill on medium-high heat for 4 minutes on one side, turn over and grill for another 3-4 minutes.
- Serve the kofta kebabs immediately with pita bread, tahini and the fixings you prepared. See suggestions for sides and related recipes.
Notes
- Cook’s Note: For gluten free, simply omit the toasted bread.
- Cook’s Note: If you prefer, you can use an all-beef or all-lamb for the kofta mixture
- Recommended for this recipe our all-natural allspice; cardamom, sumac, nutmeg and paprika.
- SAVE! Try Ultimate Mediterranean Spice Bundle, or create your own 6-pack of all-natural and organic Mediterranean spices.
- Visit The Mediterranean Dish shop
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 8 mins
- Category: Entree
- Method: Grilled
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Hey Suzy ,
Your food always delicious and I’m making them
Question please .. Garlic sauce , I have some ingredients and need to make good garlic sauce for shawarma
(Semolina, potato powder, parsley leaves, salt & pepper, garlic paste, vinegar, olive oil)
Could you advice how can we make garlic sauce from those ingredients?
And the quantity of each item , please
Thanks in advance 🙂
Have a lovely day
Sorry .. I forgot ( the Mayonnaise) for sure 🙂
Hi Suzy.
AMAZING RECIPE!
I was wondering what your thoughts would be on how to adjust the quantities of the ingredients if one wanted to make this recipe in bulk? To be more clear, I want to prepare between about 50lbs (yes, FIFTY) of ground beef kebabs in a few weeks for a holiday (Eid) picnic for my local community. I was hoping to use your recipe (since it aligns with the tastes of many of those who will be attending) but I am not sure on how to precisely increase the quantities of spices, herbs, onions, etc. used to prepare such a large quantity (since the original recipe only calls for 1.5 pounds).
Any advice??
Regardless, masterful recipe and taste.
Hi Ahmad! Happy Eid in advance. I don’t cook in bulk that often, but I can tell you this kofta recipe is forgiving. Let me take a stab at helping. I wonder if you can maybe mix the kofta in smaller batches. start with 10 lb of ground beef and 5 lb of ground lamb, then multiply the rest of the ingredients by 10. Mix your first batch, and repeat mixing a few more batches of meat until you you reach your 50 lbs of mixed kofta. Add your batches and give the meat and mix/knead by hand to combine. Hope this helps.
Suzy! Success! I made this recipe and it was a HUGE, SMASHING SUCCESS!
The only thing that I might do differently next time is to reduce the allspice by about a third (because some people said that it was a little spicy but I thought that it was PERFECT).
When I made it in bulk, I actually just made t in 5lbs batches and tripled the ingredients.
I can honestly say that this was one of the best, simplest recipes that I ever employed.
Thank you so much for making my event a success and I will return to your blog again and again. Once more, thank you.
Hi Suzy
This recipe is very good and tasty
I would like to have recipe of ( authentic charcoal Lebanese chicken ) 🙂 please
Thank you ??
Thank you, Bassem! I am so glad you enjoyed it. Here is a chicken kabob recipe you might like: https://www.themediterraneandish.com/mediterranean-grilled-chicken-kabobs-tahini-sauce/
Hi Suzy,
I’d like to make these for a group of people but need to do so a week in advance. Do you think I could make the meat mixture, put on soaked skewers and then freeze?
Also, you mentioned in an earlier reply about marinating them but I didn’t see any where in the instructions about a marinade. Thank you in advance!
Hi Cynthia, thanks for your great question. You can certainly prepare the kofta meat mixture in advance. Place it in a vacuumed freezer bag or freezer-safe container and freeze. If you need to skewer the meat in advance, thaw the meat out the night before and skewer it. Place the kofta skewers on a non-reactive tray, cover tightly and refrigerate. If you’ll need to layer the kofta skewers on the tray, simply use parchment paper in between. No marinating. Enjoy!
wow!
thank you for your recipe. Changed it up a little . Added roasted red peppers, sage , rosemary and fresh lemon juice.
Awesome, Kristen! Glad you made the recipe your own. I’ll bet it was so tasty!
Hello Suzy,
B4 making this amazing sounding recipe I wanted to make sure it is one and a half teaspoon (1 1/2 t.) of allspice. It just seems like alot for one and half pound of meat. Thank you, Lanny
Hi, Lanny. Thank you for the good question. Yes, you read correctly…1 1/2 teaspoon allspice. This recipe is not shy on flavor 🙂 But if you feel like that be too much for your personal taste, you can certainly adjust it down to 1 teaspoon for example. Hope this helps.
Can you use just lamb instead of both beef and lamb?
YES! Just lamb is absolutely fine.
i think.:)
Hi. Can you bake these in the oven ?
Hello Fatema, yes I do baked kofta as well, which I will share the recipe for soon. But if you want to bake this kofta, all you have to do is make the kofta into smaller logs or patties and arrange them on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake in 450 degrees F heated oven for 20 minutes or until the center of the kofta patties is completely cooked. Enjoy!
Can you use beef instead of lamb in this recipe. It looks amazing and I’m trying to recreate my father in law’s recipe where he used beef.
Hi Emily. Great question! Yes, you can certainly use just ground beef. Enjoy!
I’m going to try the Kafta Kebabs today. Do you think I could use metal skewers rather than wooden ones ?
Can’t wait to try some different ethnic foods.
Bob.
Absolutely, Bob! Metal skewers are even better in cooking Kebabs…they’ll cook slightly quicker. Enjoy!!
This is the second recipe I have made so far from your blob, ( today we ate this delicious Kofta Kebab). The first one was yesterday, Mediterranean grilled chicken kebabs. I am thinking what to make tomorrow from here again. Thank you Suzy!
Lariza, so glad to hear this! Thank you so much for stopping by and for sharing! Hope you make more yummy recipes!
Do u think I could refrigerate the kabobs on the skewers to do some
Prep ahead of time? Just for about an hour or so?
Hi Jen…so sorry, I didn’t see your comment earlier. Yes, I think you can skewer the kabobs a couple hours ahead and keep refrigerated. I would say, just make sure you had already marinated them for a time so they can be well-flavored before you skewer them. Enjoy!
Delicious and fairly simple to make!
Dawn, so glad you enjoyed this Kofta recipe! Thank you again for sharing
This is the fourth recipe I’ve made from your blog since I discovered it a week ago. All of the recipes have been great! This one was too. The tahini sauce complements the meat perfectly- don’t skip that part! We moved away from Toledo, Ohio several years ago and we miss our favorite restaurant, The Beirut. These recipes are filling that void in the most delicious way. Thanks!
Keri, I am so glad to hear from you! Thank you for taking the time to try the recipes…and for your kind feedback! Hope you find many more to try!
incredible! yum!
Thank you, friend!
Can’t wait to try your rendition of Tamimi’s Kofta Kabab. Thanks, Suzy!
Thanks, Jasmine! I’ll be eager to hear how you like it!