These juicy Greek Meatballs rock! A traditional recipe, beautifully flavoured with red onion, fresh parsley, a touch of mint and hint of dried oregano. These meatballs are slightly crisp on the outside and are brilliant served as an appetiser with tzatiki and pita bread as part of a mezze spread (very Greek!), or as a meal with a salad.
Monday Meatball Mania is here! The rules are simple and the logic powerful: my friend Jo from Jo Cooks and I both agree that meatballs are the King of all Ball Shaped Foods. There cannot be too many meatballs in this world. So at the beginning of this year, we embarked upon a mission to make this world a better place by contributing even more meatballs.
So on the last Monday of every month, we each publish a meatball recipe. And that, my friends, is the only rule. Giant meatballs, mini meatballs, stuffed meatballs…..ahh, the possibilities are endless!
Today, I’ve kept it respectably “normal” with these Greek Meatballs. One day I’m going to shock you with an outrageous meatball creation…. just you wait!
These Greek Meatballs are a step up from the basic meatball recipe. Grated red onion provides a fabulous flavour base as well as making these meatballs gorgeously juicy. And the flavourings are from herbs – fresh parsley, a hint of mint (I really love this touch), and some dried oregano. Oh, and garlic of course. Wouldn’t be Greek if there wasn’t garlic in it! 🙂
Just pop all this in a bowl, then squidge away with your hands to mix it all together. To make them easier to roll and to maintain a nice round shape while pan frying, just pop the mixture in the fridge for an hour before rolling into balls.
Greek Meatballs are dusted lightly with flour before pan frying. This creates a lovely light crust, sort of like when you dust fish / chicken etc with flour before pan frying. I really love this touch, but it’s not essential, you could actually skip it.
Greek Meatballs are not made with a sauce, so I like to serve this with tzatziki so I’ve provided my recipe for that as well. But even if you don’t have cucumber, plain yoghurt will work well too. The meatballs are certainly juicy and flavoured enough to eat plain, but having a sauce definitely adds that extra something-something. 🙂
Serve a big bowl of these as a starter with pita bread to tear up and make “mini” wraps, like I do in the video. Or make a big Greek Meatballs dinner plate with a side of Greek Salad and pita bread – mmmmm!!! – Nagi xx
PS If you really want to go all out, serve this with Easy Soft No-Yeast Flatbreads!
PPS This past weekend I went camping and made Greek “Burritos” with these meatballs using Lemon Rice Pilaf, baby spinach and cheese. Rolled them up in foil and pan fried them to warm up and melt the cheese, then we dunked them in tzatziki. No washing up and lip smackingly delish – even the kids went nuts over them!
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Greek Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 1 red onion, grated
- 500g / 1 lb beef mince (ground beef) (or lamb!)
- 200g / 6.5oz pork mince (ground pork), or more beef
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup / 60g panko breadcrumbs (or use normal)
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 6 large mint leaves, finely chopped (spearmint if you can, it's authentic)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 tsp salt
- Black pepper
Cooking / Serving:
- 1/2 cup flour any white
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- Finely chopped parsley optional, for garnish
- Tzatziki (Note 5) or Greek yoghurt
Instructions
- Grate the onion straight into a large bowl, then add remaining Meatball ingredients. Use your hands to mix well for a few minutes until the mixture is quite smooth and very well combined.
- Optional: Refrigerate for 1 hour - makes them easier to roll + retains round shape when cooking.
- Measure out heaped tablespoons and dollop onto a work surface - should make around 32 - 35. Then roll into balls.
- Heat most of the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat (medium if you have a strong gas stove). Use enough oil to cover the surface of the skillet.
- Cook in 2 to 3 batches: Dredge meatballs lightly in flour, shaking off excess, then place in the skillet. Roll them around and cook for 5 - 6 minutes, until nicely browned all over. Remove onto plate, cover to keep warm and repeat with remaining meatballs.
- BAKING: Alternatively, spray generously with oil (preferably olive oil) then bake at 180C/350F for 20 minutes or until browned. The pan frying method is the traditional way and the meatballs are slightly juicier.
- Serve as a starter as part of a mezze platter with pita bread and tzatziki, or make dinner plates by adding a salad like a Greek Salad!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Greek Meatballs recipe video!
LIFE OF DOZER
Took Dozer camping the weekend! He really needs to learn camping etiquette – i.e. no running around the campsite like a lunatic, shoving his furry face and breathing his stinky breath into every tent at 6 am in the morning. 😣 Lucky it was a private campsite so it was just my friends and I. ❤️
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LOVE!!! Made for the whole fam (3 teenage girls with VERY different palates) and every one of them loved it. Did the lemon rice and the side and tucked it all in some fresh pita. This was my first crack at meatballs – great rookie effort 🙂 We will be coming back to this one again and again. Thanks Nagi!!
Hi Nagi,
I cant wait to make these meatballs my tummy is grumbling as I type! My only question is can these be made the day before without cooking? I’m just making sure I don’t dry them out before cooking.
Thankyou so much. Xo.
Hi Nagi
I plan on making these tmrw – you are genuinely my recipe guru!! Thank u for all your wonderful recipes. I am planning on trying your recipe tmrw (I am greek but have so much faith in your recipes am super excited)
Just wondering – egg really bothers me. Any chance u can think of an alternative to bind? I try to avoid dairy too. Thx so much!!
I’ve made these before and they are delish — now I want to make a big batch for a party and freeze. Can I cook them through, then freeze them? If so after defrosting how do you recommend reheating them?
These have become a firm favourite with my kids and are on high rotation. Also great for lunchboxes…. If there are any left!
My husband raves about your recipes so I made your greek meatballs tonight with your chicken souvlaki and your greek lemon potatoes. I also made the tzatziki and it was all fabulous. Our dog Iris loves food like Dozer and she had her head on my lap while I ate and I couldnt share anything because of all the garlic. But it was all delicious. Great recipes.
Every ingredient is on point. don’t need to change or add anything. Delicious! These have been a family favourite for years now. Thank you
Plan on making these for a greek themed get together I am hanging next weekend (using ALL recipies from your site!) As always, I am sure they will all be a hit!
Question, can these be made the day before my event and if so, how would you suggest reheating on the day of so as to not dry out?
I made these and your YUMMY Greek rice Pilaf plus a cucumber salad for my very steak and potatoes fella! It was a total success! He lived how full he got without feeling gross and weighed down! Thank you for these lovely dishes that I’m proud to feed my loved one!
These were fantastic!! Thank you for sharing.
I’m a 65 year old Greek Australian with a passion for cooking. I’ve written cook books and know I’m a good cook. However yours are the only recipes I follow as you seem to have researched all your recipes to produce the best recipes. I always check your recipes when I’m cooking something I’ve cooked for 50 years so they must be pretty good. Well done.
Please don’t print my name.
Do you freeze these when cooked or can I freeze them raw?
I would freeze them cooked, George! N x
Both hubby & I so enjoyed those Greek meatballs! Today, my son came over & tried the meatballs and loved them too! He left with the recipe. I served them with fresh steamed and buttered spinach, his favorite vegetable.
Made these tonight for the 1st time – another Nagi hit in this house! Easy to make & cook, had all the ingredients handy too. We had them with tatziki, greek salad & cheese in wraps – delicious! Nagi delights 2 nights in a row – red thai curry last night was delicious as always.
I am happy that you enjoyed it Mel!! N x
Can these be cooked in an air fryer? What temp and how long?
Looks delicious. I married my HS sweetheart in 1977. He was born in Turkey. His mom made these as did his relatives ( just females then) . I wish I had paid more attention to their recipes and techniques. One thing I remember and ha e copied over the years is to shape them into an oval. Palm size. Just a thought. Def making this recipe.
Real nice recipe!
I just added more herbs and a couple of pieces of white bread soaked I red wine in place of bread crumbs.
I also placed a small chunk of Feta cheese inside each one for a nice surprise.
Thanks for your wonderful recipes and inspiration Nagi!
I was serving a Greek meal for some friends and needed a vegetarian option and used the plant based meat alternative to see how that would make out. It was magnificent! Nothing was modified other than the ‘meat’ and it was perfect!
This recipe is amazing! The meatballs were so flavorful and were perfectly crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. This is my go-to meatball recipe now!
Found your incredible website about 12 days ago and have already cooked seven of your recipes for dinner!
If I prepare and roll the meatballs, can they be left in the fridge and cooked 24 hours later?