Greek Meatballs Keftedes with Tzatziki
Greek Meatballs – If you are looking for juicy and flavorful meatballs then you are at the right place. These Greek meatballs will make you super happy!
Meatballs are mostly cooked in sauce or gravy. Today’s Greek Meatballs recipe gives you tender and juicy meatballs that are so delicious you will enjoy them without any sauce or dips.
Talking about dips, Keftedes (Greek Meatballs) are mainly served with Tzatziki. A dip made using Greek yogurt, cucumber, garlic, and dill.
There are different versions out there and in some tzatziki recipes, the amount of dill is just too much. You can, of course, add more chopped dill if you wish but I have made this dip to my family’s liking.
How To Make Tzatziki Dip
Although making Tzatziki is simple yet you have to make sure to squeeze the cucumber after shredding it to prevent the dip from turning watery.
Also, if you don’t have Greek yogurt, you can add plain yogurt to a cheesecloth and place it over a colander, place a plate or bowl under the colander to catch the water dripping from the yogurt.
Leave it for at least an hour in the fridge. This step will reduce the amount of water in the yogurt and will make it thicker in texture just like Greek yogurt.
How To Make Greek Meatballs
Back to making the meatballs. You don’t have to marinade the mixture, mix all the ingredients together and form equal size balls, dredge into flour and fry it. Great for quick dinner and it tastes amazing in a sandwich.
I used a cookie scoop to shape the meatballs, using a scoop gives you equal size meatballs that will cook at the same time.
Two tablespoons of the meatball mixture will give a decent size ball, and it will cook for 8 minutes. Overcooking the meatballs will take away everything you look for in a juicy and flavorful meatball.
I suggest that you fry one meatball for 7 to 8 minutes and check if you have overcooked the meatball or undercooked it.
Greek Meatballs with Tzatziki Dip Recipe
Ingredients
Greek Meatball:
- 400 gm ground lamb
- 1 slice white bread
- 2 tablespoon milk
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- Salt I used around ½ teaspoon
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoon chopped mint
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 medium size onion grated
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- After Shaping the Meatballs use:
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour for dredging
- Oil to fry the meatballs
Tzatziki Dip:
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 medium cucumbers shredded squeeze to remove excess water
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Pinch of black pepper
- ¼ cup chopped dill
- Salt to taste
Instructions
Making the meatballs:
- In a bowl add all the ingredients except the ground lamb and mix well until combined.
- Add the ground lamb and keep on mixing until the ingredients are all incorporated.
- You can cover the meatball mixture and place it in the fridge for an hour, or you can start scooping the meatballs and shape them into equal size balls.
- In a frying pan add enough oil to fry the meatballs.
- Dredges each meatball in flour before placing it in the frying pan.
- Fry the meatballs in two batches. 8 minutes are usually enough for the meatballs to cook and still be juicy. Move the meatballs while frying to cook all sides.
- Serve hot.
Making Tzatziki
- In a bowl add all the ingredients and mix well.
Nutrition
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That’s my husband’s favourite meal!Happy New Year, Muna.
Wish you all the happiness in the world my friend 🙂
What I love about meatballs is that they’re so versatile. They can be used for a full meal or as an appetizer. And there’s so many sauces to dip them in. I do love tzatziki though 🙂
This is definitely a must-try recipe to me. I always love the meatball and haven’t try this before. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
the Tzatziki Dip is certainly stealing the show! It looks really good. I will make some meatball and hope to get the Dip right!
This is the first time I heard about Greek Meatballs Keftedes with Tzatziki. I hope I can try cooking it soon. It looks so yummy!
I love greek food! And I love Ttzatziki sauce especially. I would totally eat this up. Yum!
saving these recipes so that I can serve these for Sunday lunch. I love meatballs and tatziki but have never tried them together.
That is a good tip to leave it in the fridge. I would try making these when my grown kids come to visit.
These look amazing, and I bet with ground lamb they would be! We do not have ground lamb here, but I think I will make some with ground beef tomorrow!
Dear, I haven’t got my lunch while reading this post and oh boy, I want this for lunch. You did it so delicious!
I may have found my new favorite meal! WoW
Meatballs are my favourite but our recipe is a bit different. I’ll try it out this way too!
We went to Greece last year for a month and this is the recipe we brought back with us was their meat ball and the tzatziki! I love Tzatziki! <3