Lebanese Chicken Meatballs served over a bed of salad with a tangy dressing... these are in fact the definition of a perfect meatball!
There's a mediterranean restaurant a few miles from our house that I'm truly obsessed with! They have a handful of incredible Lebanese inspired recipes on their menu and the meatballs are some of the best! Loaded with various herbs, spices and shredded zucchini, these are wildly flavorful, moist and perfect for the summer! I love to throw them into a salad with a fattoush inspired dressing and call it a day! You guys will be obsessed!
Aside from these Lebanese Chicken Meatballs being the star in a salad - they could also be rolled into a pita wrap!
Let's quick talk substitutions:
- Protein. The recipe below calls for ground chicken but you could easily substitute ground turkey, beef or pork in this recipe and it will still be delish.
- Fresh herbs - while you could sub out dried herbs for the fresh herbs, it's not quite the same. So I'd encourage you to use the fresh herbs if you can find them! If you can't get your hands on fresh herbs, use 1 tablespoon of dried mint and ½ tablespoon of dried cilantro.
- Sumac is sometimes difficult to find in the market. I order it every few months online so I never run out!
Lastly, I love having these meatballs as a go-to recipe because you can use them in so many ways, if you're adding this to your rotation, and want some variety, check out my asian pork meatball bowls and summer turkey meatballs, they're delicious!!
Lebanese Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
- 1 medium zucchini
- 1 pound ground chicken white or dark meat
- â…“ cup sliced scallions
- â…“ cup chopped mint
- 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons tahini
- ½-1 cup panko bread crumbs as needed
For the Salad:
- 3-4 heads baby romaine lettuce
- 4 green onions thinly sliced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 4 Persian cucumbers sliced
- ¼ cup fresh mint leaves
- ¼ cup fresh parsley
For the Sumac Dressing:
- 4 teaspoons ground sumac soaked in 4 teaspoons warm water for 15 minutes
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
- 2 small garlic cloves minced
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt to taste
Instructions
For the Meatballs:
- Grate zucchini, combine with ½ teaspoon salt and let sit for 5 minutes. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Mix together zucchini and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. If the mixture feels too wet, add a ½ cup of panko bread crumbs. Divide the mixture into balls a little bigger than a golf ball. Heat a large saute pan over medium high heat, add a few tablespoons of olive oil and then cook the balls until cooked through on all sides.
For the Salad:
- In a large bowl toss together the lettuce, green onions, tomatoes, cucumber, mint, and parsley.
For the Dressing:
- In another smaller bowl, water with soaked sumac, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses, garlic, red wine vinegar and olive oil. Whisk to combine and season with salt as needed.
These meatballs are absolutely incredible. I will be repeating this recipe A LOT this spring and summer. Thanks!
The dressing is the star, delicious! The meatballs also were good, I ended up crumbling them over the salad.
Can you bake the meatballs instead?
I did and they were perfect. 400 degrees for 15 minutes.
I have an allergy to the zucchini/squash family. What would be a good substitution??
So delicious! The whole family looked this dinner. I omitted the panko to keep the meatballs GF. I must have squeezed the zucchini enough so they weren't too moist. I baked in oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. I also substituted the romaine for 50/50 mixed baby greens and spinach for more nutrition. The sumac dressing is so tasty. Eating a meatball together with the dressing and salad is the best bite!
Yes please! This sounds like the perfect summer dinner salad!