Kafta (BBQ) Recipe

This is my "secret recipe" for perfectly seasoned, perfectly juicy hamburgers. Everyone that tries them asks what's in them, but I never tell! They taste just as good made on the stove top with a grill pan, and they're ready in a snap. Awesome recipe!

There are many variations to this mixture. Try spreading mixture into a large to medium size pan. Once evened out, take index finger and place varied holes into mixture...add olive oil around top, in swirling motion, add sliced green pepper,sliced tomato, diced or whole garlic(entire bulb)sliced jalepeno,(also potato slices can be added)arrange on top,add fresh lemon juice over mixture,sumac,salt,more olive oil.Place in oven low heat(300) 1 hr,then broil high 15mns.Use pita to dig in by tearing bread into sections and scooping up the best meal ever. No silerware;-)Eat the authentic way ;-)Beverage serve-Cola and then lots of water ;-)

lovely flavour...we used 1/2 lamb and 1/2 beef. we added 1/4 tsp garam masala and 1/4 tsp of ground cumin. didn't bother with the skewers; we made long patties that roll up into a pita better just like our favourite lebanese restaurant. :)

Delicious! I made this last night and, as other reviewers suggested, I doubled the amount of allspice. I also used chili pepper since I didn't have any cayenne pepper. Made little patties and cooked them on the stovetop. Juicy and full of flavor! Currently on the whole30 so I couldn't make any yogurt sauce BUT topped them with garlic hummus and called it a win.

Decided to try this, and used 1/2 ground lamb and 1/2 ground beef. It discovered halfway into making it that I did not have allspice. Instead of manually combining cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg as a substitute for the allspice, I had Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pie Spice in my cupboard, and noticed the only additional ingredients were ginger and lemon, so I decided to try using that instead. I also used a manual chopper and instead of grating the onion, I chopped them into a very fine mince. Worked great on the bamboo skewers. These were delicious, but needed just a tad more spice to feel like a truly ethnic dish. I'll probably up the cayenne and will play around with the spice a bit in the future, but this is a great basic recipe worth repeating. I served with homemade yogurt/dill sauce, which really complimented the flavors well.

Delicious! I have been making this recipe almost exactly for yrs. I used to work for a Lebanese family and was introduced to this at a BBQ they were having. The only difference is that they added a little bit of fresh mint, they taste great with or without though. The traditional way to eat these, I was told.. is to hold it in the middle of a pita bread and slide the skewer out while gripping.. top it with cucumber, tomato, onion, sour cream/yogurt/tzitzki sauce etc. As stated by other reviewers this recipe also makes excellent burgers and meatballs!! I've also made these with my favourite hamburger recipe and served on hotdog buns with bacon, cheese and other more traditional burger toppings, gr8 for kids!

Totally saving this for lazy nights.

I tried this recipe exactly as written, and I didn't like the fact that the raw onion flavor overpowered the meat, even after it was cooked. I may try cooking and then pureeing the onions before adding them to the meat, and also milk and breadcrumbs, because the meat was hard.

It tastes like the kafta kabobs that an auntie on my husbands side makes ~ very tasty! I only had ground turkey on hand and because my mixture was mainly lean meat I added 1 egg and about 1/4 cup of finely crushed garlic croutons to help hold it together and keep it moist ~turned out great! I doubled the allspice added a couple cloves of minced garlic. It paired well with my chilled cucumber soup, side salad, pita bread, and hummus. Will definitely make again, but will try it with ground beef next time . Now I just need to find a good recipe for the mint yogurt dipping sauce...

Really good recipe although I changed a couple of things. I added Sumac and cooked it in the oven at a high temperature. I used 90% lean ground beef and I like the idea that it is the recipe's only fat. Very delicious.

i decided to opt to use lamb and beef as that is the way im used to having it. i did a double recipe with 2lbs lamb and 1lb very lean beef since lamb has a lot of fat. turned out excellent. i also chose to serve a garlic sauce on the side.

YUM YUM YUM! 😋

The taste was good but I used defrosted ground beef and there was too much moisture In it so it did not hold together well. I also should have made sure the parsley was totally dry before adding. I served with naan bread and tzatziki sauce which was good.

This was really good, but I would have loved a touch more flavor from the spices, as well as a bit more salt, so I will double those next time. Easy to make and delicious on the grill. Kafta kabobs are one of my go-to meals when I go to Lebanese restaurants. 10 mins was a little overcooked for my tastes (the stated 15 minutes would cause the meat to be quite dry), so next time I’ll try 8. Time saving tip: chop the onion and parsley together in a food processor.

I left out the cayenne pepper and formed the meat into hamburger shapes. Everyone loved it. Nice change from plain burgers. Served with stuffed grape leaves and tabbouleh.

I made this for hamburgers. We loved it.

good w/ rice, hummus, salad

Incredible! Relatively messy mixing up all the ingredients, specifically chopping up the parsley and onion (used a red onion so I cried throughout the entire process), but wow! Really good! 100% will make this again.

I made this exactly as written and my family loves it! It's a dish that's requested often by everyone.

The flavor was very good, but mine came out dry, probably from overcooking them. The left overs were heated up and served with a tomato based salad dressing. Then they were delicious. Somehow, this recipe screamed for adding a tomato sauce or ketchup.