The yummiest preparation mixture for ground beef EVER!  I have made this Lebanese Meat for all of my friends and family and have HAD to leave the recipe with everyone!  Meat mixture can be used for everything... meatballs, meatloaf, BBQ skewers, BBQ'd hamburgers.  FOR BEST, AUTHENTIC LEBANESE TASTE, DO NOT OMIT OR SUBSTITUTE INGREDIENTS (until you have made it this way ;P )

Kafta (BBQ)

beef

onion,

parsley

cayenne pepper

allspice

salt,

black pepper

skewers

Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat. If using wooden skewers, soak in water.


In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, onion, parsley, cayenne, allspice, salt and pepper until evenly blended. Divide into 6 portions, and press around one end of the skewers to form a log shape approximately 1 inch thick and 6 inches long.


Grill for 10 to 15 minutes, turning occasionally, until meat is no longer pink.


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!

This was soooo good!! Tastes just like the way my mom makes it. I doubled the allspice because I didnt think what the recipe called for was enough. I chopped the parsley and onion in the food processor and shaped Kafta into small patties. Cooked them on my george foreman grill. Next time I will add some chopped garlic to the mixture, but this was very very good!! Thanks :)

Very flavorful and gourmet tasting with very little work.  Ground whole allspice in the food processor then added onion and parsley, then burger.  Second time, added a tiny bit extra finely chopped red bell peppers, celery, onions, and garlic to the meat with the parsley and made it into patties with vegetable kabobs on the side.  Must chill for a little bit for it to hold.  Wow!

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!

very delicious and so easy to make
instead of bbq'ing i made them into patties and used my grill pan

I was prepared to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and had to do a quick recipe change to try and accommodate my husband's friend flying in from Jordan.  I made a sauce from the 'Middle Eastern White Beans' recipe on here to pair with this.  The only changes I made were to add 1 egg and 1 yolk, italian bread crumbs, and a bit more cayenne and allspice.  I baked them in the oven and popped them into the sauce.  I have to say that they are really great as meatballs; especially after they have sat for a while.  The flavors seem to blend.  I would love to try these in the summertime for a barbeque on the grill.  Thanks for the recipe and helping to make a quick change of dinner plans.

excellent recipe, even the kids liked it. We used ground beef and ground lamb (1/2 &amp; 1/2) or just ground beef. great with pilaf. We made into patties, easier than skewers. yum!!!

Really great served with Syrian Rice, Syrian Green Beans and Pita Bread. My childres (all 4 and under) loved it as well.

This was just great. They were hard to handle on metal skewers, so I slid them off and just grilled them on top of the grate. I cut back on the red pepper, but otherwise followed the recipe. Delicious!

Pretty yummy . . . the only substitution I made was to use ground turkey.  Still turned out great, but next time I'll add ground coriander, fresh mint, and also chopped pine nuts.  I served these with Lebanese Garlic Sauce and some homemade BBQ sauce, and everyone loved them!

So simple, yet very amazing. Since I used to work in a restaurant and have made this before I switched it a bit ;) This is very similar to the recipe the owner showed me   I used lean ground turkey which tasted almost as authentic and good as lamb or beef.   I also added about a 1/4 cup breadcrumbs and sauteed the spices in a little oil before adding to the mixture(bring out the flavour) This is going on my regular recipe rotation. Thanks!

I made this for me and my son, since my fiance is allergic to cinnamon, and I think I could have still gave it to him and he wouldn't have even known that there was cinnamon in it! After having this dish at a Mediterranean restaurant, I was dying to try it at home and I was very dissappointed in this recipe. I was expecting a very flavorful meat with a nice fresh taste from all the fresh parsley but it just tasted like plain ground beef with a hint of allspice and a little kick from the cayenne. I felt like it was missing something, or a lot of things. It wasn't horrible, just not what I was hoping for and I will definately not use this recipe again.

These taste like a regular burger... they are yummy, don't get me wrong.  But they were not spectacular nor did they taste particularly 'ethnic.'

Very tasty.  Kids and I loved it.  Husband thought it was strange looking on the skewer.  Next time just make into meatball shape and serve or as a hamburger.

Good recipie... I subed Lamb for 1/2 the gorund beef - came out GREAT.  will make this again.

4.5 *'s if I could. 
I had a craving for Lebanese and this was just what I was looking for!
I know the author said NOT TO add anything first time around BUT, I could not resist as I felt it needed one more spice. I added a little bit of cilantro and about a 1/2 tsp of Cumin. It added some nice aroma and taste.
Quick and easy to make. Make sure you have some Cucumber/Yog sauce and Pita bread.

Yum Yum Yum!!!!  Despite the instructions, i did cut back on the red pepper to about 1/8 tsp and increased the black pepper to about 1/2 tsp.  This is realllly delicious. You'll never go back to plain burgers again!  Since I wasn't grilling out, I just fried these on the stove-top, occassionally turning until firm.

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. :)

We live in SoCal and we had Wahib's Kofta which was really great.  Unfortunately their service leaves a lot to be desired and we decided to try some homemade Kofta of our own.   I made regular use of the microwave to sample the proportions and had to end up fudging around until I quadrupled the spices except for cayenne as well as adding cinnamon.  I also only used 1 lb of meat with more of everything else, didn't use skewers and also had it pan fried.  The end result was still really, really good.  It still had that original eye opening punch although some herb or spice is missing.  Perhaps it was the mint or cumin or some other thing.  But in any case thank you for a really great base!

I bought some thin Lebanese pita bread today. I found this meat dish to go with it, which is popular at the Lebanese take-out places. I thought the grated onion was different, but it let the onion cook up completely in the hamburger unlike other similar dishes. I used 1tsp per Tblsp of dried parsley for the fresh, because it was going to be cooked anyway. I cooked the oval shaped meat in a pan on the stove on medium, and they carmelized nicely from the onions. I put on the pita bread with a 1/2 spoon of garlic sauce also from this site. I will probably eat the rest with lettuce, tomato, onion, and yogurt or a similar sauce, as suggested by another reviewer.

This is a great, fun meal. The kids devoured it! I did add a little crushed garlic, as others suggested, and I doubled the recipe. We dipped ours in Greek Tzadziki(don't know if I spelled that right!)sauce, and it was great! The boys made me promise that we would have this all the time! Hubby loved it too, a nice change from burgers, and you can cut the carbs as well, as you don't need the buns. I did take the  time to put it on skewers, and I would recommend it. Thanks so much for such a great recipe!
Lynn Peterson

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 ;-)

It is tasty, but not very special... easy to make though!

Very good.  We did half with onions and half without.  I liked it better with and my husband liked it better without.

This recipe was incredible!!!  The only thing was that I had to add some bread crumbs since it was hard to keep them on the skewers and it still didn't work that well, but the taste was great!  We will be making them again, but probably more like hamburger patties.  Thanks for a great recipe!

Eh, this was just okay.  I added garlic and breadcrumbs as other reviewers suggested, and I shaped the mixture into burgers and grilled on our George Foreman.  Other than that, I kept the recipe precisely the same and was very disappointed by the bland taste of the results.  We tried serving the patties with hummus, but still found them just so-so.  Won't make again.

Love these but after making did make a couple changes, added about 1 t. garam masala and 1/2 t. thai seasoning and cumin.  Just our own personal taste.  Then we made them a little flatter on the sticks and served them with pitas and humas.  YUM!

Awesome recipe! I shaped them into thin burgers and served them in pitas with lettuce,cucumber, tomato, and plain yogurt seasoned with garlic salt and pepper. Very yummy!

It was really good!  I gave it 4 stars because it needed a little more spice.  I only used 1 lb. of meat because that's what I had, but I still basically doubled the allspice, and I added about 1/2 tsp. ground coriander, another traditional spice used in kafta.  Most kafta recipes include coriander--not sure why this one did not.

Delicious!  I used ground turkey, added a lot of chopped garlic, and used the george foreman.  I made these for a party and served with cucumber yogurt sauce.  

This beef had kind of an unusual flavor. Even though I pan fried the beef it still tasted kind of grill-y in an odd way. I'd probably recommend using less onion. I did add a little garlic. I might enjoy this more if it had something else in it like green peppers and celery. I'll make this again though because my significant other loved it.

I accidentaly upped the amount of onion and the meat on sale this week was ground chicken breast and ground beef. Didn't alter anything else in the recipe. It was great!

Husband and son thought these were okay, but I really didn't care for them.  As written the recipe has LOTS of parlsey and with the exception of onion the rest of the quantities were too small to give much flavor.

Yummy!  I didn't have the allspice or the fresh parsley, but these were still fantastic.  We cooked them as meatballs and they were really yummy!

This was very tasty! I made meatballs but I bet it would work best as a hamburger!

I used 2 lbs of beef, drained the onions after grating them via the food processor, and added garam masala (about 1/2 tsp) and only 1/8 tsp cayenne.  Grilled them up in the grill pan on the stove as patties and they came out great.

Nice recipe.  I substituted ground turkey for ground beef and it tasted awesome with some brown rice and some grilled asparagus.  I know that is a mish mash of foods, but it was tasty.

This was very easy and quite tasty. My grandma, who hasn't had much ethnic food at all, even decided she liked it. My husband, who is very stuck in a rut as far as "burgers" go, liked them too. 

Had grilled kaftan at Eastern Market in Detroit, amazingly delicious, so searched recipes on line and found quite a few.  Many had more spice than this recipe including ingredients like mint which goes well with lamb.

so good and soooo easy.  I made this for my brother-in-law who loves middle eastern food and everyone gobbled it up (including my 4 y.o. &amp; 2 y.o.)  Yum!

It's easy and it tastes great with basmati rice and hummus.

Followed the directions, but I think there were too many onion and parsley ratio to the ground beef. Instead of BBQing, I will be cooking in oven on 350 for 20-30 mins, turning once. Should still come out great tho, it smells so good in it's raw form already.

I loved these meatballs! Didn't have any parsley, so I used cilantro. Some people hate cilantro, I'm not one of them. They turned out amazing. Put them in whole wheat pitas with red onions, sliced tomatoes, and homemade tzatziki sauce. Absolutely fabulous!

I really enjoyed the seasoning of this one and it was surprisingly simple.  I shaped these into "logs" and skewered them and cooked them on my George Foreman grill.  Yummy!

Very good and definitely use the fresh herbs.

This was an easy to make and interesting recipe but my friends and I thought that it was more like meatloaf on a stick than anything else.  We ended up eating it with ketchup on buns.  If you are looking for something startlingly ethnic, maybe this isn't the recipe for you.  If you are hoping to find a new way to make fun hamburgers then this is it.

This was amazing! I have been looking for a recipe for a kebab similar to our favorite Greek souvlaki and this is not quite it but the most wonderful replacement. I used ground sirloin and they came out a little dry and needed some type of sauce. The flavor was so incredible. I used dried parsley flakes and added a pinch of mint because I had to add some of myself to this. One fell off the skewer so it might be easier to simply make sticks instead and skip the skewers. I served this with yellow rice and salad. This was a perfect grilled dish. Hubs raved too. As a foodie I rave a lot over dishes, he does not. He just eats and doesn't care so when he comments positively the dish must be outstanding. Oh and it is. Thanks for sharing this is a new favorite!

Yum.  I was going to make these into meatballs to serve with spaghetti squash but made burgers on the george foreman.  This is the only time in my life that I ate a burger with no ketchup or cheese.  It was great plain.  I may cut down on the cayenne next time for my son, but for us it was great.  Thanks.

i make these alot, either on metal skewers or as patty's and they're always yummy. 
serve with tzatziki and sometimes over basmati rice.


Great flavor! Just a little bit to much cayenne for me though.

I loved this recipe just as is and have made it several times.  Tonight I will try it with ground lamb.

We loved it!  So simple, not many ingredients, but the taste is just wonderful!  I followed the recipe exact.

The flavor of this meat was delicious.  The only thing I would change is adding bread crumbs next time.  My meatballs did not want to stay on the skewers- too fragile.  But, we ended up making hamburger patties that were so yummy.  Thanks!

these wre allright i made them like meatballs on kebabs with veggies inbetween the only differece was that i added a clove of garlic some worchestshire sauce and dried parsley i let them sit for 6 hours then cooked on bbq i dont think they were anything to Oooo over  probably wont make them again

This is a quick and easy recipe.  Holy Cow Batman is it ever good!  I had all the ingredients on hand and it was a snap to mix together then put on the grill.  I will admit to adding 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and it added an authentic Lebanese taste for me.  The family said wow!  This is really awesome.  This is a winner of a recipe and I'm positive I will be making this again in the near future.  It sure beats making boring grilled hamburgers.  Thank you for the wonderful recipe.

My fiance and I have never had such BLAND meat before. This was awful and trust me, I've never written this type of review about anything on this site. I read the reviews and enthusiastically made this dish tonight. What a waste of ground beef. The only saving grace was the yogurt sauce that I made to accompany the meal.

I followed the recipe exactly and found this to be very bland and difficult to prepare.  The grated onion makes the beef wet and without a binder it was hard to have them the shape directed and to get them on a skewer.

This was great. I was in Syria for a month and this tasted just like the Kabob they make there. I was pleasantly surprised.

Ok but not up to all the hype. If you have a decent meatloaf recipe you might try cooking it on the grill with skewers as opposed to this one. It wasn't as flavorful as I expected it to be nor as it has been in Middle Eastern restaurants I have visited. I was disappointed.

I substituted dill (about 3T.) for parsley because parsley has no taste, and served with grilled tomatoes, homemade hummus, rice pilaf and green beans.  A good recipe for the grill.

This is amazing.  I had never used allspice before and wasn't sure if I'd like lebanese food but this is incredible.  Even my husband was wowed!  I will make this again and again -- thank you.

fyi, i formed them into small patties and pan fried them.  Very easy.

Made it exactly as the recipe was written and it turned out great. I will definitely be making this one again.

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.

very good, i susbtitute fresh parsley for dried parsley by half to prevent heartburn.

Thank you so much for this recipe... My family absolutely LOVES it!!!

Made it with out modifications and it is great. Will make my hamburger like this in the future and will tell everyone what is in it when they ask. 

Too good to not share.

Pretty good for my first attempt at Kafta.  Next time I will add more onion.  I was worried when I put it on the skewers that the meat would fall off but once I started grilling the meat solidified and everything worked out beautifully.

So good!  I did double all the seasonings except the cayenne. I'm going to use this as the base for kafta bil sanieh.

It was good but next time, I'll add more spice because it wasn't as tasteful as other kefta I tasted before.

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

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.

This is a great recipe, I cook it like a meatloaf and I just add 2 tbsp of sumac, a great spice...and as a side dish a cook tabule (Arabic Salad) and we eat it with Pita bread. Wonderful!! Thanks

My family loves these. Today, I flattened them out into thin hamburgers, broiled them, and served with pita bread, spinach, tomatoes and Greek cucumber sauce to make "gyros."

I thought this was good.  I think a bit more spice might be in order though.  Compared to the Kafta at my local Kebab joint, it was a tad on the bland side.  Definitely good though!

Not amazing, but good. The meat was juicy and flavorful without much need for sauce.  We skipped the skewers and just grilled them like burger dogs for 7-8 minutes, turning once.

We double...tripled... the spices. It need more. This is one of my son's favorite recipes!

we loves the recipe,  it's very délicious thank you

This recipe is 100% amazing!! My husband was a little skeptical because he doesn't like to try many new foods out of his comfort zone but...he loved it!! The flavor is amazing and unlike anything we've made before. It will stay in the Recipe Box and will become regular for BBQ I know

super easy and yummy. Quick dinner served with hummus, pita bread and tabule salad. Tkx for sharing! :) BTW I use red onion and don't use the cayenne pepper, just personal preference.

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...

I think it's essential to add chopped fresh mint

I made this for hamburgers. 

We loved it.

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.

I thought these were fantastic!  I've made a Kafta before and it was bland compared to this.  I served it with a tzatziki sauce which went fantastic with it, yum!

I followed the recipe to a "T" and it was great! This recipe is a keeper!!!

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.

Disappointing. Tasted like a hamburger on a stick. We had high hopes.

Outstanding flavor!   I followed the recipe exactly and got rave reviews from my guests.  I BBQed on skewers and served with the Syrian green beans from this site and rice pilaf.  Thanks for a flavorful ground beef recipe!

I took your advice and did not change a thing. It was amazing!! the entire family loved it

These were surprisingly bland, for the good amount of spices and herbs in it.   It didn't taste bad, just wasn't very flavorful at all.

This was very yummy! It was quick to make in the food processor. I will have to say, for next time, I need to follow the other reviewer's advice to chill the meat first so that it holds together. That was a problem for me. Also, as a note for myself when I'm looking at my review later - "1 tsp salt, or to taste" for me means 1/2 or even 1/4 tsp. I bet this would be great with lamb!

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.

Very tasty meatballs.  Was a bit short on the meat, so the cayenne was a little overpowering.  I think I'll try microwaving the meatballs for a few minutes before putting them on the grill to try to get them to cook thoroughly and not burn.

kafta (bbq)

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total: 30 minutes

Servings: 6

Author : Lebanese Cuisine

Ingredients

Instructions

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