Moroccan Meatballs with Cardamom and Lemon are tender cardamom spiced lamb meatballs nestled in creamy lemon tahini sauce. I have a feeling this is going to become your new favorite meal!

Moroccan meatballs with cardamom and lemon
While it may sound like an exotic meal, it’s really just a matter of how and in what proportions you use common ingredients. These lamb meatballs start out with the usual egg, onion and breadcrumbs, but take a more flavorful turn with multiple fistfuls of fresh herbs, pine nuts, feta cheese, the zest of two lemons, and freshly ground cardamom.
We ate ours accompanied by a thick swath of creamy hummus, a chopped Israeli salad, and lots of grilled laffa bread. My homemade pita bread would be a great choice, too. If you want a real feast, serve it alongside some jeweled rice!
what you’ll need:
The diverse flavors bounce off one another to make for an incredibly vibrant experience. In comparison to, say, an Indian curry, where the many spices marry together, in these meatballs you will get the lemon, the mint, the feta, the spices, and herbs all competing for your attention. I love that.
- ground lamb ~ if you don’t see it at your market, ask the butcher to grind it for you.
- onion ~ be sure to mince it finely, otherwise your meatballs can fall apart.
- fresh garlic and ginger ~ flavor bombs
- breadcrumbs ~ these can be fresh or dried.
- egg ~ an essential binder for the meatballs
- parsley, cilantro, mint ~ more flavor bombs, don’t hold back here, and make sure they’re fresh!
- lemon ~ we’ll use the juice and the zest.
- pine nuts ~ in the meatballs and in the sauce, I love that.
- feta cheese
- cinnamon and cardamom ~ this combination gives this dish incredibly distinctive flavor.
- olive oil
- tahini
- smoked paprika or sumac ~ just for garnish, and is optional.
- salt and pepper
Moroccan meatballs are a user friendly way to serve lamb
Lamb has a rich, earthy flavor that gets balanced by the other strong elements in this dish. It’s critical to use a light touch when mixing ground meat. There are lots of flavor components in this recipe that need to be distributed into the lamb, but you don’t want to compact the meat in the process. Your hands, fingertips actually, are the only tools for the job, and they’ll help insure that these meatballs have a light, delicate texture.
If you have a stand mixer, it’s a great way to blend ground meat mixtures like meatballs and meatloaf ~ just pop on the paddle attachment and let it go on low until everything is well combined. No mess!
these Moroccan meatballs are all about flavor!
One of the biggest arguments, in my mind, for making the effort to experience the foods of other cultures is to wake up our own palates. If we keep our taste buds actively engaged with new and exciting healthy flavors we might better resist the not so healthy stuff we all fall back on when we’re bored. And when you bring something this vibrant to the table, it’s always a joyous occasion.
how to use cardamom
Cardamom makes these meatballs distinctive. The papery pods come in green and a dark brown variety, and it’s the green we’re using here. They contain little dark seeds that pop out when you crack them open, and it takes just seconds to grind the seeds into a powder in a small coffee or spice grinder. It is so worth it. Of course you can substitute ground cardamom, but promise yourself you will try the whole spice one day…it’s a must for those times when you want to take your cooking to the next level.
- cardamom crumb cake
- French apple jam
- Swedish cardamom Buns
- chicken with caramelized onion and cardamom rice
- cardamom spritz cookies
TIP: Whole cardamom pods will keep longer than ground cardamom, and they’re well worth seeking out.
to make lamb meatballs ahead
Form the meatballs up to a day ahead and refrigerate, but I recommend cooking them just prior to serving because ground meat does not reheat well.
You can also freeze the uncooked meatballs: form them, then place on a lined baking sheet or plate and freeze until solid. Then pack the meatballs in a zip lock freezer bag, or a freezer safe storage container.
The sauce can be made the day ahead and refrigerated. The sauce has a tendency to thicken as it sits, so you may need to thin it with water and/or lemon juice.
can these meatballs be made with beef?
Yes, just substitute ground beef for the lamb.
“I have made it many times, and even have made it as a meatloaf. If works beautifully frozen ahead. This recipe sold me on TVFGI altogether, & I have not been disappointed yet. Thank you so much for your tastiness!”
Susan
Moroccan Lemon and Cardamom Meatballs
Video
Ingredients
for the meatballs
- 1 lb ground lamb
- 1/2 medium red onion, very finely minced
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- a 2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated or finely minced
- 1/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs
- 1 large egg, well beaten
- a handful of fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped
- a handful of fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
- a handful of fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
- zest of two lemons
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
- 1/2 cup fresh feta cheese, finely crumbled
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp fresh cracked pepper
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp freshly toasted and ground cardamom, see instructions below
- olive oil for frying
garnish
- pine nuts
- chopped parsley, cilantro, or mint
- a sprinkling of smoked paprika, or sumac
Instructions
- Set oven to 350F
- Place the lamb, onion, garlic, ginger, bread crumbs, beaten egg, fresh herbs, lemon zest, pine nuts, feta cheese, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt and pepper into a large bowl. Mix everything together using your fingertips. You want to get all the ingredients evenly distributed without compacting the meat.
- Form walnut sized meatballs from the mixture. You can do this several hours ahead of time if you want, but be sure to cover the meat completely with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.
- Cover the bottom of a heavy pan with the olive oil and heat until hot. Work in batches so you don’t crowd the pan, and brown the meatballs on all sides. Add more oil as necessary.
- Place the meatballs on a baking sheet and bake for about 12 minutes, or until cooked through. (Ground lamb should be cooked to about 160F)
- Meanwhile make the sauce by mixing the tahini and lemon juice, and then adding enough water to make a thin sauce. Salt it to taste.
- Serve the meatballs hot from the oven, nestled in the sauce. Garnish with more pine nuts, herbs, and a sprinkling of sumac or paprika.
Notes
- For those of you who don’t eat lamb, you might substitute my turkey and zucchini meatballs, I think they’d work just as well.
- If you browse through the comments below you’ll see many readers have had success with variations, from chicken to beef, and you can even make this vegan by using your favorite veggie burger mix, or falafel.
- To remove seeds from cardamom pods, lightly crush the pods with a rolling pin to open them. Remove the black seeds and toast in a dry pan over medium heat for a couple of minutes, moving the seeds constantly, until they are fragrant. Then grind them with a spice or coffee grinder.
We’ve made this recipe several times and it’s a hit every time. I love the flavor combination (the cardamom is fantastic) and especially the tahini sauce. The lemon zest brightens up the entire dish. We don’t fry the meatballs but bake them at 400ยฐF for 15-20 minutes. We like to use any leftover sauce as a salad dressing by adding red wine vinegar to taste and water to thin it out to the preferred consistency.
You made my mouth water just reading your comment Doug, I’m glad you enjoyed these, they’re such a nice change from regular meatballs ๐ And I agree, the cardamom is the hero.
Just found this recipe and made it last night! It was so flavorful and glad I ventured out of my comfort zone. Did use turkey instead of lamb due the high cost, at least where I shop. Have enough supplies to make a second batch of meatballs to freeze for a later time.
Thank you!
Thanks Cindy! It’s great to know that turkey works here, I’ll have to try that ๐
Any insight on how to make this vegetarian? It looks AMAZING, but lamb… Dairy and eggs are fine. Thanks!!
I have made it using ground seitan. Turned out delicious
Lynda what is ground seitan?
You could use a great falafel, Arzelie ~here are a few of my recipes: https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/?s=falafel
I made these tonight, used lean ground beef….awesomeawesome. the family loved it. Added fresh minced garlic to the sauce, kicked it up a notch. Thanks for the recipe.
๐ Glad it worked for you Zee.
I made these tonight and WOW!! I used ground chicken instead of lamb and I must say delicious!! So much flavor and so moist!! Cheers to you for this recipe. I added the juice of two lemons to the sauce to add that extra zing. I served them over isreali cous cous risotto with cauliflower, broccoli, and asparagus. It was a home run. I wished I could post a picture to the comments. There is a photo of my dish on Instagram @philicious_eats. I will absolutely make these again.
Thanks so much Phil, and I love the way you served these, I’ve never thought to make couscous risotto, it sounds so good!
Hank you so much for posting this! These were like a breath of fresh air for me after using the same old (although good) meatball recipe. These Moroccoan meatballs tasted amazing and completely different from what I am used to. My boyfriend did not like it as much but for someone (like me) who likes trying out new foods I reccommend trying this recipe. I had to leave out the onion, garlic and breadcrumbs due to allergies in the family but it tasted great still. I am so glad I found this. I will definately be making these again ๐
Love this comment, thanks so much Sandra — I adore all kinds of meatballs, but I agree that these are a breath of fresh air, that’s what is so wonderful about venturing into new territory when it comes to cooking. Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know you liked them!!
I am so wanting to make this and have been working on trying it for days now. I keep having to go out to help a client or something, then come home to a hot, hot house and especially “hot” kitchen and I just drop. What would happen if I didn’t brown the meatballs first, would they taste drastically different. I have ground been thawed out with the onions, garlic and ginger. Have to go out again though, so I wondered how it would work if I did that?
Personally I think browning is an important step, Cathy, but I’ve definitely cooked meatballs before without browning.
I did finally make hem and I did brown them first. They were sooo good. I think I could have added a little more water to my sauce, but it was definitely a big hit. My cardamom was a bit of a pain, they appear to be quite a bit smaller than yours, but I love it, so it’s worth it.
You can add as much water as you like to thin the sauce, just taste it to adjust any seasoning.
This looks to be a really tasty recipe and I am going to try making it in my Moroccan tagine – I think it would work if there were a nice spiced broth along with some typical Moroccan veggies such as carrot and onions and chick peas, etc.. I prep the veggies in a bain marie or a shot stint in the microwave first and then add them to the tagine with broth and uncooked meat bas and then give them about an hour at around 325ยฐ and serve with either saffron rice or cous-cous. What do you think?
Sounds pretty darned good, Steve, let me know how it turns out! I’ve got to get a tagine, it’s on my wish list ๐
You would instantly more than double you potential audience by adding the weights of the ingredients. There are 500 million people in Europe and not one of them measures flour by the cup-full (even if we did know how large that was). We use weight for solid items, such as butter or flour, and volume for liquid items such as milk or oil; very simple.
I’m getting to it, Nicole, slowly. I have plans for a new recipe plugin that will do it automatically.
TOTALLY AGREE ON THAT JUST PUT UP CHOICE FOR SCALE /METRIC OR ENGLISH PLENTY OTHER SITES ALREADY DO SO
WARMLY franรงois
These were absolutely delicious, although I must admit that I only just realise I forgot to add ginger to the mix, so I’ll just have to try them again!
Glad you liked them N — I’m sure the absence of the ginger didn’t make that much of a difference, but still, it’s an excuse to make them again ๐