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.
This was a delicious dish! You inspired me to do an entire Mediterranean dinner for a family get together to celebrate summer. Each dish was delicious. I had one issue that hopefully you can help me with. The tahini sauce for the Moroccan Meatballs did not turn out the way I expected it to. I was doubling the meatball recipe so I also doubled the sauce. I have not worked with tahini before. After adding the lemon juice and salt, the tahini really firmed up. I added water and added water and then some more water- still very thick. I ended up moving the mixture to the blender and only after adding a lot more water was the blender able to attack it. Long story short, I could not add enough water to the blender to make it smooth and I was fearful of a watery taking sauce. I need up placing “blobs” of the sauce around the meatballs thinking it would thin out when heated. No such luck. The flavors were fantastic but it was not as it should be. Thoughts?
I found your site yesterday and have been addicted to it for 2 days now! I have many of your recipes printed and ready to go for this coming week. Thank you!
Welcome on in Mollie, I’m so glad you found us here. As for the tahini, yes, it does seize up when you add water to it, but eventually it will thin down again when enough water has been added. You’d be surprised how its flavor holds up, even after adding water. You can use lemon juice along with water for a tangy flavor.
Aaaamazing! Made these today. I am gluten free and allergic to eggs so I just left out the egg and bread crumbs. No issues! Held together beautifully. And served with the tahini sauce is a must!
That’s great to know ๐
Wow! What a recipe! Cardamom is my ‘new’ favorite flavor the last of couple of years. I am surprised and super pleased to see it used in a meatball recipe. I LOVE meatballs.
I think you’ll love these Carol!
Hi Sue! So glad I found you and this delicious recipe I made tonight for supper. Since I did not have lamb I used beef and it was a great hit with my husband. I made a big batch (3 lbs) so I could freeze several packages for future quick meals. Since I only had one fresh lemon I chopped up some of the salt preserved lemon I already had and it made a nice extra zing. And I used Panko instead of the bread crumbs since I was out of bread. This recipe will become a family favourite! Thanks so much! I look forward to future recipes! Cheers, Wendy
I’m thrilled to hear you liked these, Wendy, they’re a personal favorite of ours, too. I think the preserved lemon is an inspired addition.
I doubled the recipe and used half lamb and half turkey. I haven’t cooked them yet, but I mixed everything up to let the meat absorb the flavors for tomorrow nights dinner, at which point, I’ll roll the meatballs and finish the recipe. These smell so freaking amazing! Between the spices, herbs, lemon, and fresh ginger, I am salivating. Can’t wait to try them ๐
Hope you like them!
This was fantastic! We didn’t have fresh herbs but I tried it anyway. So great! We used home raised geound beef and served it with basmati rice and roasted banana squash on the side. I will definitely be making this recipe again!
Nice Shae, what an experience it must be to raise your own beef. I’m so glad you enjoyed these ๐
Do you have to use the breadcrumbs? I am new to cooking. ๐
You can leave them out, Dorit, they just help loosen the meat and make a tender texture in the meatball. If you are trying to avoid gluten, you might use rolled oats instead.
Sue, you are a meatball genius! We made these last night and they were spectacular! Our daughter and young grandboy popped in unexpectedly and stayed for dinner. She left with the recipe! We also love your cheesy skillet meatballs….we have them in long crusty rolls. So yummy! Thank you sooo much for your creative foodie goodness xx
THese look and sound delicious ! We love meatballs and this is on our list to try for sure! Great recipe Sue !
What a delicious and vibrant sounding flavor combination. I love these meatballs and the unique sauce!
Now why haven’t I made these yet? Outstanding recipe – they must be so flavorful. Thanks for bringing this one back around – a must make for our house!