These authentic Bulgarian Grilled Meatballs (Kyofte) are mouth-watering juicy meat patties made with wonderfully spiced ground meat and traditionally cooked on the barbecue. The kyofte resembles a burger, but it’s smaller in size. Grilled meatballs are easy to make and delicious to eat! They make a perfect quick dinner and can be served as a part of a mezze platter.

This recipe comes from authentic Bulgarian cuisine and the name for these meat patties is Kyofte or Kyufte.

HISTORY OF THE BALKAN KOFTA/KYOFTE.

The word kufta comes from the Persian language. Many countries adopted this name for the dish, although with minor phonetic variations. Due to its name, chargrilled meatballs are believed to originate in Persia.

Kofta is a customary dish not only in the Balkans but also in the Middle East, North Africa and India.

Variety OF BALKAN KOFTA/KYOFTE RECIPES.

Every country in the Balkans has their authentic recipes for koftas or kyoftes. In Turkey alone, there are nearly 300 variations of meat-based and vegetarian patties (koftas).

Vegetarian patties are commonly made with potatoes, zucchini or chickpeas and fish patties are made with a mixture of fish meat and rice or potatoes.

Typically, vegetable and fish koftas are cooked in oil, and meatballs are grilled or fried. There are slight differences in the recipes for grilled and fried koftas. The meat mixture for fried patties usually contains an egg that bonds the meat with the rest of the ingredients and they don’t crumble during cooking.

Another group of authentic recipes with meatballs in the Balkan region includes different sauces, like Meatballs with Tomato Sauce or Meatballs with Béchamel sauce. These recipes have their authentic local variations. We even make a delicious meatball soup. View the recipe in Authentic Balkan Meatball Soup.

Regional recipes CAN vary in the type of meat AND spicing.

In some Balkan countries, meatballs are made with ground beef or a combination of meats, while in others countries only with pork or lamb. For example, the authentic Bulgarian koyfte is made with a combination of beef and fatty pork, while in Turkey, the koftas are always made with lamb. In most versions of the Balkan kofte, the spices are very important for flavouring the meat, except for some Serbian grill recipes. That’s because they believe the spices disguise the flavour of the meat.

Although the traditional Balkan kofta/kyofte has a round flat shape, it is closely related to another Balkan dish in which the grilled meat has an elongated sausage-like shape. In Bulgaria, the name for this dish is kebabche and in Serbia – Cevapcic or Cevapi. You can view a recipe for this dish in my post – Authentic Serbian Cevapi.

HOW TO MAKE AUTHENTIC BULGARIAN GRILLED MEATBALLS?

📋 INGREDIENTS IN THIS RECIPE

Meat: Use a mixture of pork and beef with a high percentage of fat. In Bulgaria, we use a blend of 40% beef and 60% fatty pork. The fat melts on the barbecue leaving lovely flavour in the meat.

Onion & Garlic: Onion and garlic add flavour and texture to the meat.

Spices: You can use only cumin in the meat, but I prefer to jazz it up with extra flavours. My favourite spices in cooking are savoury and sweet paprika and they work really well in this recipe.

Fresh herbs: Parsley adds beautiful earthy fresh flavour to the meat.

Lemon juice: Brush the meatballs with lemon juice before placing them on the barbecue to ensure they do not stick to the grill.

📖 STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

Kyoftes are incredibly quick and easy to make if you follow the steps below:

Step 1: Prepare the meat for the kyoftas

Dice the onion and garlic, and chop the fresh parsley. I use an onion chopper for chopping onions and garlic. This chopper works well for chopping herbs too. It is easy to work with, and the onion does not irritate the eyes because it is in a closed container.

Mix the spices and the salt in a small bowl.

Place the ground meat in a large bowl, break lumps of meat between your fingers or use a fork to break them. Some even add a little bit of water to soften the meat. Add the spices and the rest of the ingredients to the bowl with the ground meat. Massage the mixture with your hands until all ingredients are evenly distributed and bond together.

Step 2: Chill the spiced meat in the fridge

Leave the meat mixture in the fridge for 20-30 minutes for the mixture to stiffen and become easier to work with. Then, shape the meatballs.

Step 3: Shape the meatballs

Take a handful of the spiced meat and roll it between your palms into a ball. Shape medium-sized patties by rolling and pressing the meat between your palms.

Keep a small bowl with cold water handy and rinse your hands before and after shaping each meatball. This tip is helpful because the fat in the meat mixture gets softer and sticky when touched with warm hands.

Place the shaped meat patties on a flat tray, board or grid.

Step 4: Grill the meatballs

In a small bowl, prepare lemon water by combining three teaspoons of water and one teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Brush the individual meatballs with lemon water on both sides before placing them on the barbecue or under the hot grill. Lemon water will prevent the meat from sticking to the grill.

Cook the meatballs on a charcoal or electric barbecue or use a griddle pan. A word of warning, when grilling fatty meat on a griddle pan in your kitchen, you may want to crack a window open because there will be smoke coming out of the pan. It’s produced by burning fat.

Heat your barbecue or griddle pan to medium heat. Place the meatballs on the hot grill and cook them for 4-5 minutes on each side or until they are cooked to your taste. Be careful not to overcook the meatballs, they taste so much better when they are juicy.

🍲 SERVE DELICIOUS BULGARIAN MEATBALLS

Grilled meatballs are well-complemented with fresh salads, vegetable relishes and crunchy chips or sauteed potatoes.

Go authentic all the way by serving kyoftes with traditional Bulgarian garnishes like the ones below:

Lutenitsa – a vegetable relish similar to the ajvar.

Kyopolou – an appetising Bulgarian eggplant relish. The perfect side to barbequed meat!

Shopska salad is a beautiful crunchy salad made with sweet tomatoes and peppers, onions and fresh cucumber and garnished with grated feta cheese.

Bean salad – a very simple salad, yet delicious side to grilled meat.

Bon Appétit!👨‍🍳👨‍🍳👨‍🍳