These Moroccan Meatballs are extra juicy and super delicious with great Moroccan inspired flavors. All swimming in a rich and wonderful tomato sauce that will have everyone begging for seconds!
Since I started blogging I discovered my love of experimenting with spices and herbs from all over the world. Although, I’ve never been to Morocco, I love Moroccan food. I love researching about other cuisines and trying them all. Some common spices and herbs that are used in Moroccan cuisine are turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, fennel, paprika, coriander, cumin, saffron, anise, oregano, nutmeg and many others.
I’ve used a few of these in these meatballs and the rich sauce that I’m serving these meatballs in. If you want to get even more traditional, you could even cook these meatballs in a tagine in the oven and serve them over some couscous or bulgur, but for us it was good old spaghetti.
Ingredients
Keep scrolling down to the recipe card for a list of FULL ingredient amounts and instructions or click the “Jump to Recipe” button at the top of the page!
Meatballs
- Ground beef – Use lean or regular, any kind you’d like, though the more fat in the meat the juicier your meatballs will be.
- Onion – Chopped or grated with a metal cheese grater, my secret to super moist meatballs.
- Aromatics – Fresh chopped ginger and garlic.
- Spices – Coriander, cumin, smoked paprika, and cinnamon.
- Egg – You’ll need one large as the binding agent in the meatballs.
- Seasoning – Salt and pepper to taste.
Sauce
- Olive oil – A nice neutral tasting oil is what we’re looking for today.
- Broth – I use beef broth for this dish for a nice rich sauce, low or no sodium added.
- Spices – Coriander, cumin, fennel seeds, and red pepper flakes.
- Onion – We want something that will cook down well white or yellow.
- Aromatics – Fresh chopped ginger and garlic.
- Tomato – We’re using both tomato paste and tomato puree or passata.
- Mint – For garnish.
How To Make Moroccan Meatballs
- Make the meatballs: In a large bowl add all the meatball ingredients, and mix well using your clean hands. Shape the meat mixture into medium size meatballs. You should get around 20 meatballs.
- Cook the meatballs: In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the meatballs and fry until golden brown all around, should take about 7 minutes. If your skillet isn’t large enough you may need to do this in a couple batches. Transfer the meatballs to a plate and set aside.
- Deglaze the pan:In the same skillet, deglaze the skillet with the beef broth and stir and scrape all the brown bits at the bottom of the skillet. Bring to a simmer, and stir until there are no more brown bits stuck at the bottom of the skillet.
- Combine the sauce: Add the coriander, cumin, fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and stir. Cook for about 1 minute, the liquid should have reduced by half. Add the onion, garlic, ginger and tomato paste to the skillet, stir and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until the onion is soft and translucent.
- Finish the sauce: Add the tomato puree or passata to the skillet and stir. Bring to a boil and turn down the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes, covered, so that it doesn’t splatter everywhere, then add the meatballs. Toss the meatballs around in the sauce, then cover the skillet and simmer for another 20 minutes.
- Finish the meatballs: Garnish with fresh mint and serve over pasta or couscous.
Other Ways To Cook
Slow cooker
Follow the instructions for forming the meatballs but place in your slow cooker instead. Cover with the sauce and cook on low for 6 – 8 hours.
Pressure cooker
Add your sauce to the pot first, then place the trivet inside the instant pot. Place the meatballs on the trivet. Cook on the manual setting on high for 7 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally before removing the lid, this step takes about 10 minutes.
Some Tips
- You can use ground lamb, ground pork, or ground veal instead of ground beef for this recipe. You can even use an equal combination of all!
- If you find your meatballs are a bit dry, try cubing up some bread nice and small and soaking in a bit of milk before incorporating into the meatballs. This is a traditionally Italian way of ensuring moisture.
- Don’t crowd your pan when frying these up, this is to ensure that your Moroccan Meatballs brown properly.
- If you’re still having trouble with your meatballs, try referencing this page to trouble shoot what exactly is going wrong.
Leftovers
These Moroccan meatballs can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 – 4 days. This recipe also freezes quite well so just be sure to separate the balls from the sauce in airtight containers and store. Each should last around 3 months frozen.
More Incredible Meatballs To Try:
- Salisbury Steak Meatballs
- Stout Meatballs with BBQ Sauce
- Meatballs with Mushroom Sauce
- Porcupine Meatballs
- Swedish Meatballs
- Chimichurri Meatballs
- Thai Meatball Lettuce Wraps
- Cheesy Chicken Meatball Rolls
- Firecracker Chicken Meatballs
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Moroccan Meatballs
Ingredients
For Meatballs
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger minced
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
For Sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup beef broth low sodium
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper or to taste
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 cups tomato puree or passata
- fresh mint for garnish
Instructions
- In a large bowl add all the meatball ingredients, and mix well using your clean hands. Shape the meat mixture into medium size meatballs. You should get around 20 meatballs.
- In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the meatballs and fry until golden brown all around, should take about 7 minutes. If your skillet isn’t large enough you may need to do this in a couple batches. Transfer the meatballs to a plate and set aside.
- In the same skillet, deglaze the skillet with the beef broth and stir and scrape all the brown bits at the bottom of the skillet. Bring to a simmer, and stir until there are no more brown bits stuck at the bottom of the skillet.
- Add the coriander, cumin, fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and stir. Cook for about 1 minute, the liquid should have reduced by half.
- Add the onion, garlic, ginger and tomato paste to the skillet, stir and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until the onion is soft and translucent.
- Add the tomato puree or passata to the skillet and stir. Bring to a boil and turn down the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes, covered, so that it doesn’t splatter everywhere, then add the meatballs. Toss the meatballs around in the sauce, then cover the skillet and simmer for another 20 minutes.
- Garnish with fresh mint and serve over pasta or couscous.
Video
Recipe Notes
- Tomato passata is an uncooked tomato puree that has been strained of seeds and skins. Usually they’re found on the bottom shelf in the canned tomato product section. If you cannot find passata, use tomato puree or even crushed tomatoes.
- This dish can be made ahead of time if that’s what you’re into! Both the sauce and the meatballs themselves are perfect for the fridge or freezer.
- These meatballs can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 – 4 days. This recipe also freezes quite well so just be sure to separate the balls from the sauce in airtight containers and store. Each should last around 3 months frozen.
- Nutritional information assumes about 4 meatballs and sauce per serving and does not include pasta.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
This recipe has been on my too try list for over a year. Finally tried tonight and it is amazing. The meatballs are so flavoursome, and not at all dry which I often find to be a problem with meatballs. Had it with cous cous and it was the perfect cous cous to sauce ratio. Oh and so much easier to do than I thought
Love to hear it!! Glad you liked the recipe 🙂
Delicious sauce! Loved the addition of ginger with the other spices. I cheated and added ready made meatballs, but it still worked really well.
Good Morning. I am planning on making these this weekend. I’m wondering if you would recommend substituting Ras El Hanout for the spices in the meatballs. I actually have Ras El Hanout in my spice cabinet and would like to use in a recipe. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you!
Yes you can do that! Replace the amount of spices called for in this recipe with your blend.
Made this for dinner last night. Wanted something different and remembered saving this. We loved it! We served it over cauliflower rice to keep the carbs low. Defiantly making this again.
This was soooo delicious. The spices were amazing, and it was warm and rich. I searched for a recipe after having this at a Mediterranean restaurant, and this hit the spot!
When I’m not playing music, I work as a Sou Chef for a Personal Le Cordon Bleu Chef in Altadena, Los Angeles. She taught me this recipe with just a bit more paprika and cinnamon, (at home I add a lot of garlic), and put it in the instant pot. This dish is so aromatic and flavorful! I make them for dinner gatherings, they are for a sure hit! I’ve also made them with ground turkey, they tasted yummy however they had that turkey texture. I would use beef, buffalo, lamb, or a mixture!
10 out of 10!
The more garlic the merrier 🙂 Those all sound like fantastic options, we’ll have to try it out!
Great recipe, just stir in some sour cream right at the end to make it absolutely perfect!!
I love meatballs! I have never thought of making them with those flavors. I can’t wait to give theses try. Thanks for sharing😊.
Lovely, my kinda food! Loved that abracadabra slight of hand, too!
LOL Thank you!
Girl, you know the way to my heart. Can’t say no to a good meatball! 🙂
You and me both!
Made this dish last week with the sauce and it was delicious. Added a little orzo rice pasta to the sauce instead of serving it with spaghetti and that worked well. Loved the Moroccan spices and the sauce was one of the best. Thanks!
Glad you liked it!
Hello ! I love meatballs too and enjoy all your great recipes……….I wonder if you have heard about “Porcupine” meatballs ?? I’ve had a good standby recipe for about 50 years and would be happy to share it………….let me know if you’d like it.
Cheers, Laura
I have heard of them, but never made them. I’d love the recipe! Feel free to send it to info@jocooks.com
Made this for lunch yesterday and served with couscous. I loved it; hubby wasn’t as keen, but he was still recovering from the Monday meal that he hated. (Not one of your recipes.)
Leftovers today were even better, and I have some for tomorrow as well.
Well I’m glad you liked it. 🙂
I ate ALL the leftovers – flavors really blended with time. I will definitely make again. Hubby doesn’t know what he’s missing!
Anyway – because it’s pretty cool here in the UK, I have your Beef Barley Soup cooking away for tomorrow. Now THAT recipe is one of his favorites!
Mine too!!
This dish is quite delicious. I like the taste of its sauce the most. I gave spicy than the recipe because my family likes to eat spicy. Thank you for bringing me an interesting dish
Lovely, my kinda food! Loved that abracadabra slight of hand, too! 😉
LOL! Thanks, Kevin!