Spicy Mediterranean Meatballs with Harissa Yogurt Dressing

Forget the salad bar. When you want a flavorful protein boost to your greens, then you’ll come running for these Spicy Mediterranean Meatballs with Harissa Yogurt Dressing.

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What makes them spicy? The secret ingredient is harissa

One of our go to places for a healthy meal during the pandemic has been CAVA. It’s a fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant that operates similarly to Chipotle in the way that you order. They feature a variety of hummus, dips and fresh toppings you can add to their greens and grain bowls.

One of our favorites they recently discontinued was the harissa yogurt dressing, which goes great on meatballs. Using our taste memory, we’ve done our best to recreate something similar.

Harissa, by the way, is a Tunisian hot red chili paste which contains:

• Garlic
• Caraway seeds
• Coriander seeds
• Cumin 
• Olive oil

For these meatballs, we spiced up the flavor profile by adding in more harissa along with several commonly used herbs and spices in Mediterranean cooking.

We wanted these meatballs to be tender and taste great cold on a salad. To achieve this, we utilized a food processor technique we discovered while testing out Swedish meatballs.

The results were perfectly blended meatballs that will make you want to devour them with some greens or served over rice. We love topping ours with pickled red onions, sliced grape or cherry tomatoes, and a scoop or two of hummus. You could also crumble some feta in if you have it on hand.

CAVA sells their hummus in select grocery stores and we highly recommend their roasted red pepper hummus if you can find it.

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How to make the Harissa Yogurt Dressing for your mediterranean meatballs

When testing this recipe we first tried a brand of harissa that wasn’t a concentrated paste, and was more oily than usual. It had chunks of peppers that weren’t fully processed, and it didn’t give us the smooth pourable dressing we were after.

This made it impossible to do any fancy saucey squiggles. We needed an excuse to use our new sauce squeeze bottles from the restaurant supply store. Folks, that’s half the fun right there! But more importantly, it didn’t give us the level of spicy flavor we wanted. What to do?

We then went back to the store, Fresh Market to be precise, and picked up a tube of Entube brand harissa paste. This stuff worked great because it had plenty of concentrated flavor and heat.

So be on the lookout for concentrated harissa paste, usually in a tube, and not the oilier less-processed variety.

The interesting thing with chilis is the heat builds the more you eat. By layering a bit of harissa in the meat and the dressing, not all in one or the other, you get a nice comfortable level of heat that builds enough to know it’s there, but won’t have you trying to put out a fire in your mouth.

We whisked the harissa paste with a few dry spices (onion and garlic powder), greek yogurt, lemon juice and some water to thin it out. The yogurt helps temper the capsaicin in the harissa.

Voila! That’s a nice, very pourable spicy sauce to dress up your meatballs or salad.

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How to make the Spicy Mediterranean Meatballs

You don’t need a food processor for this recipe, you can do it all by hand if you prefer. However, we like using one because it blends all the ingredients so well and gives the meatballs a really nice smooth, springy texture.

These meatballs are baked on a sheetpan in the oven for even cooking, then browned in a large skillet to finish.

We used 85% lean beef which kept the meat tender and flavorful without being overly fatty. You do need some fat so these meatballs won’t dry out. You can also substitute bison, lamb, or venison for a gamier flavor.

Follow these simple steps for fantastic mediterranean meatballs:

1. Pulse eggs and water in a food processor, or whisk with a fork until well blended if making by hand.
2. Add Panko bread crumbs, spices and harissa and pulse/mix until blended.
3. Add beef and run food processor about 30 seconds, stopping halfway through to scrape down container, until all meat is blended with egg/spice mixture. Otherwise, mix thoroughly by hand.

4. Now you have a meat paste that’s the consistency of tuna salad. Don’t worry, it will become far more appetizing once it’s cooked.
5. Use a cookie scoop, or a heaping tablespoon to divide meat into balls. If you’re persnickety about exact amounts, these came out to be about 1.3 ounces when weighed.

6. Get a small bowl of water and wet your hands (this will keep the meat from sticking to them). Roll each ball in your hands to smooth them out and make them more ball-ular.

7. Bake the meatballs at 350° F for about 20 minutes. The meatballs will develop a ring of proteins, not fat, around the bottom (pictured below). This is normal and not really preventable. However, you can use a paper towel to wipe this off when the meatballs are cool enough to handle.

8. Brown the meatballs in a skillet over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. This develops a nice crust and cooks off any remaining protein matter that accumulated. Allow to cool if desired.

Time to enjoy! It’s not quite like traveling to the Mediterranean, but it might be the next best thing.

Looking for another delicious, yet healthy recipe?

Try this Spinach Nori Salad

We hope you’ve enjoyed this article. As always, comments are welcome and encouraged!

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