Name: Greek Feta Meatballs (Keftedes)
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 1 lb ground beef; 1 egg; 3 tbsp feta cheese, crumbled; 3 tbsp mint, fresh; 1 tsp parsley, dried; 1 tsp oregano, dried; 1 tsp onion powder; 1 tsp garlic powder; 1 tsp sea salt; 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes; 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper; 1 tbsp balsamic

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Greek Feta Meatballs (Keftedes) are perfect for a healthy weeknight dinner and great for a meal prep option for lunches! These take only 10 minutes to bake in the oven! These meatballs are gluten free and perfectly juicy!

These Greek Feta Meatballs are also known as Keftedes which means “small meatballs made with herbs and onions.” In this recipe, we will be using dried herbs (& fresh mint if you have!) because although I LOVE fresh herbs, I also wanted this recipe to be something that was quick & easy to throw together even if you didn’t have fresh ingredients on hand!

I love taking the extra time to chop fresh herbs, sauté some chopped onions or roast garlic for meatballs, but the great thing is this greek feta meatballs recipe is adaptable and you can use fresh or dried herbs!

I’ve also made these meatballs to be a bit larger in size because I prefer them that way for salads! These Greek Feta Meatballs are great to make ahead for meals throughout the week. I’ve made them with a salad here, but you could also serve them in a warm pita with tzatziki sauce or make a lemon orzo with roasted veggies!

These greek feta meatballs come together in no time! You can prep the salad ingredients while the meatballs cook (only 10 minutes!) in the oven.

Tips:

make sure not to overmix the meat when adding the ingredients together! just enough to incorporate everything.
if you have one, use a cast iron pan to bake these meatballs. i always preheat my pan in the oven and then add my meatballs. this way the meatballs will get a nice sear (and they’ll bake quicker in the preheated pan). if you don’t have one, just use a baking sheet but pop it in the oven so it can preheat too!
if you want to save an extra step, add the spices together beforehand and store in a small mason jar. then all you have to do is dump and mix!

Meatball ingredients you’ll need:

ground beef
crumbled feta
egg
balsamic vinegar (adds subtle sweetness!)
salt & pepper
crush red pepper flakes (just enough spice!)
dill, parsley, oregano, garlic, and onion powder
fresh mint — optional (but so tasty!)

Most meatball recipes contain breadcrumbs but here in these greek feta meatballs I’ve just added egg as a binding ingredient keeping these gluten free. These could also be dairy free if you omitted the feta.

Optional steps:

I love adding fresh mint to these greek feta meatballs because it adds a bright, summery flavor! If you don’t have any on hand, these will still taste great but it definitely is a fun addition! If you are swapping fresh herbs for all these dried herbs use about 2-3 tbsp of chopped fresh herbs.

Another step I’ve taken is adding roasted garlic. Now, I’m not always that prepared and have a whole roasted garlic head on hand but oh my goodness, it is flavor explosion in your mouth. If you want to take this recipe up a step, do yourself a favor and roast up some garlic and you won’t regret it. You can use a lot more roasted garlic than fresh because it caramelizes and loses it’s poignancy. If you want to use fresh minced garlic add 1 tbsp per this recipe. You can do the same and swap out onion powder for 3 tbsp fresh diced onions (make sure that are very finely diced!)

I love keeping a big box of mixed greens on hand for the week and a few veggies to top of the salad with. Our go-to’s are tomatoes, red onions and cucumbers 🙂 Go figure, we love greek salads around here! You really can’t go wrong with salad toppings & most of the time I just use what I have in the fridge. I also love adding a pile of roasted veggies like cauliflower or steamed baby zucchini to my salads!