Ground Middle Eastern Beef Bowl

by Sabrina Snyder

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14 Comments

5 from 6 votes
6 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
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Ground Middle Eastern Beef Bowl is a tasty, easy dinner made in just 25 minutes. Tasty beef seasoned with traditional spices served over rice.

With all the flavor of our delicious, popular Middle Eastern Kofta Meatballs, this easy new Main Dish Recipe is sure to be another family favorite for weeknights and special occasions!

Sabrina’s Ground Middle Eastern Beef Bowl Recipe

Filled with warm spices and served over rice, these tasty Ground Middle Eastern Beef Bowls are a great light weeknight dinner or meal-prep recipe for lunches. You can easily adjust how you serve the ground beef to meet most dietary needs. It’s naturally gluten free and low carb but so flavorful you won’t believe it’s a healthy main dish. This recipe makes international cooking easy for any level of cook. No need for fancy spices or trips to a specialty market.

Recipe Card

Dinner, then Dessert

Ground Middle Eastern Beef Bowl Recipe

Ground Middle Eastern Beef Bowl is a tasty, easy dinner made in just 25 minutes. Tasty beef seasoned with traditional spices served over rice.
Yield 6 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine American, Middle Eastern
Author Sabrina Snyder
beef, rice, tomatoes, and hummus in a bowl with pita bread on the side
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Ingredients
 

  • 2 pounds ground beef (85/15)
  • 1 large yellow onion , diced
  • 4 cloves garlic , minced
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons ground coriander
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried mint leaves (optional)
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Instructions

  • Add ground beef, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper to a large skillet on medium high heat.
  • Break beef apart as you cook it until browned, about 8-10 minutes.
  • In a small cup add the water, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, allspice, cayenne, mint leaves, and ginger and stir well to combine.
  • Drain excess fat then add in the spices mixed into the water.
  • Stir well and cook until the water has evaporated.
  • Serve over rice.

Nutrition

Calories: 346kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 29g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 103mg | Sodium: 686mg | Potassium: 545mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 122IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 56mg | Iron: 4mg

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About this Recipe

This recipe uses ground beef instead of lamb, along with common pantry seasonings. This is a family-friendly dish that introduces you to Middle Eastern flavors in a budget-friendly, accessible way. You’ll love the way the seasonings in this recipe all work together. Each one plays a part, so make sure to use them all. The mint is optional but we highly recommend it for the way it balances everything. If you do use mint, make sure to use spearmint because peppermint is way too strong for savory dishes.

Chef’s Note: More Authentic Taste

For more authentic-tasting Ground Middle Eastern Beef Bowls, you can substitute all the spices, except the cumin, with either Za’atar spice blend or Baharat spice blend. Plus there are more delicious Middle Eastern seasonings to add in the Variations section of this post.

Can this be made ahead of time?

You can make these ahead of time for a healthy meal prep. Just portion out with the rice and either refrigerate up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months. You can microwave individual portions straight from frozen, no need to thaw overnight.

What to Pair With

These Ground Middle Eastern Beef Bowls are served with White Rice that you can have in the rice cooker while you are preparing the meat. It’s also delicious with Israeli couscous or Mashed Potatoes. Serve over Hummus for a traditional mezze (appetizer) and Greek Salad on the side. No matter how you serve these bowls, be sure to top with easy Middle Eastern Pickled Turnips!

How to Store

  • Serve: Ground Middle Eastern Beef Bowls can be at room temperature for up to 2 hours before they need to be stored.
  • Store: Store beef and rice together or separately in airtight containers. Refrigerate for up to 3 days.
  • Freeze: Once cooled, individually portion in sealed containers and freeze for up to 3 months. If freezing all of it in one large container, thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.

Variations

  • Meat: You can substitute ground lamb for a more traditional dish, or do a mixture of half lamb and half beef. For a lighter dish, use ground turkey or ground chicken.
  • Veggies: Add cooked veggies to your bowl for a more complete meal. Use veggies like sautéed spinach or kale, roasted carrots and zucchini, diced sweet potatoes, or fresh tomato wedges.
  • Seasonings: Some other traditional Middle Eastern seasonings to use are fresh parsley, red Harissa paste, paprika, red pepper flakes, turmeric, pine nuts, or sultana raisins.
  • Za’atar Spice & Baharat Spice: Add these to the ground beef for a more authentic-tasting Middle Eastern dish.
  • Toppings: Top your kebab bowls with feta cheese, kalamata olives, green olives, tabouli, plain Greek yogurt, or the cucumber yogurt sauce below.

Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

  • Ingredients: 2 cups plain Greek yogurt, ⅓ cup chopped English or Persian cucumber, 1 grated garlic clove, ½ tablespoon lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste.
  • Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until combined, but chunks of cucumber remain.
  • Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days in an airtight container.

More Worldly Recipes to Try!

Ground Beef Bowl Pin image

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  2. So incredibly delicious. And it’s even better as leftovers!

    I would certainly say the mint is NOT optional. There’s a definite ‘flavor hole’ without it.

    Adding some canned chickpeas is straight fire!

    Reply

  5. This recipe looks really awesome. Nice that you are posting some Greek recipes too. We are trying to learn how to make some Mediterranean recipes like Fadi’s, which is a Greek restaurant in Houston, Texas. And, now, it is spreading to the bigger cities in Texas (like Dallas, Plano, etc.). Also, happy new year. I hope this year is better for all of us.

    Reply

    2. YUMMY, made half the recipe since it was just the two of us. Served with basmati rice, hummus and fresh tomatoes from the garden (roasted in a little olive oil). My husband kept saying “that smells so good” as I was cooking. Love to hear that.

      Reply

      2. I know I’ve commented on this recipe before. But it’s a favorite of ours and deserves another post!
        It is delicious!!!

        Reply

  6. Common fare in our home however the coriander, cinnamon, and allspice we replace with chinese 5 spice as coriander and allspice are not available here. We use 5 spice in any recipe calling for anise, allspice, or any other exotic spices we cannot get.

    Reply