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Greek Meatballs with Lemon Dill Rice

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This recipe for one pot Greek meatballs with lemon dill rice includes savory Greek spiced beef meatballs, creamy Arborio rice and vegetables, all cooked together in a single pot!

Meatballs are great on their own, but they’re even better combined with rice, herbs and fresh veggies. This is a meal that the whole family will enjoy. Serve as is or with a salad on the side!

This recipe for one pot greek meatballs with lemon dill rice includes savory greek spiced beef meatballs, creamy arborio rice and vegetables, all cooked together in a single pot! #VillageHarvestInspired

My girls’ favorite meal right now is spaghetti and meatballs, it’s only of the only dinners I can make where I know all three are guaranteed to eat it. That being said, there’s only so often you can eat the same thing without getting tired of it, you know what I mean? The kids love it but my husband and I would prefer more variety. I decided to take their beloved meatballs and turn them into something a little different to see how it would go over. I made this one pot Greek meatballs with lemon dill rice and crossed my fingers for success.

This recipe for one pot greek meatballs with lemon dill rice includes savory greek spiced beef meatballs, creamy arborio rice and vegetables, all cooked together in a single pot! #VillageHarvestInspired

This recipe for one pot greek meatballs with lemon dill rice includes savory greek spiced beef meatballs, creamy arborio rice and vegetables, all cooked together in a single pot! #VillageHarvestInspired

Much to my delight, everyone in my family declared this recipe to be a winner and it’s now become part of our regular menu rotation! It’s the perfect warm winter dinner for a cold day.

How do you make Greek meatballs?

This recipe starts with a simple beef meatball that’s flavored with lemon, garlic and oregano. The greek meatballs are browned, combined with chicken broth and Arborio rice, then the whole pot goes into the oven to bake. I added some zucchini and cherry tomatoes towards the end of the baking time and finished the dish off with some fresh lemon and dill.

This recipe for one pot greek meatballs with lemon dill rice includes savory greek spiced beef meatballs, creamy arborio rice and vegetables, all cooked together in a single pot! #VillageHarvestInspired

I prefer to use Village Harvest Arborio rice in my cooking. Their Arborio rice is “superfino” grade which is the highest quality available and it comes directly from Italy. The rice is perfect in this recipe because when combined with the chicken broth it bakes up to a creamy consistency. Village Harvest rice and grain products are great choices for staying on track with healthier eating choices as all of their products are natural and unprocessed, which is something I always look for when I’m feeding my family.  Their products are also full of antioxidants, fiber and vitamins, more attributes that are important to me.

This recipe for one pot greek meatballs with lemon dill rice includes savory greek spiced beef meatballs, creamy arborio rice and vegetables, all cooked together in a single pot! #VillageHarvestInspired

I prefer to use an 85-90% lean ground beef for this recipe. If you go any leaner the meatballs may get dry and if you do a higher fat content it might make the final dish greasy. If you don’t have dill on hand other great herb choices would be parsley or even fresh oregano.

This recipe for one pot greek meatballs with lemon dill rice includes savory greek spiced beef meatballs, creamy arborio rice and vegetables, all cooked together in a single pot! #VillageHarvestInspired

I love that this greek meatball with lemon dill rice recipe is mostly hands off. The only real preparation time is rolling and browning the meatballs, once it’s in the oven you’re free to do other things. And who can argue with only having one pot to clean at the end?

More meatball recipes

Greek Meatballs Video


This recipe for one pot greek meatballs with lemon dill rice includes savory greek spiced beef meatballs, creamy arborio rice and vegetables, all cooked together in a single pot! #VillageHarvestInspired
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4.79 from 19 votes

Greek Meatballs with Lemon Dill Rice

This recipe for one pot Greek meatballs with lemon dill rice includes savory greek spiced beef meatballs, creamy Arborio rice and vegetables, all cooked together in a single pot!
Course Main Course
Cuisine Greek
Keyword greek meatballs
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 4 servings
Calories 721kcal
Author Dinner at the Zoo

Ingredients

  • For the meatballs:
  • 1 1/4 pounds ground beef (90% lean is best for this recipe)
  • 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 clove of garlic minced
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 1/2 cups Village Harvest Arborio Rice
  • 3 1/2 cups chicken broth
  • kosher salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 zucchini quartered lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
  • 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes halved
  • 1/4 cup fresh dill minced
  • 1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Instructions

  • For the meatballs: Combine all of the meatball ingredients along with 1 tablespoon of water in a bowl. Mix until thoroughly combined. Shape the meat mixture into balls that are 2-3 inches in diameter.
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Place the meatballs in the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side or until browned.
  • Pour the chicken broth and rice into the pan, along with 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover the pan and place it in the oven.
  • Bake for 25 minutes or until the rice has absorbed all the liquid.
  • Place the zucchini into the pan, cover and return to the oven for an additional 5 minutes or until zucchini has cooked through.
  • Remove the pan from the oven. Stir the lemon juice and dill into the rice and place the cherry tomatoes on top. Serve immediately.

Nutrition

Calories: 721kcal | Carbohydrates: 66g | Protein: 34g | Fat: 34g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 141mg | Potassium: 973mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g

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Comments

    • I actually don’t think you’d have to make any adjustments because quinoa cooks for about the same time as rice!

      Reply


  2. I double the meat portion of the recipe and used 50% ground lamb, 50% hamburger. My family LOVES this recipe!

    Reply


  5. This was delicious! I, too, couldn’t find Arborio Rice at my local grocery store, so I used the orzo that was in my pantry. I had to adjust liquid and cook time, but it was quite good! I also added fresh mint from my garden instead of the dried oregano (which I thought I had in my pantry, but was mistaken) and it worked really well with the lemon and the dill. I will definitely try this again!

    Reply

    • I also wanted to add that I cooked this on low on my cook top and it worked great! Just needed to stir every now and again to prevent ingredients from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

      Reply


  7. Recipe came in the Yummly email yesterday, and I had all ingredients on hand to make. I did it as written except had to use dried dill (smaller amount) because I didn’t have fresh. This was very tasty, the meatballs were amazing and simple, and the rice cooked without burning (which was my concern.) I served with greek yogurt, and the hubs added feta cheese.
    I must make one comment though: 1T of lemon juice in almost 2 cups of rice does not make for lemon rice, as the name suggests. I ended up adding the juice of the entire lemon I had zested for the meatballs after it was plated and felt it was still wanting. Next time, I would add more than 1T of lemon juice and put it in with the chicken stock while cooking the rice. I think it would help make this more lemon-dill rice.

    Reply

    • Typically brown rice takes about 40 minutes to cook, so you could try upping the bake time to 40 minutes and add more time if the rice hasn’t cooked through yet.

      Reply


  9. We love this recipe and I’ve made it several times. I’m just wondering if it’s possible to make it without using the oven (100+ degree weather here right now!). Do you think it can just simmer on the stove for the same amount of time? I would imagine that would create more bottom rice and possibly actually burn the bottom. Or possibly use a slow cooker? Thanks!

    Reply

    • You could try it on the stove, the reason I use the oven is because it tends to cook more evenly. I would keep it on low heat on the stovetop.

      Reply

  10. I just wanted to pop by to say how much my family loves this meal. My toddlers ask me for second helpings because it’s so good. I love that it’s easy to make too! Thanks for sharing it.

    Reply

  11. This was delicious! I omitted the egg due to my daughter’s allergy and the meatballs still turned out well! This will be in the regular dinner rotation at our house! I did need to bake mine for quite a bit longer to the get the rice I used to absorb all the liquid, but it was worth the wait!

    Reply

  14. I’m making this dish right now…smells fabulous! I’m wondering if I was supposed to drain the fat after browning the meatballs? The recipe didn’t say to, so I didn’t. However, there was a fair amount of fat and now I’m wondering?! THANKS!

    Reply

    • I’m sorry, just seeing this now! I typically use a 90% lean ground beef and there isn’t a lot of fat in the pan, I would drain anything more than a few teaspoons.

      Reply

      • Thank you! I will do that next time. They were still fantastic! I used grass fed beef…gave me more than a few teaspoons of fat though. I also garnished with a bit of Tzatziki…delicious!!

        Reply

    • It’s 4 servings! I don’t know the nutritional info but can try to look it up later when I get to a computer, I typically just input the data into a calorie counter online like MyFitnessPal

      Reply


  20. Made this for my family, but did the meatballs as egg-free (used milk as a binder instead) and it turned out great!! I love risotto and risotto that you don’t have to ‘work for’ is even better. Love the lemon flavor in the meatballs and the creamy goodness of the risotto. Thank you so much!!

    Reply


  21. This was delicious! We added a little feta cheese at the end too which I highly recommend. My fiance said it was one of the best things I have ever made for him, so thank you so much for this recipe!

    Reply


  22. This dish turned out great! My son has recently been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and has not been supported at all by his school. Yesterday was a particularly rough day – he was feeling a lot of weight on his shoulders and was completely overwhelmed, sad and distraught. Then we worked together to make this recipe and we talked the whole time about measuring, why you put breadcrumbs in, used an egg from our own chickens, ventured outside with a flashlight to pick fresh oregano and parsley from our garden ( I substituted parsley for dill) came back and created this dish together laughing and talking the whole time. the meal was perfect and we needed the together time creating something wonderful. 🙂 Looking forward to making many more of your dishes. 🙂

    Reply

    • Any rice labeled short grain will work, my grocery store sells pearl rice and calrose rice which are inexpensive and usually in the same place as the regular long grain rice. Hope that helps!

      Reply

    • I have never tried it that way, but if you wanted to give it a shot I’d recommend using 1.5 cups of quinoa, 2 cups of liquid and reduce the cook time to 20 minutes. Hope that helps!

      Reply

    • Yes, ground turkey will work if you use the dark meat type, turkey breast will dry out. I’m not sure if it would work without breadcrumbs, you could try toasting a piece of gluten free bread and grinding it up in the food processor to make your own gluten free breadcrumbs.

      Reply

  28. This looks wonderful. I know the recipe states that the meatballs should be 2-3″ in diameter- about how many meatballs should I end up with? I’m pretty bad at estimating unless I have a quantity to shoot for, usually. Thanks in advance for your time and for the recipe!

    Reply

    • Hi Paula, you want 10-12 meatballs, just make sure that they’re at least the size of a golf ball; that way they won’t dry out. Hope that helps!

      Reply


      • Thank you so much for your reply. I made the recipe this past week, with one (accidental) substitution- 1 can of beef broth and 1 can of chicken broth (gotta love pantry mishaps!) and the entire family enjoyed it. I will definitely be making it again soon- thank you very much for the recipe! =)

        Reply

    • I would say yes, with the caveat that lamb tends to have a higher fat content than 90% lean beef, so I would drain all of the fat from the pan after browning the meatballs so that the finished dish is not greasy. Hope that helps!

      Reply


      • Thank you for the tip. I used a store-bought meatloaf mixture of beef, veal and lamb. I took your advice and drained the excess fat before combining the other ingredients and it turned out just great. Thank you again for the good advice.

        Reply

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