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 chopped Greek salad on the side!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
- Cheesy Meatball Bake
- Teriyaki Meatballs
- Meatball and Farro Soup
- Mexican Meatball Soup
- Buffalo Turkey Meatballs
Greek Meatballs Video
Greek Meatballs with Lemon Dill Rice
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.
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!
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. 🙂
Thanks for reporting back, what a great story! You totally made my day, hope you can find more recipes to make with him 🙂
I’m praying for your precious son!
Any suggestions for when you can’t find arborio?
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!
Would quinoa work as a substitute for the rice?
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!
This was a delicious dish and preparation was exactly as you described. Thank you!
I love the Greek spin you put on the dish. Looks so tasty!
Will ground turkey work as well? Also, I’m gluten free. Can I leave out the breadcrumbs?
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.
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!
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!
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! =)
So glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Can you made this with a ground lamb and beef combo? Just wondering before I try.
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!
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.
I’m making this tonight for my daughter and husband… Do you think any other vegetable would work instead of zucchini?
You could use all tomatoes instead of zucchini or you could substitute broccoli that’s been lightly steamed in the microwave. Hope that helps!
Ok thanks so much!
Just made this tonight – quite a few little changes, but the idea / base was the same – delicious!! Such a nice flavor change from our usual meals.
So glad that you liked it, thanks for reporting back!
Beautiful looking dish! Can’t wait to make it! I do also love this rice!
I adore all Greek flavors and foods! l.o.v.e. this!! Saving and sharing! 😉
SO loving this! My husband is kinda like your daughters – he’d be happy with spaghetti and meatballs every day, too. Will have to try this recipe and see if he’ll be open to more variety 😀
Great recipe! Those beautiful meatballs look like they would be perfect with the rice.
Love, love, love this recipe! Stunning photos and such an amazing flavor idea. This is how I make arborio rice all the time now, too. Risotto is so much better from the oven – and easier. Pinned!
Your photos are sooooo pretty! What a bright, colorful dinner for a dreary mid-winter evening!
meatballs are always a hit in my house too! and I love a great one pot meal
Wow does this every look delicious and I love that it is a one pot meal. My daughter would happily eat meatballs every night for dinner.
What a delicious one pot meal! This is my favorite kind of cooking and eating–comfort food, one big dish, colorful…. Well done!