Jamie Oliver Lamb Meatballs

Jamie Oliver’s lamb meatballs are pepper-studded lamb ovals pan-fried with charred red peppers, served on a lemony tzatziki and mint sauce. It’s a five-ingredient Greek-inspired mezze or starter that serves 4 in 25 minutes.

In 5 Ingredients Mediterranean (2023) he ties it to the meatballs he saw all over Thessaloniki. There’s no breadcrumb or egg binder, just seasoned lamb studded with chopped roasted pepper and lemon zest, so it stays pure, juicy and full of flavour.

The clever shortcut is turning a tub of tzatziki into a sauce. Blitzed with lemon juice and mint into a smooth, herby cream, it becomes the bed the meatballs sit on, doing the work of a made-from-scratch yoghurt sauce in seconds.

Jamie Oliver Lamb Meatballs

Recipe by Pinch Perfect

5.0 from 1 vote

Course: Sides, Dinner, LunchCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

Calories

241

kcal

Total time

25

minutes

Jamie’s five-ingredient mezze from 5 Ingredients Mediterranean: pepper-studded lamb meatballs pan-fried with charred red peppers, on a blitzed lemon, mint and tzatziki sauce. Gluten-free, serves four.

Ingredients

• 1 lemon

• 1 x 200g tub of tzatziki

• 1 bunch of mint (30g)

• ½ x 460g jar of roasted red peppers

• 400g higher-welfare minced lamb

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Directions

• Make the sauce:Finely grate the lemon zest and set aside. Squeeze half the lemon juice into a blender, add the tzatziki and most of the mint leaves, and whiz to a smooth sauce. Season and set aside.
• Mix the meatballs:Drain and finely chop one pepper, then put it in a bowl with half the lemon zest, the lamb, salt and plenty of pepper. Scrunch and mix well, then divide into 8 and squeeze into long, rustic oval meatballs.
• Fry:Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a large non-stick frying pan on high heat. Dot in the meatballs and cook for 10 minutes, turning occasionally, until golden and cooked through.
• Char the peppers:Drain and slice the remaining peppers and add to the pan, in and around the meatballs, for the last 2 minutes, turning halfway.
• Serve:Divide the sauce between plates, top with the meatballs and peppers, and scatter over the remaining lemon zest and mint. Serve with lemon wedges and a hunk of bread.

Notes

• Diet: Gluten-free

FAQs

What binds the meatballs without egg or breadcrumbs?

Nothing but the lamb itself, and that’s deliberate. Minced lamb is fatty and sticky enough to hold together when scrunched firmly, so you don’t need egg or breadcrumbs to bind it. Squeezing the mixture well is what compacts it into meatballs that stay together in the pan.

That also keeps them pure and juicy, tasting of lamb, pepper and lemon rather than filler. It makes the dish naturally gluten-free too. Shape them into long ovals rather than round balls, as Jamie does, which gives more surface area to brown.

Why put chopped roasted pepper inside the meatballs?

Mixing finely chopped jarred roasted pepper straight into the lamb keeps the meatballs moist and adds little pockets of sweet, smoky flavour throughout, not just alongside. The pepper’s moisture stops the lean-ish mixture drying out as it fries.

The other half of the peppers is charred in the pan at the end, so you get roasted pepper in two forms: soft and hidden inside, and warm and slightly caramelised on top. Using jarred roasted peppers is the shortcut that skips roasting and peeling your own.

How do I turn tzatziki into the sauce?

Just blitz it. A tub of shop-bought tzatziki, whizzed in a blender with lemon juice and most of the mint, becomes a smooth, pourable, herby sauce far quicker than making a yoghurt sauce from scratch. Season it well, since a bland sauce lets the plate down.

It’s the same clever, make-a-sauce-in-seconds trick Jamie uses across the book. Spoon it onto the plates as a bed for the hot meatballs, so the cool, tangy sauce contrasts the rich lamb. Keep a few mint leaves back to scatter fresh on top.

How do I keep the meatballs juicy and cooked through?

Don’t overwork the mixture, since scrunching just enough to bind keeps them tender, while overmixing makes them dense. Then cook them on a high heat so they get a good golden crust, turning occasionally, for about 10 minutes until cooked through.

Letting them rest for a minute or two after frying keeps the juices in. Lamb is best just cooked through, not dried out. This is a lighter cousin of Jamie’s hearty gnarly lamb madras traybake, which slow-cooks a whole shoulder instead.

Is it a starter or a main, and what do I serve with it?

Jamie pitches it as a mezze dish or starter, and it shines as part of a spread of small plates. As a light main for four, warm pita or flatbread and a chopped salad round it out, and bread for mopping the sauce is essential.

It suits a Mediterranean table alongside other quick plates like Jamie’s feta filo turnovers or an olives greek salad. Fluffy couscous or rice makes it more filling.

Can I make it ahead, or use different mince?

You can shape the meatballs and blitz the sauce a few hours ahead and keep both chilled, then fry to order, since they’re best hot from the pan. The sauce actually benefits from a short rest for the flavours to meld.

Minced beef, or a beef-and-lamb mix, works if you prefer a milder flavour, though you lose some of the lamb’s richness. Minced chicken or turkey makes a leaner version, but add a little olive oil to the mix so it doesn’t dry out. Keep the pepper and lemon zest either way.