These cilantro meatballs are tender, juicy and full of flavor. Made with fresh cilantro leaves, a touch of ginger and garlic, which add a nice kick. And, a squeeze of lemon adds some zest while turmeric adds a golden sheen. These cilantro meatballs make perfect appetizers or sides. But, can be easily transformed into a curry to make the main course when served with rice.

Table of Content
I am a huge fan of cilantro. Being Indian by origin, I grew up with cilantro in almost all my dishes. I love it so much I find it hard to believe there are many who can't stand the sight or smell of cilantro. Ah well, If you are here you probably like it too.
Cilantro has that smell of freshness, don't you think? And when cooked, it has this rich thick texture that really adds to the sauce. I also love the combination of cilantro and coconut, as well as cilantro with tomatoes.
My kids have grown up eating cilantro since they were babies. But for Ziv, it was new in the beginning. He has, over time, begun to like and enjoy it too.

My Aadi and Rhea are huge fans of meatballs. In fact, one way to get my Rhea to eat meat, is meatballs. Her dietitian highly recommends she eats meats but she herself is a very veggie kinda person. Her favorite is my Mongolian Meatballs. Aadi's favorite is the Turkey Meatballs Pasta. As a family, we all love the Meatball Curry very much.
I'm a mortar and pestle kinda girl and I do a lot of my blending in this little baby. And yet, you can use the food processor or blender as well.
Ingredients and substitutes
- Cilantro - Now this is the star of the show so yes, please use fresh cilantro. Having said that if you prefer you can also use fresh Parsley. Depending on how you like your herbs you can go a little less or more. If you reduce the number of herbs you will just have less thickness in the sauce. But the taste will still be good.
- Ginger and garlic - Garlic makes all things better - doesn't it? Well, ginger adds that earthy pungent flavor that there but not so as strong either.
- Semolina or bread crumbs - This adds body and helps keep the meatballs nice and juicy making sure you bite into a juicy piece of meat.
- Turmeric - You can omit the turmeric but I think it not just enhances the green color and is also a great antioxidant.

Step by step instructions
Grind the marinade/sauce
- Place the cilantro, ginger, garlic in a blender (or mortar and pestle) and blend until smooth.

Season the meatballs
- Add the semolina or breadcrumbs to the meat.
- Followed by just 1 tablespoon of the cilantro marinade.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Divide the meat and foam balls. Do not squish the meat too much and the meatballs will be dense.

Cook the sauce
- Add oil to a sauté pan or fry pan.
- Followed by the cilantro marinade/sauce.
- Cook on medium for 3 to 4 minutes - until fragrant.
- Add the turmeric and coriander.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Add lemon juice and ¼ cup water.
- Let come to a slight boil reduce heat.
- Carefully distribute the meatballs in the pan so they are not touching each other.
- Shake the pan slightly so the balls sink into the marinade.
- Turn the heat down to a medium low.
- Let cook for 10 minutes turning once or twice so they cook evenly.
- If necessary add a few tablespoon of water to help cook.
- Do not cover the pan as you will lose the pretty green color of the cilantro.
- Once the meatballs are cooked thru (about 10 to 12 minutes), remove from heat.
- Garnish with more fresh chopped cilantro and serve.

Want to transform this into a main course with gravy over rice?
- When the meatballs are almost done, mix ½ cup coconut milk, or ½ cup plain yogurt with ½ cup water - stir well so there are no lumps.
- Add to the meatballs and bring to a boil once more.
- Adjust seasoning - add salt or pepper as needed.
- Garnish and serve over steaming hot rice.
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Printable Recipe
Quick and Easy Cilantro Meatballs in 15 mins
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Conversions Used
1 lb = 453 grams, 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 stick = 113g, 1 tbsp= 15 ml, 1 tsp= 5 ml,
Ingredients
Ingredients
- ½ lb (250 g) Beef mince
- 1 Garlic (large)
- ¼ inch Ginger
- ½ cup Cilantro (chopped)
- 2 tablespoon Semolina (or dry bread crumbs)
- 2 tablespoon Oil
- 1 teaspoon Coriander
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric
- 1 tablespoon Lemon
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
Grind the Marinade/Sauce
- Place the cilantro, ginger, garlic in a blender (or mortar and Pestle) and blend until smooth
Season the Meatballs
- Add the semolina or breadcrumbs to the meat
- Followed by just 1 tablespoon of the cilantro marinade
- Season with salt and pepper
- Divide the meat and foam balls. Do not squish the meat too much and the meatballs will be dense.
Cook the Sauce
- Add oil to a saute pan or fry pan
- Followed by the cilantro marinade/sauce
- Cook on medium for 3 to 4 minutes - until fragrant.
- Add the turmeric and coriander
- Season with salt and pepper
- Add lemon juice and ¼ cup water
- Let come to a slight boil reduce heat.
- Carefully distribute the meatballs in the pan so they are not touching each other.
- Shake the pan slightly so the balls sink into the marinade.
- Turn the heat down to a medium low
- Let cook for 10 minutes turning once or twice so they cook evenly.
- If necessary add a few tablespoon of water to help cook.
- Do not cover the pan as you will lose the pretty green color of the cilantro.
- Once the meatballs are cooked thru (about 10 to 12 minutes) remove from heat
- Garnish with more fresh chopped cilantro and serve.
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
Marguerite
Excellent !!
I substituted. Coriander powder for cumin
Veena Azmanov
Thanks. Happy you enjoyed it
Madeline
Made this last week.. Yum! Thanks
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Madeline. So happy you have success with this recipe and loved it. Thanks for coming back to leave this feedback. Have a wonderful week.
Daliah Mueller
Shalom Veena,
I've tried several of your recipes already, am a big fan of your lamb masala and your kidney bean curry, just to name a few. Today we tried these meatballs and the kidney bean patties- both delicious as well! But unfortunately there was hardly any sauce with the meatballs even though I exactly followed your recipe. No idea, what went wrong.... Flavor with all the spices and cilantro was great though! Quickly mixed together some joghurt with lemon juice and dried nana to have a dip for the patties and balls.
Do you have any suggestions what I might improve next time to have more sauce?
Shavua tov from Germany,
Daliah
Veena Azmanov
Hey Daliah,
So happy to hear you are enjoying my recipe. We love the lamb masala very much too. And my favorite is the kidney beans.
yes, as you can see from the pictures, this is actually a side dish so the gravy or sauce is not much. But, you can add more water, coconut milk or sour cream to make a thick gravy at the end and give it one last boil. This will give a nice creamy sauce as well as add a lighter flavor to the sauce which will work great with rice or bread.
I have edited the post so you should see an option to make it with gravy.
Thank you so much for the feedback. Have a wonderful week.
Swathi
That green chutney meat balls looks delicious. I too like to use cilantro some time even in space of parsley. These perfect recipe even we can make ahead.
Veena Azmanov
You said it Swathi. Green Chutney minus the coconut it is. Love cilantro more than parsley for sure.
Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife
These meatballs sound so tasty! I love the spices you use, and I'm a big fan of cilantro, so I know I would love this!
Veena Azmanov
They are sure very tasty Marlynn..