🥣 Kibbeh Labanieh (Kibbeh in Yogurt)
Kibbeh labanieh is a warm, tangy dish of small kibbeh balls made from bulgur and lamb, simmered in a cooked yogurt sauce. A little rice is cooked into the yogurt to thicken it and keep it from splitting, and the sauce is finished with garlic crushed with dried mint. The result is soft, creamy and gently sour, eaten from a bowl with a spoon, often alongside plain rice.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 150 g fine bulgur
- 300 g lean ground lamb
- 1 kg plain yogurt
- 50 g short-grain rice
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp dried mint
- 1 tsp salt
Method
- Soak bulgur 10 minutes, squeeze dry and knead with the lamb and half the salt into a smooth dough; roll into small balls.
- Simmer the rice in 300 ml water until very soft.
- Whisk the yogurt smooth, add it to the rice and bring slowly to a simmer, stirring constantly in one direction.
- Add the kibbeh balls and simmer gently 15–20 minutes until cooked through.
- Crush garlic with mint and the remaining salt, stir into the sauce for the last 2 minutes and serve warm.
How to make it lighter
- Use low-fat yogurt for the sauce; it thickens well with the rice.
- Make smaller balls with more bulgur and less lamb.
- Serve it on its own as a soup-like bowl instead of with an extra plate of rice.
History
Cooking meat in yogurt, known as laban, is a long-standing Levantine tradition, and kibbeh labanieh is a classic home dish in Lebanon and Syria.
Count it in one photo
Point your camera at the table — Me Nutrition recognises Kibbeh Labanieh (Kibbeh in Yogurt) and every other dish, with calories and macros for each. Ate only half? Slide it.
Download on the App StoreSimilar dishes
Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →