Spicy Tahini Meatballs With Pita, Cucumber and Avocado

By Ali Slagle

Spicy Tahini Meatballs With Pita, Cucumber and Avocado
Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich.
Total Time
35 minutes
Rating
4(629)
Notes
Read community notes

This sheet-pan dinner incorporates elements of koftas, fattoush and shepherd’s salad, but what ties it all together is a tahini sauce made feisty with hot sauce. Some spicy tahini sauce goes into the chicken meatballs, so they stay moist as they roast alongside torn pita, then more sauce gets drizzled over the entire dish, where its fire and creaminess is a welcome contrast to the mixture of cucumbers, avocados, mint, lime and toasted pita. Feel free to adapt the salad based on what you have; other crunchy vegetables, like snap peas or fennel, would be great, as would some chickpeas or briny feta or capers.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 3pitas, torn into roughly 1-inch pieces
  • 5tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing
  • Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
  • 3limes
  • ½cup stirred tahini
  • 1 to 2tablespoons hot sauce, plus more to taste (see Tip)
  • ½teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1pound ground chicken or turkey
  • 1pound cucumbers (preferably Japanese, Persian or mini, seedless cucumbers), cut into roughly ½-inch pieces
  • 2large avocados, cut into roughly ½-inch pieces
  • 1cup mint leaves, torn if large
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

826 calories; 62 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 35 grams monounsaturated fat; 13 grams polyunsaturated fat; 48 grams carbohydrates; 17 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 33 grams protein; 1192 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Position a rack in the bottom third of the oven and heat the oven to 425 degrees. On a parchment-lined sheet pan, toss the torn pitas with 1 tablespoon olive oil and a pinch of salt.

  2. Step 2

    Finely grate the zest of 1 lime (about 1 teaspoon). In a liquid measuring cup or small bowl, stir together the tahini, hot sauce, lime zest and cumin. At this point, you want it a tad too spicy, so add more hot sauce, if needed. Transfer ¼ cup of the spicy tahini to a large bowl, along with the ground chicken and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix with your hands to combine. Using oiled hands, form 12 meatballs (2 heaping tablespoons each) and place among the pita. (It’s OK if the pita is not in a single layer.) Roast on the bottom rack until the pita is well toasted and the chicken is cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool slightly.

  3. Step 3

    While the meatballs and pitas roast, wash and dry the large bowl. To it, add the cucumbers, avocados and a big pinch of salt. Add ¼ cup lime juice from the zested lime and another lime; stir to coat and set aside. Add water to the remaining spicy tahini until it’s pourable. Season to taste with salt. (See? Not too spicy anymore.)

  4. Step 4

    Cut the remaining lime into wedges. Add the pitas, mint and remaining ¼ cup olive oil to the cucumbers and avocado. Stir gently to combine and season to taste with salt and lime juice. Eat the salad with the meatballs, a drizzle of the tahini, lime wedges and even more hot sauce, if you like.

Tip
  • You can use any hot sauce or paste you like, from harissa to Tapatío, but avoid those with a lot of vinegar, like Frank’s or Tabasco, which could make the dish too sour on top of the lime.

Ratings

4 out of 5
629 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Adam Yeager

Easy 5 stars. Absolute banger. Bookmarked in the classics folder immediately. Ali Slagle, Melissa Clark, and Alison Roman; the holy trinity of NYT cooking.

stephanie

Used impossible meat for the meatballs, added feta and capers to the cucumber avocado salad. Yum!

David Davenport

I made the recipe as written with one exception, and it was a hit. After getting a nice, toasty crispness on the pita bread, why would you add it to the salad just to make it wet and soggy? I chose to crumbled the pita toasts right when serving, maintaining a satisfying dry crunch to go along with the “wet crunch” of the cukes.

Maura

Would plant based meat work as a substitute?

Kristjana

I made these meatballs last night with 93/7 ground turkey and they were a hit! instead of pita chips, I roasted a separate sheet pan with chunks of sweet potato and cauliflower seasoned with cumin, salt, and pepper, made a pot of jasmine rice, and served the warmed “dressing” as a sauce. My three teenaged boys inhaled it and my picky-eater husband even finished his plate. ;)

rk notes

Yum. Both My avocados were bad so improvised added a few handfuls of spinach and some feta. Sooooo yum

RK

Also used sriracha as the hot sauce

Fran

I used corn tortillas instead of pita for a gluten free version of this recipe and it worked well.

Joyce

I added a bit of the tahini sauce to the avocado cucumber salad in addition to the lime, salt, and a few tbs olive oil, and used cilantro rather than mint since they didn't have it at the store. And as I indicated in a response to another reader's note, I added ground rice krispies, minced garlic, and minced onions to the meatballs. Mmmmm! I will be making this again!!!

Rrose Selavy

This was fantastic, and I’m adding it to my regular rotation right now. The meatballs were good but could use a little more seasoning next time. But the meal would be also perfectly delicious without them. I served over spinach to make a heartier salad and also had some Trader Joe’s frozen falafel that I threw in the oven at the same time as the pita and meatballs. I bought some feta to add, but forgot it. This is a good base for experimentation.

lisa

I’ve made most of the meatballs in NYT cooking with Beyond or Impossible. They’ve all been great. There are some Kay Chun Korean meatballs that were great with Beyond. Plan to make this recipe that way as well.

Nic W

love this. easy, tasty, and fast. used chili crunch for hot sauce. tasted great!

Kathleen G.

maybe add some soaked wheat bulgur on a one cup to 1 lb ground meat ratio?

joyce

Every time I make a new recipe from Ali Slagle I think to myself oh no this is weird or it’s not going to work. And I’m wrong every time. I made this with plant based meat and it was just super fun and delicious.

Lena P

Unbelievably good!!!! Super easy and fast! I love Ali slagle!! Added some baby tomatoes and spinach because we had them, used sriracha as the hot sauce base. Needed a few extra min to cook all the way through - more like 13/14 min for me.

Val

Super easy, and really flavorful! Tip: if you think you’ll have leftovers, store the pita toast separately because they get soggy in the cucumber avocado mix overnight.

Scott D.

Very good, awesome easy meal. As others have suggested, I recommend keeping the pita out of the salad until serving. The crunch of the pita was my favorite part, so keeping it separate is especially important if you’re meal prepping

Lisa

Delicious and surprising! Used what I had - 2.5 Korean Gochujang paste for the hot sauce and arugula/spinach mix in place of the mint - and loved it. Added a couple T bread crumbs to meatballs because the consistency was too loose.

Captain Connolly!

If you need a welcome contrast to something as delicious and healthy as avocado cucumber mint and lime than you might be suffering from jaded consumerism. It does sound like a delicious addition thiugh

citymombt

yes, keep pita separate from salad -- beware if cooking with convection - pita will be ready before meatballs and get very brown by 10 min at 415 - amt of tahini sauce is enough for an army once u thin it...2 of us almost ate the amt given for 4 people...yes, very good. Yes, the spicy sauce really needs to be overdone in order to read the spice at the end of the day. We were dipping the meatballs in it...used less lime juice-- very good.

Katie

Is this really 826 calories per serving - 4 meatballs?

Vanessa

Excellent weeknight dinner. We are spice hounds and used two tbsp spicy harissa a tsp or so of dare-level hot sauce which blended out to a pleasant heat. Made all the meatballs and sauce and half the salad to serve two for dinner leftovers for lunch. Will make again!

Rae

This was delicious. Made the chips out of a thin tortilla (since that’s what I had on hand). They were light and crunchy and so good. Added feta. Had chips on the side as to not get them soggy being mixed in. Needed to cook the meatballs longer than 12 mins to get to temp.

Kate

Made only meatballs and served with Spicy Smashed Cumber with lime, honey, yogurt sauce. Great! Pita now on my grocery list.

Scott S

Outstanding and super easy, could eat this once a month. Tahini IN the meatball is brilliant.

Pilgrim

Fantastic!

rk notes

Even if have avocado skip. And look to make 14-16 meatballs

Gabrielle

Didn’t have any pita, so used pita chips instead. Crumbled the toasted chips over the cucumber/ avocado salad. My 16 year old loved them!

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