Moroccan Spiral Meatball Zucchini Bake

Recipe video above. I love recipes like this - everyday ingredients used in a different way to make something new and interesting! Moroccan-spiced lamb meatballs are baked in a striking spiral arrangement with zucchini and capsicum in a bubbly garlicky tomato sauce. You will be impressed at how soft the meatballs are, and how the deceptively simple tomato sauce gets so much flavour as it bakes!Serve straight from the pan with flatbreads, couscous or basmati rice.Inspired by Özlem Warren's Baked Aubergine Kebab with Meatballs from Özlem's Turkish Table.

Prep time: PT25M

Cook time: PT35M

Rating

5 stars (36 reviews)

Keywords

lamb meatballs, Moroccan Lamb Meatballs

Ingredients

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs ((use GF if needed, can substitute regular breadcrumbs))
1/2 onion (, grated with a standard box grater)
500g / 1 lb lamb mince ((ground lamb), or beef (Note 1))
1 egg
2 garlic cloves (, finely minced using a garlic crusher or knife)
1/4 cup pretty finely chopped parsley (, plus extra for garnish)
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander power
1 tsp paprika ((sweet / regular, or smoky - not spicy))
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder ((don't skip this! Magical :) ))
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ((or black pepper), tiny amount so doesn't make it spicy)
3/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
2 fat zucchinis / courgettes ((5cm/2" wide, 22cm/9" long is ideal), cut into ~20 x 1.2 cm / 0.5" thick rounds (Note 2))
1 large or 1 1/2 regular red capsicum ((bell pepper), cut into ~20 x large-ish chunks 5 x 2.5cm / 1 x 2" (Note 3))
1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (, plus extra for drizzling to bake)
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
2 garlic cloves (, crushed using garlic press)
2 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup warm tap water
1/8 tsp each salt and pepper
Plain yogurt (, thinned with a little water to make it drizzle-able)
Flatbreads (, rice(basmati recommended), couscous, mash)

Cuisine

Middle Eastern

Steps

ABBREVIATED RECIPE:
- Toss Vegetables, mix Sauce. Make meatball mixture, roll and squish 16 meatballs, wedge between zucchini rounds, tuck capsicum in. Pour over sauce, bake 35 minutes at 200°C/375°F (180°C fan).
FULL RECIPE:
- Preheat oven to 200°C/375°F (180°C fan-forced).
- Toss capsicum and zucchini with the oil, salt and pepper in a bowl, and set aside.
- Sauce - Mix the sauce ingredients in a small jug or bowl.
- Meatball mixture - Put the breadcrumbs in a bowl and grate the onion over. Toss with fingertips to wet the breadcrumbs with the onion juices. Then add remaining meatball ingredients and the Moroccan spice mix. Mix well with your hands.
- Roll & squish - Roll the mixture into 16 balls then squish slightly to 1.5cm / 0.6" thickness (~2.5 tbsp/45g each), about the size of (or slightly larger than) the zucchini rounds.
- Stand upright with a zucchini round wedged and arrange in a 26cm/10.5" round cast-iron pan (or baking dish of similar size). I do them in a ring then use the rest to fill in the middle. Arrange loosely because next we wedge the capsicum in between wherever you can. Fill the whole pan so everything holds each other up, and use as much capsicum & zucchini as you can (you might have leftover). There are NO RULES with arrangement here, make this your own delicious artwork! :)
- Pour sauce over everything, aiming to pour some over everything as best you can. Drizzle all over with about 1 tbsp olive oil.
- Bake for 35 minutes until the surface of the meatballs are nicely browned.
- Serve with flatbreads or garlic rice, being sure to spoon plenty of the delicious sauce over everything!

Nutitrion

Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 495 kcal
Carbohydrates: 10 g
Protein: 24 g
Fat: 40 g
Saturated Fat: 14 g
Trans Fat: 0.01 g
Cholesterol: 132 mg
Sodium: 736 mg
Sugar: 2 g
Unsaturated Fat: 23 g

Reviews

Jo S on 2026-08-03 (5 stars):
Loved it! Definitely will cook this again. Hubby went back for seconds 😊 served with yoghurt, hummus and flatbread.
Kirst on 2026-03-28 (5 stars):
Have cooked this twice now - absolutely delicious. Served with salad and garlic yoghurt sauce.
Steff on 2026-01-19 (5 stars):
Hello. Great recipe. Lamb is perfect, & so delicious. My only problem is so much water content from the zucchini, it makes a lot of liquid. Any suggestions? Is it better to pat zucchini dry, or reduce water in sauce ingredients? or both? Thank you
P camp on 2025-11-01 (5 stars):
Very delicious! Recommend to double the sauce or triple. And cook for about 20 min longer. I also added eggplant and put more spice in it! But pretty good with cous cous and a salad!
Julie Mansfield on 2025-10-13 (5 stars):
Hi Susanne - my son can't eat onions, so I just poured a little veggie stock over the breadcrumbs. I also added the leftover stock into the tomato sauce instead of just water. Fabulous!
Hannah M on 2025-09-30 (5 stars):
I made this exactly to the recipe except I swapped the lamb mince for beef and it was DELICIOUS! I will definitely make this again. My only qualm is that there wasn’t more of that delicious sauce!
Penny Singleton on 2025-09-29 (5 stars):
Love your recipes and I've now made the Moroccan meatballs with beef and then lamb. Both delicious...I also substituted parsley with Asian Mint...that was all I had (I'm out camping and using a Weber Q. I've recently made your Artisan bread! How easy! Made some for our fellow campers and gave them your website! God Bless Dozer. I'm a puppy power fan!
LT on 2025-09-27 (5 stars):
I love your recipes, Nagi! We eat vegan and can’t make a lot of them as written, but I always check them out for inspiration and I get lots of it. This one worked *so well* with a 1:1 Impossible meat switch. And a flax “egg” with a little mustard mixed in (I don’t think the mustard does much but I like the yellowness!). It’s on the permanent rotation now—we love it!!! Please smooch Dozer for us. 😍🥰
Gina on 2025-09-15 (5 stars):
Just made this for dinner tonight and it was so nice. It is definitely a keeper. Easy to prepare and the meatballs are so tender.
Sharon Hughes on 2025-09-15 (5 stars):
I put it together on the Sunday for Tuesday's dinner. It was perfect.
Tiana Hill on 2025-09-14 (5 stars):
Loved the flavours of this one. Served with cous cous.
Karen Gillis on 2025-09-12 (5 stars):
I made this exactly according to your simple directions and of course it turned out perfect! Thanks for a most stunning and delicious recipe!
Sandy on 2025-09-12 (5 stars):
So flavorful! I used ground chicken and yellow squash and it was excellent. Like other readers, I made it in advance - prepped it the day before, covered the cast iron skillet and kept it in the fridge overnight.
Tracy COX on 2025-09-08 (5 stars):
Sooo easy and delish!!!!!!
Christine on 2025-09-07 (5 stars):
This is really yum! I made the meatballs well ahead and had them in the freezer, so that made it a super easy for a busy (or lazy🤣) night. I sliced some mushrooms and spread them on the bottom of the dish before placing everything else on top and will do that again next time. A great recipe.
Elle on 2025-09-07 (5 stars):
Great recipe! The meatballs came out so tender and delicious. We served with hummus and pitas and we couldn’t get enough!