If you’d told me 10 years ago that I’d be writing a blog post about Kibbeh Nayyeh I would have laughed; I didn’t like this dish in the past simply because it has raw meat, and despite the fact that it’s very famous in Lebanon. And I assume that it’s natural for anyone who isn’t familiar with this dish to wonder a bit about the consumption of raw meat… but I’d say you gotta give it a chance. To me, I think being away from Lebanon for a while and the authentic food nostalgia that kicked in made me reconsider my options when I went back to visit one time. My taste buds gave Kibbe Nayyeh another chance and it won, big time! I see it today as such a creative and carefully crafted gourmet dish that is part and parcel of a full fledged Lebanese Mezza.
Kibbe Nayyeh stands for “raw Kibbe”, Kibbe being the patties made from ground meat, burghul (cracked weat) and spices. We’ve featured a Grilled Kibbe Recipe on our food blog in the past and the recipe for Kibbe Nayyeh isn’t that much different.
Advice: it goes without saying that consumption of raw meat may cause a health hazard especially for pregnant women.
If you eat this dish out make sure the restaurant is clean and they know what they’re doing. And as an advice from our mother, try as much as you can to use goat leg meat for this recipe. It tastes much better, and it’s usually cleaner than other types of meat. Also if you must use beef due to unavailability of goat, try as much as possible to get organic and humanely raised beef in order to minimize the chances of contamination. A final advice is to freeze the meat for 2 weeks in advance in order to age it, and to help eliminating any typical raw meat contamination. And it just occured to me, mom must have prepared Kibbeh Nayyeh several hundreds times in her lifetime so she got it down pretty well.
Recipe: Lebanese Raw Kibbe – Kibbeh Nayyeh
Summary: Learn How to Make Raw Kibbe Nayyeh Like a Pro. This recipe is an Authentic and Traditional Version of the Lebanese Kibbe Nayyeh (spicy raw ground meat).
Raw Kibbeh (Nayyeh) Ingredients (4 servings)
- 1 lb of lean goat leg meat (no fat), frozen for 2 weeks prior
- 1/2 cup of fine Burghul (cracked wheat)
- 1 small white onion
- 1/3 green/bell pepper (optional, but preferred)
- 20 leaves green mint
- 10 leaves of green Marjoram (Mardakoush) (optional, but preferred)
- 1/2 teaspoon of 7-spices
- 1/2 teaspoon of Cayenne pepper
- 2/3 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- High quality olive oil
- Optional sides of greens, including green onions, white onions, radish, mint, pickled chilli pepper etc…
Kibbeh Nayyeh Preparation Method
- Freeze the meat for 2 weeks if possible, in order to age it and to help eliminating any typical raw meat contamination. When ready to prepare the dish, place the frozen meat in the fridge for 2-3 hours to thaw it half way.
- When the meat is halfway thawed, place it in a food processor along with about 5 cubes of ice, 1/5 teaspoon of ground cinnamon (no more) and spin it for about 3-5 minutes until it becomes very fine. Important: stop the food processor every 1 minute or so and feel the temperature of the meat and make sure it’s not warming up otherwise its color and taste would change. If you feel that it’s warming up, add a bit more ice or 1/4 cup of icy water and spin again.
- Place the Burghul in a small bowl and rinse it with cold water, then squeeze it to get rid of as much water as possible. Place it aside.
- Put the green pepper, mint, marjoram, onion, salt, cayenne pepper and 7-spices in the food processor and mix them well.
- Place the ground meat in a large bowl, add the wet Burghul and the spice mix, and mix it well with your hands for a few minutes to make sure that all ingredients have well infused in one another. While mixing it, you can wet your hands every now and then in bowl of icy water that has a tiny bit of ground cinnamon in it.
Serving And Presenting the Kibbeh Nayyeh
- Kibbe Nayyeh needs to be served cold, so you need to keep the dish in the fridge until serving time.
- When ready, make the Kibbe mix into balls the size of a baseball and line them up along your serving dish.
- Spread the kibbe on the dish with your hands or spoon, until it’s no more than 3/4 inch thick. Make some patterns on it if you wish.
- Add tons of high quality olive oil on it.
- Serve with optional sides including: mint, radish, green peppers, green chilli peppers, hot peppers, green onions, white onions etc.
- Kibbe Nayyeh can be eaten with a fork or wrapped in pita bread.
We hope you enjoyed this recipe, and you now learned how to make Kibbe Nayyeh like a pro 
We’d love to get your feedback and comments on it.
Preparation time: 1 hour(s) 20 minute(s)
Cooking time: 40 minute(s)
Diet tags: Raw
Number of servings (yield): 4
Culinary tradition: Middle Eastern
Copyright © Mama’s Lebanese Kitchen.
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Mmmmmmmm…I like Kibbe Nayyeh a lot. In Türkiye, we use called it “Çiğ Köfte- Raw Kofta”. We don’t use a food processor to make it, we kneat.When we serve it, we make small balls.
I have to say the same thing happened to me. When I grew up, and moved away, now everything I used to hate I love. I never minded the raw meat, it was more the mix of spices in kibbeh. My mom just made me some last week
I still will eat Sawda Niyyeh only in Lebanon. Never looks appetizing here in the the US.
oh wow.. Sawda Nayyeh and Lahmeh Nayyeh are something I haven’t gotten myself to eat yet.. but Kibbeh Nayyeh is awesome! Maybe in a few more years
Love Lahmeh Nayyeh, but what is Sawda?
Hi Leesa – Sawda is liver. If it’s from local/organic meat (mostly goat or lamb) it can be eaten raw with some salt. I have never dared to have it raw though, I like it fried/sauteed with lemon juice, salt and oil.
Wow! My cousin and I were debating about the raw stuff. We both love it!
You must be mind readers, I think you have given me the little bit of confidence I needed to push me over the edge. I will let you know how it comes out.
Thanks, Howard
Hello,
I first tried kibbeh nayyeh in Lebanon in my late 20′s and it was love at first sight (bite). Since then there isn’t a week gone by without having it at a Lebanese restaurant here in Cyprus.
While in Lebanon I also tried and loved raw liver with raw pieces of fat on the side. Does anyone know the name of this dish so I can order it next time at the restaurant?
Just a question Mama: In your Kibbe Nayyeh recipe you use goat meat. I don’t think I ever had it made with this meat. I believe most, if not all, of what I ate were mad using lamb meat. I just came back from Beirut after spending 3 weeks there and I believe I had kibbe nayyeh at least 5 times.
My question really is: Why goat meat? Can beef be used? If I can’t find goat meat, what else can I use?
Thanks you.
Tony
Hi Tony – Our experience is that Lamb tends to have a distinct flavor that comes across as too “meaty” in Kibbeh Nayyeh. We personally like it better with goat meat, we think it’s cleaner, and it’s also smoother. However it’s just a preference. We’ve had Kibbeh nayyeh made in the past with lamb, and also with beef and they were alright. I guess the spices and ingredients help covering up.
With beef you gotta be a bit more careful with the meat and ensure that it’s clean and of high quality because they tend to feed cows more “junk” than other cattle.. ie some cows are fed a diet that contains dried/crushed bones… try to get local, grass fed/pasture raised and organic if possible if you are to pick beef. And don’t forget to age it in the freezer for a couple of weeks before using it. Aging makes the meat tender and helps exterminating bacterial contamination.
I married into a Lebanese family, and my mother-in-law makes “raw kibbe” @ all family get-togethers. She makes hers from ground sirloin (MUST be VERY VERY lean). She also DOES freeze hers for two weeks before making the dish, to, as you say, kill all bacteria. I thought I would gag when I first heard of this dish. Now, I can tell you that it is, without a doubt, my ABSOLUTE favorite thing to eat!!! Another added “benefit” I’ve personally had with raw kibbe: I have colon problems and can almost never keep food in me w/any regularity. However, I have found that both sushi and raw kibbe MOST definitely are THE two best things in this world that I can eat w/ NEVER any bad repercussions to my colon, which I do get from ALL other foods!!!
Hi Cylena – At one time Raw Kibbe was a no-no to me however something happened and I started liking it. Have you ever tried it made with fresh lean goat meat instead of sirloin? It’s even smoother with goat meat. I’m glad you’ve found health benefits in it to, I wasn’t personally aware of it.
I just found your website tonight! This raw kibbe was one of my first foods as a baby. (!) My grandparents fed it to me when I was about 6 months old. It is definitely one of my favorites and love it when my uncle makes it at Christmas time. In our family, we buy the highest quality steaks, cube them and then grind the meat ourselves. I remember as a child watching my grandma (who immigrated from Lebanon) grind the meat using the huge metal grinder attached to her table. She would then use cookie cutters to shape the kibbe for all of us children. Now, we always have a pan of baked kibbe along side of the raw for those that prefer it cooked.
oh wow raw kibbeh at 6months this is indoctrination
Yes, the best kind of indoctrination! Mmmmmmmmm.
both of my paternal grandparents were from Lebanon, grew up watching my grandmother make the stuffed cabbage, baba ganouch, and baked and raw kibbe. She also made hummus, but I never liked much except for the stuffed cabbage rolls, and raw kibbe, those were my favorites.. now when I make the raw kibbe, I always freeze my meat (always beef) and after it thaws, I place it in a dish with some vinegar that I use to coat the meat to kill any bacteria, then I rinse it with cold water and grind.. also my grandmother used the all spice, cinnamon, onions, and mint which she would grind in with the meat.. she used to make all of her dishes EVERY Sunday an I never understood how much she toiled untill I tried to do the cabbage rolls and kibbe in one day and please for give my spelling errors!
Hi Norma – thank you for your comment and I’m glad you’re still in touch with the Lebanese food culture. Does the meat flavor change at all when you soak it in vinegar?
My grandmother never used the vinegar and I didn’t either until e-coli became so prevalent… I don’t taste any difference and neither did my father so I’d have to say no, it doesn’t change the flavor, just make sure you rinse it well.. it’s only to kill any germs or bacteria, not to marinate or tenderize. and I don’t soak it in the vinegar just more or less bathe it then rinse.
Thank you for the details on vinegar Norma I’ll definitely keep that in mind. In our home we avoid making this with beef just because of the mess out there in our beef products. If we get hold of some fresh/local/organic goat meat we then use it for Kibbeh Nayyeh. We noticed that goat meat even gives a better flavor.. as for beef I just worry too much about eating it raw. I’m glad though that your method of rinsing with vinegar does not leave a vinegar taste on the raw meat.. very cool idea thank you again for sharing!