Jamie Oliver’s Meatball Kebabs
As seen on Jamie's £1 Wonders on Channel 4, this easy pork meatball kebab recipe comes in at just 90p per portion; perfect for a quick and affordable midweek meal.
Introduction
Bigging up frozen spinach and store-cupboard ingredients, these flavour-packed kebabs feel like a proper treat, but they won’t blow the budget. Use this as a principle recipe – mixing up the flavours as you see fit – check out my Easy Swaps for some inspiration.
This recipe was featured in Jamie Oliver’s Channel 4 series, Jamie’s £1 Wonders. For more Jamie Oliver recipes, click here.
Ingredients
| 100g | stale sliced white bread |
| 250g | minced pork |
| 2 | red onions |
| 2 | mixed colour peppers |
| olive oil | |
| 1 x 400g tin of | green lentils |
| 100g | long grain rice |
| 200g | frozen leaf spinach |
| 1 heaped tsp | smoked paprika, plus extra to serve |
| 4 tbsp | natural |
Essential kit
You will need: 4 wooden skewers.
Method
Cost: 90p per serving.*
Place 4 wooden skewers into a tray of cold water to soak.
Put the bread in a shallow bowl and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of water. Leave to soak for a couple of minutes, then squeeze out any excess water. Use clean hands to scrunch the minced pork with the bread and a pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Divide into 16 pieces, then wet your hands and roll into balls.
Peel and quarter the onions, then click apart into petals. Deseed the peppers and tear or chop into 3cm chunks.
Cut the skewers down to size, so they fit snugly in your pan. Take pride in evenly threading the onion, pepper and meatballs onto each skewer (finely chopping any veg offcuts), then rub the kebabs with 1 teaspoon of olive oil.
Drizzle 1 tablespoon of oil into a large non-stick frying pan on a medium-high heat, tip in the finely chopped veg, along with the lentils, 1 tin’s worth of water and the rice. Cover and cook for 8 minutes, then stir in the spinach, cover, and cook for a further 5 minutes, or until the rice is cooked.
Meanwhile, place the kebabs in your largest non-stick frying pan on a medium-high heat and cook for 12 minutes, or until golden and cooked through, sprinkling with most of the smoked paprika when there’s 2 minutes to go.
Divide the lentils and rice between plates and top with the kebabs. Dollop over the yoghurt, add an extra pinch of smoked paprika and drizzle over a little paprika oil from the pan, to serve.
FLAVOUR BOOST Add a small grating of lemon zest or a pinch of dried spices or herbs to the meatball mixture to take them to the next level.
EASY SWAPS:
— Mix up the mince – lamb or beef would also work well. You could thread a few rashers of smoky bacon onto the kebabs, if you like.
— Swap in whatever veg you’ve already got in the fridge – whole cherry tomatoes, slices of courgette or halved mushrooms would be delicious here.
HELPFUL HINT – Roast the skewers on the middle shelf of the oven for 30 minutes, turning the skewers halfway. (At this point, you can serve up as they are, or you can switch to a high grill for another few minutes if you like your skewers more gnarly.)
ENERGY 453kcals FAT 9g SAT FAT 2.5g PROTEIN 26.5g CARBS 70.3g SUGARS 11.1g SALT 0.7g FIBRE 4.4g
*Prices correct at time of filming (January 2023).
Recipe © Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited. Photography: Jamie Oliver Ltd 2023
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