İzmir Köfte - Turkish One Pan Meatballs with Crispy Oven Potatoes

İzmir Köfte is one of my favourite Turkish comfort food dishes, and this version happens to be made in one pan too.

The main difference from the traditional recipe is that instead of frying the potatoes, I bake them in the oven while preparing the meatballs. The result is still wonderfully crisp, but with much less hands-on cooking.

The meatballs are pan fried briefly, just enough to brown them, and in the same pan I cook garlic in butter before adding either grated fresh tomatoes or chopped tomatoes from a tin. Once the sauce has reduced slightly, the meatballs go back into the pan together with the crispy oven potatoes. Everything is topped with sivri biber chillies and baked until bubbling and lightly charred around the edges.

When I shared this dish on my Instagram stories yesterday, my brother messaged me saying that Mum had made the exact same dish that day. I suppose some meals really do live in all our kitchens at the same time.

Ingredients

Meatballs

500g lamb mince

1 small onion, grated

40g stale bread, soaked and squeezed dry

40g parsley, finely chopped

1 egg

1½ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp allspice

¼ tsp pul biber

1 tsp cumin

Potato Chips

500g Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and cut into 6–8 wedges per potato

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

¼ teaspoon salt, plus more for boiling water

Tomato Sauce

1 tbsp butter

3 cloves garlic, grated

1 tin chopped tomatoes or 3 grated tomatoes

½ cup water

Salt, to taste

4–5 sivri biber chillies

Method

Meatballs

1. Mix all the meatball ingredients together well and knead briefly until fully combined. Shape into oval meatballs.

2. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and pan fry the meatballs briefly, just until browned on the outside. They do not need to be fully cooked at this stage. Remove from the pan and set aside.

   
   

Potato Chips

3. Preheat the oven to 220°C fan (240°C conventional / 425°F).

4. Fill a large saucepan with plenty of salted water and bring to a boil. Add the potato wedges and cook for 2–3 minutes, just until they begin to soften at the edges.

5. Drain well, then let the potatoes steam dry for about 5 minutes.

6. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper. Transfer the potatoes to the tray, then add the sunflower oil and salt. Toss gently to coat, then spread them out in a single, non-overlapping layer.

7. Roast for 25 minutes, stirring halfway through, until golden brown and crisp.

   
   

Tomato Sauce

8. In the same pan used for the meatballs, melt the butter over medium heat and cook the garlic briefly until fragrant.

9. Add the chopped tomatoes or grated fresh tomatoes and cook for a few minutes until slightly reduced. Add the water and season with salt to taste.

10. Place the meatballs back into the pan along with the crispy potato wedges. Nestle the potatoes between the meatballs and top with the sivri biber chillies.

11. Bake at 200°C fan for 15 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through and the chillies are lightly charred.