By Candice Walker on February 20, 2025 (Last updated February 18, 2025) This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
Koufteh are Persian meat and rice dumplings (like porcupine meatballs), and this version with a tomato sauce base is the one my mom always made for us growing up. As the meatballs steam and simmer in the sauce, the fat from the ground meat releases into the tomato broth, infusing it with a meaty savoriness. The rice in the koufteh will soak up that tomato broth to make this dish even richer and more tasty.
This tomato sauce base is not a sweet, marinara-style sauce. Instead, it’s more luxurious and fills you up in a way that feels hearty. Compared to Koufteh in broth, this is a more crowd-friendly choice, especially for kids, with a richness that makes it feel like a complete main dish rather than a soup.
🌟Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Ultimate stick-to-your-bones comfort food: This is a dish that’s filling and warming without being too heavy or overwhelming. It’s deeply satisfying in the way only a slow-simmered dumpling soup can be. If you love this, you’ll also love my khoresh bademjan or khoresh gheymeh.
Tender meatballs: The meat cooks to perfection in the broth to give you tender, fall-apart porcupine meatballs.
Light, savory tomato base: Unlike more herb-heavy Persian stews like Ghormeh Sabzi, which some people may find overwhelming, this one simmers gently in a light tomato-based broth, allowing the flavors of the meat, rice, and onions to meld into a meal that’s just the perfect amount of comforting.
🧾 Ingredients in This Recipe
Tomato Broth
Beef broth – I like to use this to add extra flavor to the broth, but leave it out if I’m using homemade broth like chicken stock. You can also use better than bouillon, or vegetable broth for extra flavor.
Tomato sauce and tomato paste – We use both tomato sauce and tomato paste to create a balanced, flavorful stew. Tomato sauce provides a smooth, tangy base that blends easily, and the tomato paste adds richness and a slight thickening effect.
Aromatic vegetables (yellow onion, carrots, tomato, celery) –Aromatics are ingredients that release fragrant flavors when cooked. These form the foundation of our tomato broth and become lovely and tender when cooked in the liquid.
Meatballs
Ground beef or lamb – This recipe will work well with beef, lamb, turkey, or chicken. My favorite is lamb, and the traditional choice for this dish is beef.
Basmati rice – Long-grain white basmati rice is preferred for this recipe, but you can substitute it with other rice as long as it isn’t a par-boiled quick-cooking rice.
Oil – any flavorless oil works great in this recipe like canola, sunflower seed, or avocado seed.
Turmeric – this recipe uses dry, ground turmeric, not fresh.
Fresh herbs – you can use parsley and cilantro, and add tarragon and/or basil if you prefer. A great shortcut is to purchase sabzi koufteh which is a pre-made herb mix especially for making koufteh.
Grated onion – This adds amazing flavor while the enzymes in the onion tenderize the meat. I use yellow onions.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
👩🍳 How to Make This Recipe
Bring the stock, tomato sauce, tomato paste, quartered onion, tomato, celery, carrots, bay leaves, salt, and pepper to a simmer.
In a large bowl, add the ground meat, grated onion with the water squeezed out, garlic, turmeric, basmati rice, parsley, cilantro, oil, salt, and pepper.
Mix the ingredients gently until they form one mass.
Once the soup is boiling, roll the meat mixture into 2-inch diameter balls and drop them into the boiling soup. Add up to half the can of water to make sure the koufteh are covered at least 3/4 of the way by the liquid.
⭐️ Pro Tip ⭐️
It’s helpful to keep your eye on the sauce so it doesn’t get too thick. If the soup level drops too low, a splash of water (just a quarter to a half cup at a time) will bring it back to the right consistency. You want the broth to thicken just enough to coat the dumplings while keeping an eye on it so it doesn’t reduce too much.
Bring the liquid back to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 1 hour.
🥡 Serving Suggestions
This is already a complete, tasty meal but it does pair nicely with a side salad—Shirazi salad is a fantastic, fresh option. You can also serve Koufteh with some bread like noon barbari if you want something extra.
🍍More Persian Soups and Stews
Slow-simmered dishes infuse the most incredible flavor. Here are some that will inspire your next cooking adventure.
½cupparsleyfinely chopped, ~1/2 bunch, leaves and small stems only
¼cupcilantrofinely chopped, ~1/2 bunch, leaves and stems ok.
¼cupoilcanola or other flavorless oil
½teaspoonsaltor more, to taste
¼teaspoonpepperor more, to taste
Instructions
Bring the stock, tomato sauce, tomato paste, quartered onion, tomato, celery, carrots, bay leaves, salt, and pepper to a simmer.
1 can tomato sauce, 10 oz. beef broth, 1 yellow onion, 2 carrots, 1 tomato, 3 stalks celery, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/4 cup tomato paste
Mix the ground meat, grated onion with the water squeezed out, garlic, turmeric, basmati rice, parsley, cilantro, oil, salt, & pepper in a bowl. Set aside.
1 lb. ground beef, 1 yellow onion, 1/2 tsp ground turmeric, 1/2 cup basmati rice, 1/2 cup parsley, 1/4 cup cilantro, 2 bay leaves, 1/4 cup oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Once the water is boiling, roll the beef mixture into 2-inch diameter balls and drop into the boiling soup. Add up to half the can of water to make sure the koufteh are covered at least 3/4 of the way by the liquid. Bring back to boil, reduce to simmer, cover, and cook for 1 hour.
Notes
You can use any combination of parsley, cilantro, tarragon, and basil. A great shortcut is to purchase sabzi koufteh, a dried herb mix made especially for this dish.
Did you try this recipe?I’d love to hear what you think! Leave a Review to let us know how it came out, if you have a successful substitution or variation, or anything else.
