By Farideh Sadeghin
Published March 7, 2024
- Total Time
- 1¼ hours
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- 4(244)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Crisp on the outside and juicy in the middle, Iranian kotlets are made from mixing grated potatoes and onions with ground beef or lamb and spices, then forming them into patties before frying. Every Persian household has its own signature spice blend, or advieh, and it traditionally includes a variety of spices such as cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, rose petals and cloves. Typically eaten for lunch or taken along on picnics, kotlets are great hot or at room temperature; they can be served right away with steamed basmati rice or saved for later, tucked into a sandwich with tomatoes, pickles and herbs.
or to save this recipe.
Print Options
Include recipe photo
Advertisem*nt
Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 1large Yukon Gold potato (about 12 ounces), peeled
- 1medium yellow onion, peeled
- 1pound ground beef
- 1large egg
- 2tablespoons finely chopped parsley
- 1teaspoon ground cumin
- 1teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼teaspoon ground cloves
- Salt
- ½cup plain bread crumbs
- 1cup canola oil
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
908 calories; 79 grams fat; 13 grams saturated fat; 2 grams trans fat; 45 grams monounsaturated fat; 16 grams polyunsaturated fat; 25 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 25 grams protein; 721 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered by
Preparation
Step
1
Coarsely grate the potato on a box grater set directly on your cutting board then transfer the grated potato to a large bowl.
Step
See Also15 Easy Apple Dessert Recipes Full of the Flavor of Fall10 Traditional Persian RecipesThe 25 BEST Tapas RecipesHomemade Beef Tapa Filipino Recipe - Cooking Frog2
Next, grate the onion onto the board. Squeeze out and discard all of the juices from the grated onion, then add the grated onion to the potatoes in the bowl along with the beef, egg, parsley, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves; season with 1 to 2 teaspoons salt and mix to combine. (If you’d like to check the salt level or seasonings for this or other raw meat mixtures, you can pull off a pinch of the mixture and pan-fry it in a little bit of oil in a skillet until cooked through so you can taste and adjust as desired.)
Step
3
Using your hands, form the mixture into 8 equal balls, each about 2 ½ inches wide, then flatten them into 4-inch-long ovals.
Step
4
Set the bread crumbs in a shallow bowl, then dredge the kotlets in them until coated all over. Transfer to a sheet tray and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Step
5
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Working in batches, cook the kotlets, flipping once, until golden on both sides, 5 to 6 minutes total. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and season with salt. Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold from the fridge.
Ratings
4
out of 5
244
user ratings
Your rating
or to rate this recipe.
Have you cooked this?
or to mark this recipe as cooked.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
Isfahan Joseph
It's strange to add both potatoes and bread crumbs. My mom's recipe only uses potatoes, so one can increase the amount of potato instead of bread crumbs. Also, it is preferred to half boil the potatoes (with skin on), let cool, peel then grate. This makes a more uniform mixture with the ground beef and grated onions. The use of aromatic spices is also a question of taste. I simply prefer salt. pepper, turmeric, ground cumin and ground coriander.
DG
The bread crumbs are for coating (to achieve the fried crunch surface) not mixing into the batter. The potatos are for mixing into the batter, not coating.
T. Wiley
You can also lightly coat the patties with some olive oil and cook in baking sheets in the oven in case you don't want to fry in a pan.
Dr. George Polson
My mom made beef cutlets - which has ground beef, potatoes, some shallots and many spices. It is a delightful S. Indian snack and many variations have appeared. I have learned to bake the cutlets or air fry them (spray-coated with oil) instead of frying them in veg. oil (as my mom did). They are served with "Sallas" - a delectable chopped tomato and onion mix seeped in vinegar and salt with a sprinkling of lemon juice and mixed with a jalapeno pepper cut into small pieces as a colorful garnish!
V
Wow, the flavours were amazing! I used this recipe’s measurements and ingredients (except slightly more potato and correspondingly increased spices, used ground bison instead of lamb or beef because that’s what I had, and used flour instead of breadcrumbs), but then followed the techniques in Nader Mehravari’s recipe on Serious Eats. I strongly recommend reading his full article there. These turned out so fluffy and flavourful yet super crunchy and crisp on the outside! Delicious & easy!
Ramin_NJ
The recipe is spot on. When I make kotlet, first I cook the potatoes then mix them with the other ingredients. The breadcrumbs could be substitute with light coating of flour.
Miss Ophelia Rose
Try equal amounts of potato and meat. This is how my mom and I have always made kotlet, and it turns out much better. Cook your potatoes first, mash them and mix with the meat.
T. Wiley
Bread crumbs help to make it a little more crispy, but if you want to keep it gluten free or whatever you can use chickpea flower as well.
Mark Lynn
If you omit the spices these meat patties remind me of Polish kotlety. I added dill and garlic. They're delicious served with wedges of charred cabbage massaged with a healthy portion of ranch dressing.
Eric
Split these into 16 balls, not 8, and slightly increase the breadcrumbs to coat the increased surface area. The recipe as written forms enormous kotlets that cook very unevenly. Splitting into smaller pieces also gives you more bites with that crispy breadcrumb taste.
California Cook
These were very tasty. I normally don't fry anything in a cup of oil. However, I'm glad I tried it. Super easy to make using a food processor instead of box grater. I dont own a box grater! I also modified the spice mix slightly as cinnamon/clove in meat is outside my families taste palate. Served with TJ garlic spread and salad. I didn't chill them, and they came our fine. Quick weeknight dinner.
T. Wiley
Definitely, just brush with some olive oil and maybe turn over halfway through and brush again to get an even coating.
eric
Nice. Add some cayenne.
Scott
You don't squeeze/drain the potato?
Name WM
I used GF bread crumbs, sprayed them with oil and cooked in the air fryer at 400° for 12 minutes. They were great!
Susan
Can’t speak to authenticity but these were delicious. Made mostly as written with 1 tsp salt but boiled the Yukon golds then grated. Made 12 patties. Forgot the parsley so sprinkled it on at the end.
Brushjl
With ramadan on my mind, great Persian dish.
JE
Used hot Italian sausage for the meat component because we had no ground beef. Delicious!
Griph
Recipe was great - use a potato ricer to dewater the taters & onion. Made a garlic yogurt sauce and served over yellow rice with peas.
I Love to Cook
I used ground turkey and it worked fine but I added a bit more potato as it as a tad looser. Otherwise followed the recipe except omitted cloves which aren't a family favorite. They came out perfectly and tasted great. I served with some yogurt and dill and it was very tasty.
MC Majumdar
Brush with oil, and working in batches, Air fry at 350 degrees (preheat first) for 10 minutes, pausing at 6 minutes to give them a little shake. I think I would make about 12 kotlets with this recipe. As written they are just too big.
Coolio
Hands should not touch food. Use utensils to fashion patties, etc..
Scott
Every health code that I'm aware of only prohibits bare hand contact with ready-to-serve food. If it's to be cooked after, contact with (washed) bare hands is allowed.
theeatingemporium
This was good - recipe calls for 1-2 tsp salt and we found it salty with just 1 tsp, even though I used a very large potato. I would scale down to 3/4 tsp. Also did not need anything like a whole cup of oil.
Ferdinand the Impostor
I was curious if this could be made with ground turkey or ground chicken since my spouse doesn't eat red meat?
J
Has anyone made with chicken or turkey or a vegetarian combo? Thx
Eric
Split these into 16 balls, not 8, and slightly increase the breadcrumbs to coat the increased surface area. The recipe as written forms enormous kotlets that cook very unevenly. Splitting into smaller pieces also gives you more bites with that crispy breadcrumb taste.
PJ
How would one go about air frying these?
Private notes are only visible to you.
