Stuffed Grape Leaves
This Stuffed Grape Leaves recipe has ground beef, lemon, herbs, and other delicious ingredients for a great addition to any appetizer platter!
Every time I make stuffed grape leaves I hope that I will finally grow tired of them.
Like any “fill as you go” item (e.g. asian dumplings or pesto zucchini bites), you have to roll these dolmades one by one, which makes them a bit tedious and time consuming to make.
But despite being a slightly high maintenance recipe, I can never stop making these lemony stuffed grape leaves because they’re too darned good.
TOO DARNED GOOD!!!
The best solution I have come up with is to invite a few good friends over to chat away, have a drink, and knock out these stuffed grape leaves together. It works pretty well.
If you’ve never had stuffed grape leaves before, the appearance is just a little off-putting, isn’t it?
I will be the first to admit that. The first time I was offered one, I thought “ehhh…what is that?!” but when I closed my eyes and took a bite, I was hooked.
When talking about stuffed grape leaves, it’s totally appropriate to use the word “flavor explosion,” because that’s what these are.
Each bite is lemony, filled with aromatic herbs like dill and fresh parsley, with meat, rice, and nuts too. Oh, and saffron…and onion…
Lots of good things in this hearty filling!
Place little scoops of filling onto each grape leaf, and roll it up just like a burrito by bringing up the bottom, folding in the sides, and rolling.
Voila!
Nestle all of your stuffed grape leaves together tightly in a pot, then pour freshly squeezed lemon juice all over them.
Simmering the stuffed grape leaves in the lemon really balances out the potential heaviness of the meat and rice. The herbs and lemon really make these dolmades great!
You can serve the stuffed grape leaves warm or cold…I personally love them warm! You can throw a few olives on the plate too. Enjoy!
Stuffed Grape Leaves Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb jar of grape leaves rinsed and drained
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pine nuts
- 1/2 cup packed chopped dill
- zest of 1 lemon
- about 20 threads of saffron no need to count it exactly
- 1 lb 90/10 ground beef
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
- 1 cup rice + 2 cups water
- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- salt
Instructions
- Boil the grape leaves for 5 minutes, then drain. This softens the grape leaves and make them easier to roll.
- Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium heat, add the onions with 1/4 tsp of salt, and cook for 10 minutes to soften. Add the walnuts, dill, lemon zest, saffron, and stir it in. Bump the heat up to medium high, and add the beef with 1/4 tsp salt. Cook the beef for 5-8 minutes until fully browned and cooked through. Add the chopped parsley, rice + water, and another 1/4 tsp of salt. Cover the pot with a lid and cook for about 20 minutes until the water has been absorbed. The rice should be al dente but not completely cooked. Remove the pot from the heat.
- Place a spoonful of filling into each grape leaf, and roll it up by bringing up the bottom, folding over the sides, and rolling it like a burrito. Place the stuffed grape leaf in the bottom of a pot. Repeat with the remaining filling and pack the grape leaves snugly together in a single layer. If your stuffed grape leaves must overflow into a second layer, that’s fine, just try to keep them tightly together so they don’t roll open during the final cooking. Pour over the freshly squeezed lemon juice and simmer on low heat, covered, for 30 minutes. You’re done with cooking! Note that if you taste a dolma right now, it will taste extremely lemony. This lemon flavor will dissipate in the next hour or so, so let the dolmas sit in the fridge for a few hours before eating. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
31 Comments on “Stuffed Grape Leaves”
I am also from the Middle East and I make dolmas. I think it is necessary to add dry mint to the rice mixture. Mints adds a nice flavor. Also, in the bottom of the cooking pot, we put any untilized or torn grape leaves and a chopped tomatoes to prevent burning of dolmas, and put few peeled whole garlic cloves on top of the dolmas while cooking. To prevent the dolmas from unrolling during cooking, I cover the top layer with a small china plate, or another pot cover, put it directly on the stuffed dolmas, then add the lemon and other broth or water, and then the cover of the cooking pan or pot. These are few tips that helps.
I also chose to use a combination of ground lamb meat as well as ground beef in this recipe. In addition I added about a teaspoon of nutmeg as well.
I have never made these before, though I love them. I am currently cooking your recipe…only quam I have is that you are not specific enough on the temperatures at which to cook everything. Once you add the rice you should definitely down the heat or everything will stick to the bottom of the pot and evaporate the water very quickly. I added a bit more saffron, as well as mint to the recipe. Instead of water I used beef and chicken stock. This is a very basic explanation of the true potential of this dish, I will let everyone know how it turns out.
This recipe is the bomb.
Awesome!!
Hi there Joanne.I just saw this recipe and since this food is from my country I thought to tell you a little of our way of making Dolme(that’s how we call it.You should pronounce the e in the end like ea in dead).First if you try the Persian rice it will have a better taste and aroma,second,about saffron!As you may know the best saffron is from Iran and it has a much more beautiful color too,and you should powder it first to let it really give its flavor and color and then you should add a pinch of powdered saffron to a little bit very hot steaming water and cover the glass or cup with a cloth and let it sit for 15 mins or so and then add 2 or so spoon fulls of rice(bring some water in a pot to boil and then dump the Persian rice in water and let it boil till the center is chew able not hard and not soft and the rinse it and then mix with saffron and other ingredients)to the saffron and water mixture and mix and then add the mixture to the whole rice and other ingredients and mix very well,there are other things too but that will make this too long.This was the Iranian way of making it,I don’t know about how others make it.
Very cool comment Maryam, thanks for sharing this with us!
I’m so embarrassed to be Greek and to have never tried making dolmades!!! I eat them like popcorn, however! So delicious! You make it look effortless!
LOL I can’t blame you at all. I’m half Korean and I don’t know a whole lot about Korean food…just a little bit. I wish I knew more! One day I will have to ask my mom to teach me more.
I’ve never had stuffed grape leaves before – I am definitely intrigued 🙂 Your pictures are just gorgeous!
Wow, these actually look really good! I’ve seen stuffed grape leaves before, and just like you said, I was a little off-put by their appearance. But after learning what was inside…mmmm. It just sounds too good!!
Also, I have a grape vine at my house that produces huge grape leaves. I know that grape leaves used in recipes like this usually just come from a jar, so any suggestions on how I might be able to use the fresh?
Hi Myrtle, I believe that you can use fresh grape leaves in a similar way, by boiling them before rolling. However, I would do a google search just to confirm how to use fresh grape leaves. Pretty cool you’ve got access to some!
We brine our grape leaves to make our own.
So cool!
Gorgeous color and photos!
I’m wondering: Would this recipe benefit from some goat or feta cheese? Either in the filling before you roll them or crumbled on top before serving?
FYI: I agree on the tedium… I get it every time I make rumaki.
Hi John, I say go for it! It sounds like you’re intrigued by those two cheeses so it’s certainly worth a try. Someone was even telling me just now on Facebook that they are going to try a brie stuffed dolma rubbed with garlic paste, then BBQed. So many possibilities! PS I had to google rumaki…I ate those all the time when I was growing up and had no idea it was called rumaki! Now I know =)
I don’t know if I would add. Just eat with slivers of feta or crumbled on the salad. We usually just throw the dolmades on top of our salad with olives, red onion, romaine…whatever sounds good. And don’t forget to make the avgolemono sauce to dip or drizzle. (lemon flavored sauce.
Also we only make rice filled, not meat.
This is one of my favorite Greek treats! Never thought about making my own. Awesome recipe!
I know, I always used to buy them from the store but I got tired of paying a fortune for them LOL. They’re so easy to make yourself =)
stuffed grape leaves are one of my favorite things! I hope you will share this post at my hop tomorrow xo
Thanks Katherine! I will try to stop by =)
I SOOO want to try making these, but I have no idea where to get grape leaves! Anyone?
Hi Jennifer, what grocery stores do you have near you? I have found jarred grape leaves at Whole Foods and Wegmans (haven’t looked at other stores). Normally it is in a specialty section.
There is a Wegman’s near me, as well as Harris Teeter. I guess I will look in the International aisle. Thanks!
Hi there Joanne, I think you and I were on the same wavelength stuffing leaves. I love your recipe and pouring over the fresh lemon juice before cooking them sounds like a delicious idea. I have to catch up on all your video’s. How many have you made so far? Take care, BAM
Hey Bam! How have you been? I think I have around 50 videos total on my Youtube channel but a lot of them are from a while ago. I’m doing one every week and a half these days. I’d like to do more but not enough time lately lol. That’s life isn’t it! haha.