Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Chelo Kabab Koobideh
Grilled skewers of seasoned minced meat with saffron buttered rice and grilled tomato, Iran's national dish.
Iranian · medium · serves 4
prep 30 min · cook 20 min
~1108 cal · 58g protein · 129g carbs · 37g fat · 4g fiber · 5g sugars · 16g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Chelo kabab is the national dish of Iran, and koobideh, minced-meat kabab, is its most everyday and beloved form, the centrepiece of Friday lunches and kababi restaurants across the country. The name koobideh comes from the word for pounded, describing how the meat is worked.
Minced lamb or beef is kneaded with grated onion until sticky, then pressed onto wide flat skewers and grilled over charcoal so the outside chars while the inside stays juicy. It is served over chelo, fluffy long-grain rice buttered and coloured with and often crowned with a nub of butter and a raw egg yolk, alongside a grilled tomato and a dusting of .
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
1 1/2 lb ground lamb or beef
1 egg (to bind)
1 onion, grated and drained
3 cups basmati rice
1 pinch , steeped
3 tbsp butter (for the rice)
4 tomatoes and
Instructions
1
Knead the meat with the grated onion, egg, and salt until very sticky, then rest cold.
✎ Chef’s note
Knead the meat hard and chill it. Working it until tacky is what lets the koobideh cling to the skewer instead of falling off.
2
Press the meat firmly onto wide flat skewers and grill over high heat, turning once.
3
Cook the rice, then fold saffron and butter through part of it for the topping.
4
Serve the kababs over the saffron rice with a grilled tomato and a dusting of sumac.
Iranian national dish.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Tehran. Ghormeh sabzi is less purely Persian than its reputation suggests. The dried limes are limoo omani, developed in Oman, and ghormeh is a borrowed Ottoman Turkish word for an old method of preserving meat. What is not negotiable is dried fenugreek leaf, without which it becomes a different stew entirely.
🗺️
Iran. Sourness in Persian cooking usually comes dried. Limoo amani, limes boiled in brine and left to dry until they are hollow and black, are pierced and dropped whole into stews, and the same dried lime runs through Gulf cooking further south. The year turns on Nowruz, when the spring table calls for sabzi polo mahi, herb rice with fish.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Iran
Ghormeh SabziIran’s beloved herb stew: mountains of sautéed greens, kidney beans, dried limes, and lamb over saffron rice.
AdasiA warming Persian lentil breakfast stew spiced with turmeric, cumin, and cinnamon.
Ash-e ReshtehOne of Iran’s best-loved thick soups: legumes and a mountain of herbs simmered with reshteh noodles, finished with tangy kashk, sizzled mint, and caramelized onion.
Browse all Iran recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Grill or barbecue.
Storing it: Best straight off the heat. Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and reheat well in a hot oven rather than the microwave.
Make it a Iran meal
SekanjabinDrink
Sholeh ZardDessert
Ash-e ReshtehDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Chelo Kabab Koobideh?
Grilled skewers of seasoned minced meat with saffron buttered rice and grilled tomato, Iran's national dish.
Where does Chelo Kabab Koobideh come from?
Chelo Kabab Koobideh is a Iranian dish from Tehran, Iran.
Can Chelo Kabab Koobideh be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Chelo Kabab Koobideh recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Chelo Kabab Koobideh safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Chelo Kabab Koobideh take to make?
About 50 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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