Kibbeh Bil Sanieh (Baked Kibbeh)

By: Mariam E.  |  April 21, 2021This post may contain affiliate links, read my disclosure policy for details

Baked Kibbeh, or Kibbeh bil Sanieh in Arabic, is a delicious Lebanese dish made with 2 layers of beef and bulgur mixture that’s stuffed with spiced ground beef sautéed with onion and pine nuts. Kibbeh is a famous recipe not only in Lebanon, but all over the Middle East.

This Kibbeh recipe is an all time favorite in many Middle Eastern homes, including ours. Growing up in a Lebanese home, baked kibbeh was one of my favorite dish. I loved having it with ketchup as well as our traditional yogurt cucumber salad, which is basically like Tzatziki sauce 

If you like Authentic Lebanese recipes, you can find many more recipes to enjoy with your family from my Lebanese Recipes collection.

What is Kibbeh?

As mentioned above, it is a Lebanese dish made in many homes all across the Middle East. Kibbeh is made from a combination of pureed beef, which is ground beef pureed until smooth and a mixture of fine bulgur and spices. There are 7 versions of Kibbeh dishes I know of. Kibbeh can be either raw, baked or fried.

• Kibbeh Balls or Kebab: which are made into oval looking ball shapes that are stuffed with sautéed ground beef and fried.
• Kibbeh Bil Sanieh: which is baked in a pan with two layers separated with sautéed ground beef. This recipe, which is considered the healthiest. This blog recipe.
• Raw Kibbeh: which is eaten raw with bread. It’s basically just pureed meat mixed with the spiced bulgur mixture.
• Arass Kibbeh: which is just like raw kibbeh but made into hamburger patty shapes and fried.
• Kibbeh B’ Labaniyeh: Which is kibbeh balls cooked in a warm yogurt sauce.
• Potato Kibbeh or Kibbet Batata: which is the spiced bulgur mixed with mashed boiled potatoes and olive oil. This version is a vegan/vegetarian kibbeh.
• Tomato Kibbeh or Kibbet Banadoura: which is spiced bulgur mixed with fresh pureed tomatoes, tomato paste, sliced green onions, and chopped fresh mint. This version is a vegan/vegetarian kibbeh.

I personally love all versions of these kibbehs. They are all mouth watering, filling and very satisfying. You can’t go wrong with which to make. My kids favorite however are Kibbeh Bil Sanieh and Kibbeh Balls. So those two are the most kid friendly.

How to make Kibbeh

I am going to split things up to make it easier for you. This is how I personally like to go about doing mine. I prep everything and then assemble the kibbeh.

Soak Bulgur

• 1-2 hours ahead, soak 1 cup of bulgur with 1.5 cups of water. The bulgur must be very soft before prepping the kibbeh.

Spiced Bulgur or Kamouneh Mix

What is Kamouneh?

Kamouni is a Middle Eastern spice mix made from cumin seeds, dry mint, 7 spice, dry basil, dry mint, cinnamon, black peppercorns, marjoram, and rose petals. You can find kibbeh spice at any Middle Eastern store near you or online on Amazon. It can be found in whole form and you grind it or buy a grinded form and save yourself an extra step. Here is a photo for reference.

• Ingredients: #1 cracked wheat bulgur, onion, small red baby bell pepper (or 1/4 red bell pepper), fresh mint, salt, fresh mint, Jalapeño pepper, Kebbeh spice, and red bell pepper powder, or paprika to add color.

• Place everything in a food processor and process until the veggie chunks are no longer visible. Transfer to a bowl and let it sit. The mixture will soften a little by the time you finish prepping the other ingredients.

Ground Beef Stuffing (or Hashweh)

• Ingredients: Onion, ground lean beef, oil, pine nuts and spices.

• Start by frying the pine nuts and set aside. Next fry the onions until translucent in color and tender, then set aside.
• Sauté the ground beef until liquid are completely gone and beef has cooked through. Then add in the spices and cooked onion. Sauté for another 2 minutes until beef has absorbed all the spices. Remove from heat and add in the pine nuts. Mix to combine with the beef.

Pureed Beef

Many people like to just puree the ground beef and the kamouneh mixture together but I like to puree the beef separately first. It’s how I learned it from my grandma and like making it this way.

• Ingredients: lean ground beef, small red bell pepper, salt.

• Puree the ingredients together in a food processor until the ground beef is nice and smooth. If your food processor is small work in 2 batches.

Mixing the beef with bulgur

• Work in two batches for this step. Use half the pureed beef with 1 cup of the spiced bulgur or kamouneh mixture, 1 cup soaked bulgur and a dash of salt. You will need to add some water to make the mixture a bit softer to spread. About 3-4 tbsps. for each half batch.

How to make Kibbeh Bil Sanieh

• First layer: Split the kibbeh mixture into 2 half portions. Grease the non stick tray with oil. Water your palm and spread the first half of the kibbeh mixture evenly on the base of the pan.
• Second layer: Add the hashweh, or ground beef mixture over the first layer.
• Third layer: Add the second half of the kibbeh mixture in portions as shown in the photos since you can’t press down to spread the mixture like the first layer. Fill up all the gaps and use a wet palm to help smoothen the layer evenly.

• Cutting: Once the top is nice and smooth, cut the kibbeh diagonally to form diamond shapes and then press down pieces of pine nuts to each diamond portion. Make sure it’s sticking well so it doesn’t fall off after baking. Drizzle 1/4 cup of preferred oil evenly on the top of the kibbeh.

• Bake: Bake in a preheated oven for 45-50 minutes until the edges and top are brown in color. Then turn on the off the bake and turn on the broiler to toast it a little bit on top for a couple of minutes to add a deeper brown color. Watch closely so you don’t burn the Kibbeh or pine nuts.

• Serve: Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.

Recipe Tips

• If you like spicy food, I recommend adding 1 habanero pepper to the kamouneh/bulgur mix.
• Save the extra kamouneh mixture in a zip lock freezer bag and store in the freezer for future use. So useful.
• Use wet palms to smoothen the kibbeh mixture.
• Add more oil if you feel like it’s needed when baking.
• Always have all the other ingredients ready before assembling the kibbeh. The kibbeh mixture dries out super fast and you will have to process the kibbeh mixture again with water to loosen it up. Follow the steps I gave you in the blog post.
• This is a big serving. If you have a small family and don’t want leftovers, you can make half or two small trays and save one for later. You can also reheat leftovers and eat it the next day.
• Serve Kibbeh Bil Sanieh with a side of yogurt cucumber salad or tatziki. You can also eat it with ketchup.

More Lebanese Recipe

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