Stuffed

Greek Dolmades Recipe with Lemon Sauce

Prep

30 minutes

Cook

1 hour 40 minutes

Yield

50 -60 pieces

Greek dolmades are so delicious. They’re filled with a herby rice and meat mixture, and they look beautiful served on your table.

Greek dolmades (also known as dolmathes) are a delicious Greek dish made from cabbage or grape leaves, stuffed with a delicious rice mix that is full of herbs. These bad boys are then rolled up, boiled until tender, and are honestly just such a treat. Serve them with the most delicious lemon sauce and knock the socks off of your guests.

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❤️ Why You’ll Love Dolmades

Beautiful: These dolmades are stunning. They look so beautiful on a serving plate, on a charcuterie board, wherever you’re putting them
Delicious: The combination of the herby rice mix with the lemon sauce on top is just so dang good
Impressive: You’ll seriously wow your guests with this recipe and they’re so good for the holiday season

🍲 Ingredients

Grape Leaves – You can buy these in a jar, I use the Orlando brand. You can find them in the international aisle or in a Greek or Middle Eastern grocery store.

Short Grain Rice – Short-grain rice has more starch than long-grain rice which tends to stick together when cooked. This makes it great for a filling and makes it way easier to roll these.

👩‍🍳 How to Make Dolmades

1. Gently remove the grape leaves from the jar; start by grabbing from the center of the jar and gently pulling the grape leaves up and out. Flatten the roll of leaves out so you can easily grab them to fill them. Set aside in a bowl or plate.

Prepare the large pot: Set aside 8 grape leaves. Layer the bottom of the pot with a drizzle of olive oil and then layer 4 grape leaves, overlapping them to cover most of the bottom of the pot. Then add 4 slices of lemon, another drizzle of olive oil, and layer 4 more grape leaves. Set aside.

3. Make the filling: Combine the ground beef, rice, diced onion, salt, pepper, olive oil, and fresh minced dill and mix to fully combine.

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4. Fill the grape leaves: Lay a grape leaf, vein side up, flat on your work surface. Place 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of the leaf and then fold the left and right sides together and then roll up to complete a roll. Repeat until all of the fillings are used.

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5. Place the grape leaf rolls one by one into the pot, seam side down, beside each other, tucking them in tightly beside each other. You’ll more than likely have two layers of rolls and that’s ok!

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6. Cook the dolmades: Once all of the dolmades have been placed in the pot place a small-medium plate on top of the rolls, making sure the plate covers only about 2/3-3/4 of the diameter of the pot. Pour water into the pot, filling about halfway up the side. Bring to a boil over high heat and then turn to medium-low to keep at a simmer. Cook for 80-100 minutes, making sure to check the water level every 20 minutes to ensure it doesn’t get too low. If needed, add water to keep the level around the halfway mark (you may need to add about 2-4 cups water during the cooking time).

When the dolmades are done, remove them from the heat and let them sit while you make the sauce.
Make the lemon sauce: using a blender, blend together the water or chicken broth along with lemon juice, 1 tbsp cornstarch, and 2 eggs. Transfer to a small pot over medium heat, stirring often, and let it thicken as the sauce cooks – about 3-4 minutes. Season with 1/2-1 tsp salt. Remove from the heat.
Serve the dolmades and allow people to spoon over the amount of lemon sauce they would like. Top with more fresh dill if desired and cracked black pepper and fresh lemon wedges.

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🪄 Tips and Tricks

Don’t overstuff the grape leaves. You will just make your life a lot harder when you try to roll them up
Wait about 20-30 minutes before eating the dolmades. You’ll want to give them some time to set and absorb all the juices

🗒 Variations

Here are some different variations you can make with your dolmades:

Vegetarian: You can make these vegetarian by swapping the beef for a plant-based substitute or omitting the meat entirely and adding more rice
Meat: If you want you can swap beef for another ground meat like lamb, chicken, or turkey
Veggies: Feel free to add minced veggies to the mix

🗒 Best served with

Greek Moussaka
Greek Salad
Tomato Fritters

👝 How to Store Leftovers

Put leftover dolmades in an airtight container when they have cooled, and eat within 3-4 days.

You can enjoy the leftovers cold or reheat in a pan with a bit of water on medium-low heat until warmed through.

🤔 Common Questions

Dolmas or dolmades is just the plural form of dolma. Simple as that!

Greek dolmades are served at room temperature as part of mezze. Which is essentially a bunch of appetizers or snacks like dips – try tztaziki, hummus, or baba ganoush.