Juicy Sheet Pan Kebabs (Ground Beef)

These sheet-pan Iraqi beef patties called Aroog are made with onions, garlic, parsley, and sometimes peppers or tomatoes. They are lightly seasoned and flavoured mostly with tomato sauce. These crispy patties are often served as a light dinner or stuffed in some buns with sliced vegetables.

📝 Ingredients

• 2 yellow onions (medium, roughly chopped)
• 1 cup parsley (roughly chopped)
• 2 garlic cloves (peeled)
• 1 bell pepper (any colour, roughly chopped)
• 1 3/4 lb medium ground beef (or lean)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup tomato passata
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 6 fresh samoon buns (or pita bread)
• 2 tomatoes (sliced)
• 3 green onion (sliced)
• 1/4 cup parsley (roughly chopped)

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Preheat the oven to 450F and position a rack on the bottom.
2. 2Add the onions, parsley, garlic, and bell pepper to a food processor and pulse until chopped very fine. (If you do not have a food processor, you can chop very finely with a knife.)
3. 3Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, then add the ground beef, salt, pepper, flour, passata, tomato paste, and baking powder. Mix well with your hands until the mixture is cohesive and forms a soft dough.
4. 4Line two large, rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper, then pour 2 tablespoons of oil on each lined pan and spread the oil with your hands. Preheat the sheet pans for 10 minutes in the oven.
5. 5Spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons of the meat mixture, form into a circular patty, roughly 1/4 inch (6 mm) thick, and place on the sheet pan. Continue doing this, leaving 1 inch (25 cm) of space between each patty.
6. 6Place the sheet pans on the bottom rack of the oven and bake for 20 minutes. If your oven does not fit both pans, bake one pan at the bottom, one in the middle, but ensure you move the middle pan to the bottom to caramelize in the last 10 minutes.
7. 7After 20 minutes, check if the bottoms of the patties are cooked, they should look brown and crispy, if not, bake for another 5 minutes longer, until sizzling and golden. Flip the kebabs using a spatula and bake for another 15 minutes until both sides are golden. Broil the tops for a few minutes to brown them further if required.
8. 8Serve as sandwiches in the samoon buns with the sliced tomatoes, green onions and parsley.