Name: Hawawshi Recipe – Authentic Egyptian Food Recipes
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 10
Cuisine: Egyptian
Ingredients: 1 lb ground beef meat; 1 lb ground lamb meat; 10 Egyptian Baladi bread medium-size or regular pita bread**; 3 small onion or 2 medium onion; 1 tomato; 4 garlic cloves; 1 bunch fresh mint; 1 bunch fresh parsley; 2 bell pepper; 1 spicy pepper; 1 tbsp tomato paste; juice from a whole large lemon; 2 tbsp cumin; 1tbsp ground coriander; salt and pepper to taste

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Hawawshi is one of my favorite authentic Egyptian food recipes. It’s very easy to make and delicious.

Hawawshi is similar in taste to Lebanese Lahambajeen. Lahambajeen is a minced meat pizza, whereas hawawshi is minced meat stuffed into a pita.

While my Egyptian mother-in-law was visiting, I asked her to teach me how to make it. She gave me her secret hawawshi recipe from scratch. This recipe is a very large serving size. The reason for this big batch hawawshi recipe is that it gives you a few options:

Lunch for the next week already made
Sandwiches are freezer-friendly
The meat mixture is freezer-friendly

I really like making recipes that are flexible. And what I love even more is having freezer-friendly meals available.

I freeze already baked hawawshi sandwiches in freezer-friendly bags. When I need a quick lunch or dinner option, I take out what I need and pop it in the oven. Just heat the oven to 375F and toast the sandwich for about 10 to 15 minutes.

What I love the most about these hawawshi sandwiches is that they reheat really well. Like you wouldn’t have known that they were previously frozen. And this my friends, is a great secret weapon to have when you have unexpected guests over or you are running out of time to prepare a meal.

Ingredients Needed to Make Hawawshi

Ground meat: I recommend an equal ratio of ground lamb to ground beef. If you have trouble finding ground lamb then you can just use ground beef. Unless you have dietary restrictions, I recommend going with the fatty 80% ground beef. Ground lamb is already a pretty fatty cut of meat. The fat content adds a lot of flavor to the sandwiches.
Baladi bread: Baladi pita bread is thick pita bread. Lebanese pita bread is thin and not the ideal pita to use for this recipe. If you use thin pita bread, just be mindful that the bread will crispy up quickly. The thicker pita bread soaks the flavors better, and it’s more durable in the oven when baking.
Vegetables and Herbs: This is what flavors the meat and makes these sandwiches irresistible. If you don’t have fresh mint and fresh parsley, you can substitute dried parsley and dried mint. Chop the onions, peppers, and tomato finely. I recommend mashing the garlic with a mortar and pestle.

What Goes With Hawawshi?

One of the best side dishes to go with hawawshi is torchy, Egyptian pickled vegetables. Or eat this dish with pickled cucumbers like these. If I have time, I’ll make a salad like my Lebanese Fattoush.

Another side that goes with hawawshi is homemade french fries and vegetable soup.

Hawawshi Options

If you can’t find Egyptian Baladi bread, you can use any type of pita bread. If you use thin pita bread, I highly recommend coating the outer bread surface with some water and putting the baking pan at the bottom of the oven. The bread will brown very quickly, so it’s important to give the meat stuffing some more time to cook.

Another thing to buy is fatty meat because the fat in the meat is what adds flavor to the sandwich. If you only have lean ground meat available, rub some avocado oil or olive oil on the outside of the bread prior to baking.

The hawawshi meat stuffing can be made in advance and stored in the freezer for up to 2 months or fridge for up to 24 hours.

Hawawshi on the Grill

My mother-in-law insists on using charcoal in the oven. Being that most homes in the US have a smoke detector, I didn’t use the charcoal. However, when she makes them in Egypt with the charcoal, you can really taste a difference.

If you would like that charcoal flavor, you can grill these sandwiches instead of using the oven. If you grill these sandwiches you need to adjust the flame to low heat and monitor them closely. The bread can quickly burn, so I recommend using the thicker Baladi bread if going the grilling route.