Lebanese Stuffed Grape Leaves (warak enab) are a Mediterranean favorite. They taste the very best homemade! My recipe includes rice, meat, and lots of lemon to make the most tender, flavorful grape leaves.
1tablespoonkosher salt, plus more as needed for the cooking liquid
1/4teaspoonfreshly ground black pepper
1/2teaspooncinnamon
1poundground lamb or beef (80% lean)
80grape leaves, medium size, from a jar or fresh
6chicken wings or thighs or 3-4 bone-in pork chops
3cupschicken broth or water
1cupfreshly squeezed lemon juice, from about 6 lemons
Instructions
Make the Filling: Rinse the rice. Add the salt, pepper, cinnamon, and melted butter to the rice. Mix the rice with the ground beef or lamb thoroughly, using your hands to combine.
Prepare the leaves. For jarred leaves: the leaves are packed tightly in the jar in a few bundles. Pour the liquid from the jar and discard it. Carefully remove the bundles of leaves. Place the leaves in a big bowl of cool or tepid water and agitate them to rinse and soak them. Repeat this twice, pouring off the water entirely after the second rinse.For fresh picked or frozen fresh leaves: Place the leaves in a large bowl or pot of boiling water. Blanche, gently cooking the leaves for 5 minutes to soften them. Fresh leaves roll more easily and stay closed better if they are softer from cooking.
Trim the stems. Either stack the leaves in bunches all in the same direction or lay them out individually on the countertop or work surface. Use scissors to trim off the short stems all the way to (but not beyond) the edge of each leaf.
Prepare a 4 or 6 quart heavy pot. Line the bottom of the pot with the chicken or pork. Lay any torn grape leaves or just a few of the largest leaves over the top of the meat.
Roll the grape leaves. Lay multiple leaves out on the work surface with the vein side facing up so the veins end up inside the roll. The stem end should face you. Use about 1 teaspoon of the filling per leaf, give or take depending on the size of the leaf. This may seem like very little filling, but this is all you need for a cigar-sized roll. Shape the filling across the stem end of the leaf in a log, leaving enough leaf on either side of the meat for folding.Don’t roll the leaves too tightly—allow room for the rice filling to expand, which it will during cooking.Fold each side of the leaf over the meat like an envelope. Roll securely, away from you. Tuck any leaf points into the fold as you go. End with the tip of the leaf facing down.
Fill the pot with rolls by arranging them seam-side down in rows in the prepared pan. Alternate the direction of the rows with each layer of stuffed leaves. Place a plate face down over the top layer to prevent the rolls from floating.Fill the pot with a mixture of the chicken broth and lemon juice up to the plate. If using water instead of broth, or if using unsalted broth, add a tablespoon of kosher salt (half that if using table salt) to the liquid before adding to the pot.
Cook the grape leave rolls. Cover the pot and bring slowly to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for another 60-90 minutes, until the rice and leaves are tender and most of the liquid is absorbed (there will be some liquid remaining after cooking).
Cool. Allow the rolls to cool with the lid off the pot for about 30 minutes before serving.
Serve the grape leaves one of these ways:1. Serve directly from the pot, using tongs to pull each roll from the pot. 2. Place the rolls on a serving platter, using tongs to transfer the rolls from the pot to the serving platter.3. This is more of an experienced-makers method: Flip the entire pot of rolls into a wide bowl by placing the bowl over top of the pot, then flip over quickly (and carefully!). Make sure to pour off the excess cooking liquid before flipping the pot. Remove the meat layer and serve that on the side or discard.
Video
Notes
Try to roll the leaves all about the same size. This means using the same amount of filling in each, and not too much! Also, if a leaf is very large, try cutting it in half and working with it that way. If a leaf is very small, use that one and the very large or torn leaves to line the bottom of the pan.
Be sure to place the plate over the rolls and broth. This step is key to keeping the rolls securely in place so they don’t float and unravel as they cook. Use an old plate if you like; I use a salad plate from every day dishes and the plate cleans up back to normal afterwards, no problem.
Beware of adding lemon wedges to the pot. I always used to add slices of lemon throughout the pot of rolls, but I discovered that the lemon rind can add a bitter taste to the finished rolls. Now I use lemon juice only, not the lemons, to season the rolls.
Cool the pot of rolls before transferring them to a serving dish. They are very soft when hot right after cooking. Once they cool off a bit, they hold their shape and can be served easily without breaking apart.
Would you like to pick fresh grape leaves? Yes! Follow my guide here and check out my video here to identify and store fresh grape leaves.