Chebureki with Meat Filling (Savory Turnovers)

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This amazing Chebureki recipe has everything: a crispy crust and a moist, flavorful filling that is incredibly satisfying.

A baking tray of chebureki filled with beef, with sauce on the side.

This Homemade Chebureki recipe from scratch is easier to make than you think. The dough is easy to make and tastes so much better than the store-bought raw flour tortillas. This classic Russian comfort food can be served as a main dish for the whole family.

Table of Contents

What are Chebureki?

Chebureki is like savory turnovers filled with juicy meat filling with the addition of onion and herbs, made with a tortilla-like thin sheet dough.

Chebureki is a dish with its earliest origins from Crimea but is a well-known food all over Eastern Europe. It is a popular street food in Russia. Personally, it’s a trendy dish in my own home. We often serve these for large crowds. We’ve also had these as our main entree for dinners – they’re pretty satisfying.

For this recipe, you can use ground beef or lamb with pleasant notes of herbs and spices that make this dish incredibly flavorful. Whether you’re serving these at your next dinner party or making them for your family to grab and go, you’ll be pretty pleased with the way they turn out.

Chebureki with cilantro on a white plate with a dip on the side.

Ingredients You Need to Make the Dough

This one is the easiest of all the homemade dough recipes for chebureki. Some people use raw tortillas to skip ahead, but like tortillas, Chebureki dough requires just four ingredients: flour, oil, water, and a pinch of salt. It takes 40-60 minutes for the flour mixture dough to rise. So you have time to make the filling!

How to Make the Minced Meat Mix:

You can ground meat yourself by using a meat grinder attachment, but make sure the meat you buy is boneless. You can also save some time and buy ground meat. For the ultimate Chebureki taste, use lean ground lamb or beef.

You can also use chicken, pork, or turkey for Chebureki, but lamb or beef delivers the most flavor! In addition to the ground beef, I also add one medium onion. Either thinly chop the onion or chop it in the food processor.

Can I Freeze These Tasty Chebureki?

Raw Chebureki can be made ahead of time and put in the freezer for later. Make sure to put a sheet of parchment paper between each pocket, so it does not stick to each other. Keep in a closed container for up to 3 months in the freezer.

Key Ingredients

Chebureki ingredients- cilantro, ground beef, onion, water, pepper, salt, olive oil, and flour.

For the dough, you’ll need flour, oil, water, and salt. This mixture creates the most delicious, thin dough that encompasses the meat. Once it’s fried, it’s perfectly crisp!

For the meat mixture, you’ll need ground beef, onion, cilantro, and water.

Season with salt and black pepper, and use oil for the frying.

Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.

How to make Chebureki with Meat Filling

Step 1: Begin the dough

Put flour into a bowl and mix well with a pinch of salt. Add 5-6 drops of oil.

Step 2: Mix

With a dough attachment in the mixer, mix the oil in with the flour so there will be no clumps.

Step 3: Add water

Little by little add water until you can take the dough and put it in a good ball shape.

Chebureki dough made from scratch in a glass bowl.

Step 4: Wrap and rest

Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 40-60 minutes. (The purpose for this is so the dough comes together and would be easy to work with.)

Dough for chebureki in a glass bowl, covered in plastic wrap.

Meanwhile, make the filling:

Step 1: Mince onion

Mince the onion through a food processor or a grinder.

Chopped onion and cilantro on a cutting board.

Step 2: Mix the meat filling

In a bowl, mix beef, onion, salt, pepper, chopped cilantro, and 5 Tablespoons of water. Combine everything together well.

Step 3: Cut the dough

After the dough has been standing long enough, cut it into 12-14 same-size pieces.

Round chebureki dough balls on a wooden cutting board.

Step 4: Roll out the dough

Using a rolling pin, roll out each piece into a thin circle (add flour when rolling if dough is sticking to the surface.)

Dough rolled out on a wooden cutting board with a rolling pin on the side.

Step 5: Add the beef to the dough

On one side of the rolled out dough put 1-2 tablespoons of beef mix 2 cm away from the edge.

A round of dough with meat on it on a wooden cutting baord.

Step 6: Fold

Take dough from the other side and fold it, closing like a pocket shape. Using a fork, close the edges all around.

Step 7: Poke holes

Make a few pokes lightly with a fork inside of the chebureki so the air will come out when frying.

Holes poked into a cheburek on a wooden board with flour.

Step 8: Fry the chebureki

In a frying pan, heat a little bit of oil, about a tablespoon (you don’t want the chebureki to be greasy). Start putting by two to fry, they will fry quickly since they are thin. Flip over to the other side as soon as they brown up.

Golden brown chebureki frying on a black skillet.

Step 9: Transfer to a plate

Once both sides are golden brown, the meat filling should be cooked through. Remove from the skillet, and transfer to a large plate lined with paper towels. The paper towels soak up the excess oils.

Step 10: Enjoy

Once cooled, they can be enjoyed! Store in an airtight glass container for up to a week.

A baking tray of chebureki filled with beef.

Expert Tips

Make the meat filling while the dough rises; this will save time.
Make sure you get hot oil for frying. The best is to use light olive oil.
Chop the onion and herbs tiny, almost mushy. Best not to have any large pieces of onions or cilantro in your meat mixture. They can pierce through and create holes in your turnover and could split it apart. Best to use a food processor.
You are not deep frying. Shallow fry in only a little bit of oil. My rule of thumb is one tablespoon of oil for two turnovers.
Don’t overcrowd your pan—just two Chebureki at a time. Fry until crispy and golden perfection.
Place a small sheet of parchment paper between each cheburek if not frying them right away.
These chebureki taste great with some sour cream!

Recipe FAQs

What to serve with chebureki?

I grew up eating Chebureki with sour cream, and later, my husband introduced me to the spice Sumac. Sumac is a dark red seasoning, and has a tartness flavor similar to lemon juice. You can find it in mid-eastern stores or Amazon.

Can I freeze chebureki and fry later?

Yes! You can freeze raw chebureki with a piece of parchment paper between each and store on a sheet pan in the freezer until you’re ready to fry them. I love to save pre-made chebureki and fry them year round.

Traditional Slavic recipes are so delicious, check out these classics:

Vanilla Cookies with an Easy Glaze are traditionally called Pryaniki. They’re served at the holiday dessert table!
A Simple and Classic Red Borscht is a staple in every Slavic household.

Other beef recipes

If you tried these Classic Chebureki with Meat Filling or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you enjoyed it in the📝 comments below. I love hearing from you!