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What to eat in Pakistan? Top 5 Pakistani Ground Meat Dishes

Last update: Fri Feb 14 2025
Top 5 Pakistani Ground Meat Dishes
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01

Stew

PAKISTAN and  2 more regions
4.5
Keema
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Keema is a stew that is usually prepared as a curry with ingredients such as minced lamb or chicken meat, green peas, ginger-garlic paste, chili, onions, ghee, and garam masala spices. The name of the dish means minced meat in Urdu. Although keema is most popular in north India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, some believe that the dish has Persian origins due to the fact that it was first mentioned as a recipe in Ain-I-Akbari (a document about emperor Akbar's empire).


Keema is commonly served as a main dish, accompanied by pav buns or naan and other flatbreads. It can also be used as a filling for samosas and parathas.

02

Ground Meat Dish

PESHAWAR, Pakistan
4.4
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A specialty of Pashtun cuisine, this spicy meat patty is prepared with a combination of minced beef or mutton. The unique taste of chapli kabab comes from spices such as dried coriander and pomegranate seeds, green chillis, and mint. Its name is derived from a Pashto word chaprikh, meaning flat, and even though chapli kabab is often said to have originated in Peshawar, today it stands as a favorite throughout Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India.


Chapli kababs are traditionally served with yogurt sauce, salads, and naan bread.

MOST ICONIC Chapli kabab

1
03
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Seekh kabab is a delicious, juicy Pakistani kebab variety made with a combination of minced meat (typically lamb), onions, garlic, ginger, coriander, lemon juice, yogurt, and garam masala. The spices used in the dish can be modified according to personal preferences.


The meat mixture is placed on skewers, and the kebabs are then grilled over hot coals, giving them a nice smokey flavor in the process, although they can also be prepared in a tandoor oven. Seekh kabab is traditionally served piping hot with salads, onions, fries, mint chutney, or flatbreads on the side. 
04

Ground Meat Dish

PAKISTAN and  2 more regions
3.9
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Shami kebab is a variety of kebab made by combining minced lamb, mutton, beef or chicken with split bengal grams, onions, chilis, ginger, garlic, and various herbs and spices such as cumin, red chili flakes, garam masala, and mint leaves. The meat mixture is then seasoned with salt and pepper and shaped into round patties, which are then coated with beaten eggs and pan-fried until their exterior becomes crispy, but the patties remain silky and tender on the inside.


These kebabs are commonly enjoyed in India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and make for an excellent snack, appetizer, or an accompaniment to the main course. Believed to have originated in Lucknow, shami kebabs pair well with onions, lime or lemon wedges, roti or naan, and various chutneys on the side.

05

Stew

PAKISTAN
n/a
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Shab daig, from the words shab, meaning night, and daig, which is a large cooking pot or cauldron, is a traditional winter specialty hailing from the Kashmir region. The name of this dish is derived from the traditional technique of slowly cooking it overnight in a dough-sealed cooking vessel over a firewood-lit hearth.


Such an elaborate method of preparation would inevitably result in a uniquely aromatic and flavor-packed delicacy, which was usually eaten with rice the following day. It was traditionally made with sautéed pieces of a big, fatty rooster and turnips, which were then cooked together in a rich broth flavored with spices such as garlic, ginger, fennel seeds, saffron, cardamom, Kashmiri garam masala, and cinnamon. 

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Pakistani Ground Meat Dishes