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Lena’s Chebureki Recipe

A blue plate with Lena\'s chebureki on the plate

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Lena, thank you so much for this amazing recipe. We loved it and so did the guys at our church construction site (see more about that below). They were easy and tasted amazing!

I ended up grinding my own pork and beef but you may use pre-ground. I prefer ground chuck or ground sirloin (“beef” sounds like mystery meat to me!). This recipe is definitely a keeper!

Ingredients for Chebureki:

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
½ medium bunch of cilantro, chopped
½ medium bunch of parsley, chopped
1 large bunch of green onion (1 cup chopped)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbsp milk
15 raw tortillas

Chebureki Recipe @NatashasKitchen

How to Make the Meat Mix for Chebureki:

1. I ground my own meat with the KitchenAid attachment. I used boneless pork top loin and boneless beef country store ribs, Fresh is best and there’s no mystery about what’s in it. Mix ground pork and ground beef together (I use my KitchenAid with my paddle attachment to spare my fingers from freezing).

Chebureki Recipe @NatashasKitchen-6

2.Stir in the cilantro, parsley and green onion. Add salt, ground pepper and milk.

Chebureki Recipe @NatashasKitchen-8

Chebureki Recipe @NatashasKitchen-7

Assembling Lena’s Amazing Cherubeki:

1. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add enough canola to cover bottom of pan. Use two skillets to speed up the process.

2. Place a heaping tablespoon over 1/2 of the tortilla.
Spread the meat over 1/2 of the tortilla, leaving about a 1-inch border.

Chebureki Recipe

3. Brush water on the entire border of the tortilla; enough so you can see that it’s wet, otherwise it won’t seal.

Chebureki Recipe-2

4. Press the sides together and seal with a fork. Flip the tortilla over and seal the other side with the fork as well to make sure they don’t open while frying.

Chebureki Recipe @NatashasKitchen-10

This is the result of little fingers that really, really wanted to help (and mom turning away for a split second).

Chebureki Recipe @NatashasKitchen-5

5. Saute 3 minutes on each side over medium heat. You may need to adjust your heat settings (not all ranges are created equal), but they do need about 3 minutes per side to cook through. Place them between paper towels when done.

Chebureki Recipe @NatashasKitchen-9

They can get a little juicy inside so be careful that you don’t get a lap-full of juice when taking a bite.

Chebureki Recipe @NatashasKitchen-3

I took a double batch of these to our construction site (we are building a church you know) and the guys loved ’em! They gobbled them up so fast, with ooh’s and ahh’s galore. I only wish I had made more! I love this picture; it looks like my Dad is running to get some chebureky.

Chebureki Recipe-3

Lena's Chebureki Recipe

4.95 from 54 votes
Author: Natasha of NatashasKitchen.com
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 6 minutes
Total Time: 36 minutes

Ingredients 

Servings: 15
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1 lb ground pork
  • ½ medium bunch of cilantro, chopped
  • ½ medium bunch of parsley, chopped
  • 1 large bunch of green onion, 1 cup chopped
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 Tbsp milk
  • 15 raw tortillas

Instructions

  • Mix ground pork and ground beef together using Kitchen Aid with paddle attachment or by hand.
  • Stir in the cilantro, parsley and green onion. Add salt, ground pepper and milk.

Assembling Cherubeki:

  • Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add enough canola to cover bottom of pan. Use two skillets to speed up the process.
  • Place a heaping tablespoon over 1/2 of the tortilla. Spread the meat over 1/2 of the tortilla, leaving about a 1-inch border.
  • Brush water on the entire border of the tortilla; enough so you can see that it's wet, otherwise it won't seal.
  • Press the sides together and seal with a fork. Flip the tortilla over and seal the other side with the fork as well to make sure they don't open while frying.
  • Saute 3 minutes on each side over medium heat. You may need to adjust your heat settings (not all ranges are created equal), but they do need about 3 minutes per side to cook through. Place them between paper towels when done.
  • They can get a little juicy inside so be careful that you don't get a lap-full of juice when taking a bite.
Course: Lunch, snack
Cuisine: Russian, Ukrainian
Keyword: Chebureki
Skill Level: Medium
Cost to Make: $$
Natasha's Kitchen Cookbook

Natasha Kravchuk

Welcome to my kitchen! I am Natasha, the creator behind Natasha's Kitchen (established in 2009), and I share family-friendly, authentic recipes. I am a New York Times Best-Selling cookbook author and a trusted video personality in the culinary world. My husband, Vadim, and I run this blog together, ensuring every recipe we share is thoroughly tested and approved. Our mission is to provide you with delicious, reliable recipes you can count on. Thanks for stopping by! I am so happy you are here.

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4.95 from 54 votes (17 ratings without comment)

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Recipe Rating




Comments

  • Mohinur
    October 15, 2016

    Natasha, I love your recipes! Can you please post a recipe for homemade dough for chebureki? Thank you for amazing recipes! 😊😊😊

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      October 15, 2016

      Hi Mohinur, we usually use the raw tortillas because it’s so much easier but I’ll see what I can do 🙂

      Reply

  • Sarah
    September 24, 2016

    Made an all beef version with parsley, dill and lots of minced garlic…and salt and pepper. My Moldovan husband LOVED them. These will go into the rotation.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 25, 2016

      Sarah, thank you for sharing such a nice review with us 😀. We are glad your family loves the recipe.

      Reply

  • Carla
    May 24, 2016

    These were delicious. I love trying making foods from different countries. My husband and his friend gave me lots of compliments. Thank you so much for the recipe Natasha!!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      May 25, 2016

      Carla, That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review 🙂

      Reply

  • Annie
    March 23, 2016

    My Russian son found this recipe and begged me to make it. I made it “from scratch”, ground the meat myself and made the tortillas from scratch, too. They are VERY easy to make, and I think they are much more tender than store bought ones would be. Other than that, the only change I made to the recipe was to use regular onion, and a lot of it. My Russian friend instructed me that these fillings should be one-third onion and two-thirds meat. My family loves that proportion.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      March 23, 2016

      Wow homemade tortillas sound great! I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe and yes, Russian people LOVE onions! 🙂

      Reply

  • Irina
    March 3, 2016

    Great recipe! I divided each tortilla in half so, as a result, my chebureki looked like triangles. I like this size better: it’s easier to hold and again, portion control. :))

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      March 4, 2016

      Thank you Irina and nice job improvising 😁.

      Reply

  • Mike
    November 19, 2015

    My wife yelled at me saying something to the effect of: “You don’t put kinza in chebuereki!”

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      November 19, 2015

      Hi Mike, I don’t know what kinza is but these are delicious anyways :). Did she at least try them?

      Reply

      • Victoria
        December 4, 2015

        “Kinza” is a Georgian word, I believe, for “cilantro”. I had my reservations about the green stuff too but actually these chebureki (turnovers) came out amazing. I ended up using Goya Empanada Discos instead of tortillas (they came in 10s and the tortillas came in 18s). http://www.goya.com/english/product_subcategory/Frozen-Foods/Discos#134 I used to love chebureki sold by street vendors in Kyiv, one of my favorite childhood treats:) I thought these came out even better.

        Reply

        • Natasha
          natashaskitchen
          December 4, 2015

          That’s awesome! I’m so happy to hear you loved the recipe! Thank you Victoria and thanks for the lesson on kinza 😉

          Reply

        • Jane
          April 3, 2016

          LOL–I was shouting the same thing about the cilantro…though not in Georgia. 😉

          Reply

      • Valeriya
        August 12, 2016

        Kinza is cilantro in Russian.

        Reply

  • Yelena
    September 5, 2015

    Thank you so much for the recipe. I was thinking to make chebureki having raw beef parties. I was told by coworker about using raw tortilla.

    Three important things that I took from Lena’s recipe made it happen.

    One that I was going to use old yellow onion, which is wrong as process to fry is quick and green onion is perfect for it; second I didn’t know that should add milk that made filling juicy; third I didn’t know that needed to brush tortilla with water to seal it. I actually brush whole tortilla before put meat.

    Thank you for all the details, Natasha.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 6, 2015

      You’re welcome and I’m glad that you found the recipe useful!

      Reply

  • Olga
    August 17, 2015

    After looking and looking for raw tortillas, I finally found them at my local grocery store!!! Not sure if I was looking in the wrong place and they had them all this time, or if they just started carrying it. They are soooo good! I ate them just like that kak lepeshki with kefir (love kefir)! Can’t wait to try making chebureki! Thanks for the tip!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      August 17, 2015

      Olga, I’m glad you found them and thank you for the great review :).

      Reply

  • Kateryna
    July 18, 2015

    Natasha, thank you for this recipe! I was finally able to find raw/uncooked tortilla here in the Bay Area in larger Safeway 😀 I was beyond happy 🙂 I love chebyreki, and now with this recipe it is so simple to make it!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      July 18, 2015

      Yes!!!! I’m so happy for your find :). I was very excited when I figured out this shortcut too.

      Reply

  • Sarah
    July 1, 2015

    Made this 2 nights ago..I used our own farm raised beef and subbed our own lamb for the pork. Everyone loved it..even took some to work. Love being able to share these recipes with my son and husband.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      July 1, 2015

      Sarah, thank you for the great review, I’m very happy to hear that your family enjoyed them :D.

      Reply

  • Annie
    May 25, 2015

    Hi Natasha! Am I able to sub the beef with turkey? I bought turkey on accident and don’t want it to go to waste.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      May 25, 2015

      Yes, I think that would work just fine 🙂

      Reply

  • Kateryna
    April 19, 2015

    Hi Natasha,
    Do you think I could substitute raw tortilla with egg roll wraps?
    Thank you in advance!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      April 20, 2015

      Hi :). I don’t think the egg roll wrappers could adequately be sealed the same way for frying in the oil. It might be worth an experiment, but I think it would be tough to seal them.

      Reply

      • Kateryna
        April 21, 2015

        Thank you!

        Reply

  • Oksana
    February 11, 2015

    I improvised and they were amazing! I used 1 lb chicken and added 3 garlic and used used diced onion instead and halfed the others 😉 DELISH! Thanks!!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      February 11, 2015

      You are welcome Oksana, thanks for the great review :).

      Reply

  • Jim Przedzienkowski
    January 9, 2015

    Will definitely try the Chebureki, looks like a good one.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      January 10, 2015

      Thank you Jim! I hope you love it! 🙂

      Reply

  • Halina
    January 9, 2015

    Slava Bohy Natasha,
    I have a question. Did you ever try adding anions to this recipe, just like you do to the Turkey Chebureki? I think the anion gives it a better flavor. People let me know what you think. Thanks and God bless you all.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      January 9, 2015

      Slava Bohy Halina :). This recipe does have a very good amount of green onion so you still have the great onion flavor and it cooks better inside the tortilla rather than using raw onion. A good substitute would be to at least lightly sautee a diced yellow onion so its softer after the chebureki are cooked. Also, if you saute them a little bit, you don’t get the “onion burps” quite as badly afterwards. I’ve found the same to be true with making pelmeni :). I hope that helps.

      Reply

  • Жиробасик
    November 26, 2014

    Спасибо)

    Reply

  • Olga
    October 9, 2014

    Are raw tortillas easy to find? I feel like I’ve never seen them before but then I never looked. I will take a look next time I’m at the grocery store. I definitely want to give these a try. Thanks!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      October 9, 2014

      Olga, it depends which grocery store you shop in. I bought them in Walmart and Costco before. I hope this helps :).

      Reply

      • Olga
        October 13, 2014

        Thanks! I was not able to find actual uncooked tortillas but I did find ‘dough for pastries’ (masa para empanadas) also in the fridge of the spanish food section. I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing but I got them anyway and made chebureki yesterday and they came out absolutely perfect! Saved so much too by not having to make the dough from scratch! Thanks for the tip! 🙂

        Reply

        • Natasha
          natashaskitchen
          October 13, 2014

          It’s great to know there is yet another alternative that works! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂

          Reply

  • nadia
    August 9, 2014

    Thank you as always. They turned out perfect. I can’t stand anything about cilantro, so I didn’t add it and they turned out delicious. Easy and affordable.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      August 9, 2014

      I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks for a great review!

      Reply

  • Sarah Godoshian
    May 2, 2014

    I love this recipe! It’s simple, quick and delicious. I just made some on lunch break 🙂 Thank you, Natasha!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      May 2, 2014

      You’re quick if you got these done on your lunch break 😉 I’m so happy you loved them. Now I just have to figure out how to make them baked! 🙂

      Reply

  • Julia Kiforishin
    March 24, 2014

    Just wanted to ask you whether it was possible to bake these. Im trying to get into the habit of making healthier foods so it wouldn’t be so hard to get back into shape after the baby but its hard finding recipes that my family likes. They loves these so I was wondering if it was at all possible. Plus I just hate frying stuff. The oil gets everything and makes my whole oven greasy and then my really teeny house smells like a fast food restaurant. 🙁
    Anyways great recipe. Thanks

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      March 25, 2014

      I agree about the frying; that’s why I wait until the weather is nice before I fry anything so I can keep all the windows open. 🙂 I haven’t tested these in the oven and I think it might have to be a different dough for that. Has anyone else tried baking these?

      Reply

    • Julia Kiforishin
      March 27, 2014

      oooohhh… I kind of had an epiphany. So I was trying to see if there are smaller electric griddles because my kitchen is really, really, really teeny and then I thought.. “mhmmm. if i can fry eggs and bacon and pancakes and a lot of other stuff on this thing why not chebureki????” I think I’m going to try it out and hopefully it will work because it would make making chebureki so much more easy and convenient!!!”

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        March 27, 2014

        Let me know how it goes!! I’m very curious.

        Reply

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