These grape leaves have a mouthwatering filling of lemony rice and fragrant herbs. The only way to describe them is “yum”! Alternatively, serve them as a main course with crusty bread and a Greek salad.
| Prep Time: | 45 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 60 stuffed grape leaves |
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cups uncooked long-grain white rice
- 1 large onion, chopped
- ½ cup chopped fresh dill
- ½ cup chopped fresh mint leaves
- 2 quarts chicken broth, divided
- ¾ cup fresh lemon juice, divided
- 60 fresh grape leaves
- 1 cup olive oil
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add rice, onion, dill, and mint; sauté until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Pour in 1/2 of the broth, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until rice is almost cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in 1/2 of the lemon juice and remove from the heat.
- Plunge grape leaves into a deep container of very hot water until soft, about 10 seconds; pat dry.
- Place a grape leaf onto a work surface with the shiny side facing down. Place 1 teaspoon rice mixture on leaf at the stem end; fold both sides in toward the center and roll up from the wide bottom to the top. Place stuffed leaf into a 4-quart pot. Repeat to stuff remaining leaves, packing them into the pot tightly so they don’t open while cooking.
- Drizzle olive oil and remaining lemon juice over leaves, then pour in remaining broth to cover. Cover the pot and simmer for about 1 hour; do not let it boil as the stuffing may burst out of the leaves.
- Remove from the heat, uncover, and let cool for 30 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish and serve.
Reviews
I have an annual tradition of cooking a gyro meal for Easter, and for several years I have made this recipe to go along with it. I’ve tried a few other dolma recipes, but none really compare. As for all the comments about the rice mixture being too soupy, I’d simply say that you need to go by the “until rice is almost cooked” instruction as opposed to just the 10 to 15 minutes. But the real trick to making these phenomenal is in storing and serving them. After cooking and draining the dolmas, I put them in a large container and pour one or two lemons’ worth of juice over them. I serve them cold and let the acidity be the star. They are super fresh and tasty.
It’s soup!!! Too much liquid. I followed to the T and the filling was so loose they were impossible to roll. But I did my best n finished the recipe as directed adding even more liquid to the already soupy mixture. The picture it what it looks like as it’s now simmering. It tasted good so far so I’m hoping we can at least eat it. Very disappointed DO NOT RECOMMEND.
I found this recipe on here about 10 years ago. This has been my go-to recipe for dolmas ever since then. Just need to remember to add a tiny bit of salt if you are using low sodium chicken broth. And you should probably cook them a little less because the grape leaves tear easily if cooked too long. Flavor is absolutely perfect! I have had so many compliments about these over the years. My hat is off to the poster of this recipe! Opa!
This was the first time that I have made stuffed grape leaves. Although it was time consuming, I think they are really good. They are still cooking in the broth so I am not sure what I am to do afterwards. There were no clear instructions for that. I am assuming that I drain the broth and leave the grape leaves in tack. Hopefully, they will be okay.
I have made these many times. Each time I enjoy them more. They are better than any I have had in a restaurant. I love the fact
Came out amazing. I added toasted pine nuts and it gave it a great nutty flavour. My 9-year old devoured them up.
WOW! This was great. It great day after also as my lunch. It has a cooling effect on your inside because of the mint, I suppose. I look forward to make this again. The only thing I would do different is make the rice less cooked in the first stage. I did head the warning but I would be even more cautious next time. Though this did in no way effect my enjoyment of the dish.
This is an excellent recipe which I will make over and over again. It’s uncomplicated and the grape leaves I bought made the job of rolling them up much easier than I’ve experienced before. We ate them warm, and they were even better cold!
Instead of rolling the rice mixture in the leaves I chopped up the leaves and cooked them with the rice mixture. It turned out great!
Wow.. so good! I’m wondering why I don’t make my rice like this all the time. I kept sneaking bites in between rolling. Thank you, Pati…. I will make these again.
I made a half recipe, used a tablespoon of filling for each grape leaf. The taste of the rice mixture was just right, but the grape leaves (Krinos)) we’re very tough, after an hour of simmering.
I made this but used vegetable broth to keep it vegetarian. I also made 1/2 the receipe, which made more than I could eat in a week! I used jarred leaves no problems! Would make again when I have someone to share it with!!
Fantastic recipe! I substituted dried mint and dill (use 1/3 of the amount). I also threw in a few cloves of fresh minced garlic. I’ve been making these for years, wife said it was the best I’ve made so far!
Fabulous flavor! I have tried many different stuffed grape leaves but this one is the best!. I used vegetable broth instead of chicken but otherwise no change. Do use fresh mint and dill – a necessity. This makes a large amount. I needed 2 jars of grape leaves (to get 60 leaves). Might try half recipe next time
I would say this is a VERY average recipe for dolmas. These do not have the traditional wonderful tanginess of real dolmas and though mint and dill work well in these, they are missing some sort of spice like Allspice to make them zingy. Maybe I did something wrong, but these were very lackluster the way I made them (I subbed veggie broth instead of chicken, and halved everything, other than that followed exactly).
We like ours with meat and rice….so I only use 1 cup of rice and follow all directions. Then brown ground meat and add to the rice.
This may draw a little bit of chef – hate, but being a naturally lazy but inventive person I have found an easier way to get the full satisfaction from this kind of recipe. I can’t stand the handwork of rolling these little rice and leaf sausages (Veg in our case), so what I have done is get the grape leaves and sliver them with my chefs knife and simmer them in chicken broth. When they reach desired consistency I simply stir them in with the rice mix already prepared and press those into rolls with my Japanese sushi presser. You get all the satisfaction of this fine recipe with less than half the work and time. They are also easier to chew, and lose nothing of the regular flavor. Of course there is some satisfaction into biting into that little leafy tube but trading off a half hour or so of handwork is more than worth it to us. Men out there, please note that with this kind of cooking for a vegetarian wife you can be WELL rewarded. My wife now craves them.
First off, it’s very bold calling this recipe “your own” when it is literally the basic Greek dolmathes that have been around for centuries without any twist at all. Second, this is by far the most bland dolmathes recipe around. No seasonings, no garlic, no crunch from something like pine nuts. It’s like you made the recipe your own by taking out half of the ingredients and most of the flavor. Sorry to be harsh, but I don’t want people to make these and think this is what dolmathes taste like.
As a German, I admire this taste a lot. Stuffed grape leaves, namely dolma, is a traditional Turkish food. This is absolutely great. To be honest, all Turkish foods are great and this is only one of them.
This recipe was just the one I was looking for. For the past two days I have been watching on YouTube and reading recipes for stuffed grape leaves that were Greek, Lebanese, Middle Eastern, etc. using everything from lamb, pine nuts, tomatoes, tomato paste, and everything in between. The rice was either short grain, long grain, to the type used in making risotto. What I did glean was that the bottom of the pot used to cook the stuffed grape leaves needs to be covered with something like slices of potatoes, tomatoes, or even left over grape leaves so the ones cooking on top of them would not get burn. Most importantly, after stacking them in the cooking pan, put something heavy on them (i.e., two or three plates that are heat resistant and slightly smaller than the pot). This way they will stay put and not rise. The potatoes and tomatoes can be used as garnishes and eaten with them because they are now imbued with all the cooking goodness. I just can not wait to try this recipe with rice, onions, fresh herbs, olive oil, and lemon juice. One recipe I saw even added lemon zest to the mixture. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I plan to eat with a Greek salad, romaine lettuce, Greek yogurt, hummus or the traditional cucumber sauce ( starts with a tz…) Thank you a thousand times.
I’ve made these numerous times and they are just fantastic. The taste of the fresh mint and dill really make this recipe a must have. Just finished a batch and I can’t wait to taste them. My co-workers love them.