Lebanese Sausages (Makanek)
Small sausages of lamb or beef, warmly spiced with cinnamon, allspice and pine nuts, pan-fried until browned and then simmered in a bright lemon and pomegranate molasses sauce. A beloved Lebanese breakfast and brunch dish, best mopped up with warm pita.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Mix the spiced meat
In a bowl, combine the ground meat with 2 of the garlic cloves, the cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, black pepper, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and the pine nuts. Mix with your hands just until combined — overworking the meat makes the sausages tough and dense. Cover and chill for 20 minutes so the spices settle into the fat, which also makes the mixture much easier to shape.
- 500 g ground lamb or beef
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 30 g pine nuts
✅ Done when: the mixture feels cold and firm enough to hold its shape when pressed
Shape into small sausages
With lightly oiled hands, roll the mixture into small finger-shaped sausages, about 7 cm long — this should give you 16 to 18 pieces. Lay them on a parchment-lined tray without touching and chill again for 15 minutes. This second chill is what keeps them from falling apart in the pan, since there's no casing holding them together.
✅ Done when: the sausages feel firm and hold together when picked up
Pan-fry until browned
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Build the sauce
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Finish the sausages in the sauce
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Serve
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Mix the spiced meat
In a bowl, combine the ground meat with 2 of the garlic cloves, the cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, black pepper, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and the pine nuts. Mix with your hands just until combined — overworking the meat makes the sausages tough and dense. Cover and chill for 20 minutes so the spices settle into the fat, which also makes the mixture much easier to shape.
- 500 g ground lamb or beef
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 30 g pine nuts
✅ Done when: the mixture feels cold and firm enough to hold its shape when pressed
Shape into small sausages
With lightly oiled hands, roll the mixture into small finger-shaped sausages, about 7 cm long — this should give you 16 to 18 pieces. Lay them on a parchment-lined tray without touching and chill again for 15 minutes. This second chill is what keeps them from falling apart in the pan, since there's no casing holding them together.
✅ Done when: the sausages feel firm and hold together when picked up
Pan-fry until browned
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Build the sauce
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Finish the sausages in the sauce
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Serve
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The Story Behind the Dish
Makanek have long been part of Levantine village butchery, where ground lamb or beef is seasoned with warming spices like cinnamon, allspice, cloves and nutmeg, often enriched with pine nuts, then traditionally packed into thin casings and left to firm up before cooking.
In Lebanese homes, makanek are usually pan-fried and finished with a splash of lemon juice and pomegranate molasses, a sharp, fruity sauce that cuts through the richness of the meat. Served alongside eggs, labneh, olives and warm bread, they are a centerpiece of the Lebanese weekend breakfast table.
⭐ Why It's Famous
Loved for its warm spicing and the tangy-sweet pomegranate glaze, makanek turns a simple fried sausage into one of the most fought-over dishes on a Lebanese breakfast spread.
💡 Fun Fact
Similar spiced sausages appear across the Levant and the wider eastern Mediterranean under different names, a trace of centuries of shared trade and cooking between neighboring communities.
Lebanon, especially the villages of Mount Lebanon
33.89°N, 35.50°E
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