Moroccan Comfort Food Recipes
Try these traditional home style Moroccan dishes
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The Spruce
These traditional homestyle dishes and street foods are appreciated by Moroccans as simple fare best enjoyed with family and close friends.
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Moroccan Couscous With Meat and Seven Vegetables
Jan Greune / Getty Images
Any traditional steamed couscous dish qualifies as Moroccan comfort food, but this Moroccan couscous with meat and vegetables is especially good. Steamed couscous is piled high with stewed meat and vegetables. You can omit the meat if you prefer to prepare a vegetarian couscous.
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Moroccan Stewed Lentils
The Spruce
Zesty stewed lentils with or without meat are Moroccan comfort food at its best. Serve them as a side dish or entrée. This vegetarian version also can be made with meat (khlea (khlii).
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Morocan Stewed White Beans
Michal Osmenda / Wikimedia Commons
Saucy and just spicy enough, these stewed white beans are extremely satisfying whether eaten with a spoon or scooped up the traditional way with crusty khobz.
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Moroccan Classic Harira
The Spruce
This zesty lentil, tomato, and chickpea soup recipe yields a delicious, hearty harira which can be served as a light supper. Although it's especially popular in Ramadan, Moroccans enjoy it year-round and even serve it at breakfast.
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Moroccan Dchicha Soup With Cracked Wheat
Christine Benlafquih
Cracked wheat (dchicha dyal zraa') is used to make this easy, satisfying Moroccan soup. The recipe yields a somewhat peppery broth; reduce the ginger and pepper slightly for a milder soup.
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Moroccan Kalinti (Karane)
The Spruce / Christine Benlafquih
Kalinti (also called karane or karantika, and garantita in Algeria) is a flan- or quiche-like dish made from chickpea flour and eggs. It's popular in the north of Morocco, where it's sold by the slice as street food.
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Moroccan Bocadillo With Tuna
Getty Images / Rita Maas
The word bocadillo is Spanish, but Moroccans also use it to describe a hoagie-style sandwich which is sold as street food and widely available in sandwich shops. This version features a popular combination of tuna, olives, onions, and boiled potatoes.
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Moroccan Sausage and Egg Tagine
The Spruce / Christine Benlafquih
Merguez sausage is both a convenience and comfort food that many families serve with eggs. Here, this simple tagine dish is made even more flavorful by adding some onion, tomatoes, and olives along with the meat.
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Moroccan Meatball Tagine (Kefta Mkaouara)
The Spruce / Victoria Heydt
Moroccan meatball tagine is a classic family dish that's good enough to serve to familiar guests. Well-seasoned meatballs are cooked in a spicy tomato sauce. Eggs are an optional but classic addition. Use a traditional tagine or a deep, wide skillet with a lid.
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Moroccan Fried Liver and Onions
The Spruce / Cure Art
Sliced liver is marinated with cumin and paprika and then cooked with a generous quantity of fried or caramelized onions. Make the Moroccan fried liver spicier by adding cayenne pepper, and serve on a bed of mashed potatoes (puré de batata) for a satisfying, homestyle meal.
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Moroccan Lamb or Beef Brochettes
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Grilled meats are mostly enjoyed as simple, casual meals with khobz or batbout, Moroccan salad of roasted pepper and tomatoes, and steaming hot Moroccan mint tea. This recipe for marinated lamb or beef kebabs is very popular.
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Seffa Medfouna
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Seffa is a famous Moroccan dish which features a mound of steamed vermicelli or couscous sweetened with raisins, butter, and confectioners' sugar. Ground fried almonds are a traditional garnish. In this recipe, a savory, saffron-infused preparation of meat or chicken is buried within the seffa, transforming it from a dessert course into a main dish.
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Moroccan Tagine With Dried Apricots
Getty Images / Hipokrat
Tagines are slow-cooked stews traditionally prepared in clay or ceramic bakeware. Although practically any tagine qualifies as comfort food, meat, and dried fruit tagines are especially satisfying with their blend of sweet and spicy flavors. This version with dried apricots can be made with lamb, beef, or even chicken.
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Moroccan Chicken Rfissa
The Spruce / Christine Benlafquih
Although rfissa is often prepared as a special occasion dish, it also qualifies as comfort food at its best. A fragrant and flavorful chicken and lentil stew is seasoned with saffron, ginger, ras el hanout, and fenugreek, which contribute to its unique flavor.
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Moroccan Mrouzia
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Mrouzia—sometimes spelled m'rouzia—is a sweet and spicy Moroccan tagine traditionally prepared in the days following Eid Al Adha, or Eid Al Kabirr. Lamb is most popular at this time, but beef or goat meat can also be used. Even when served outside of Eid, the dish tends to be enjoyed with much sentiment.
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The Best Moroccan Chicken Tagine
The Spruce
Chicken with preserved lemons is a popular family dish that is also often offered to guests. Marinating the chicken for a few hours or overnight is optional. This version of the recipe explains traditional preparation when cooking in an authentic tagine as well as in the oven.
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Moroccan Mechoui Roasted Lamb Spareribs
Getty Images / Mohamed Imzilen
This is an easy, delicious way to prepare slabs of lamb spareribs. The meat is coated with a butter, herb, and spice mixture, and then slow-roasted in the oven to buttery tenderness. Optional basting with honey adds sticky, finger-licking sweetness. Serve the spareribs with salt and cumin for dipping.
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Moroccan Cow Feet With Chickpeas and Raisins
The Spruce / Christine Benlafquih
Variety meats may not top the list of comfort foods in the West, but many Moroccans appreciate the traditional flavors and textures of cow feet with chickpeas and raisins as a homestyle treat.
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Moroccan Fava Bean (Broad Bean) Dip or Soup - Bessara
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Dried fava beans (ful in Arabic), garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil are used to make a tangy Moroccan dip called bessara. Serve bessara as a vegetarian main dish or offer it as a side. If you like, it can be thinned and eaten as a soup.
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Moroccan Zaalouk
Pixel Stories / Stocksy United A number of Moroccan salads are, in fact, dips. Zaalouk, a zesty cooked salad of eggplant and tomato is one homey, satisfying example. Although it's often offered as a side, it can suffice as a vegetarian main dish when served with crusty Moroccan bread.
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Moroccan Vegetarian Carrot and Chickpea Tagine
The Spruce / Christine Benlafquih
This spicy vegetarian carrot and chickpea tagine is quite versatile and very satisfying. Although tagines are traditionally served with Moroccan bread for scooping everything up like a dip, this dish works quite well over a bed of rice or couscous.
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Sfenj: Moroccan Doughnuts
Getty Images / Luaeva
Both street food and comfort food, sfenj are Moroccan doughnuts made by deep-frying a sticky, unsweetened yeast dough. Serve them warm, either plain or dusted with sugar, for breakfast or tea time.
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Moroccan Beghrir (Semolina Honeycomb Pancakes)
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Beghrir are tender Moroccan pancakes made from semolina. Yeast in the crepe-like batter causes hundreds of bubbles to form and break on the surface of each pancake as it cooks. This gives beghrir its unique texture and appearance. They're usually served dipped in a bubbling hot syrup of butter and honey.
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Moroccan Msemen
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This square-shaped version of rghaif (a type of dough which is shaped and pan fried) is an example of comfort breakfast or tea time fare in Morocco. Although they can be eaten plain, many Moroccans like msemen best with a traditional coating of hot syrup made from butter and honey.
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Moroccan Ktefa
The Spruce / Christine Benlafquih
Ktefa, a traditional dessert, is at the top of many comfort food lists. Crispy warqa pastry is layered with sweetened fried almonds and a custard sauce (crème anglaise) scented with orange flower water to make a wonderful meal finale or snack.