The Top 10 Authentic Moroccan Recipes

Introduction

After making a few Moroccan recipes, we fell in love with this cuisine and kept getting drawn back to these types of recipes. We thought we would put together a consolidated compilation of our top favorite recipes to make from the area. Keep reading to get to our Top 10 Authentic Moroccan Recipes but first, we thought we’d share with you the ins and outs of Moroccan cooking.

Tell me about Morocco

Morocco is a North African country that is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West, the Mediterranean Sea to the North, Western Sahara to the South, and Algeria to the East. It’s capital is Rabat although it’s largest city if Casablanca which you might recognize from the 1942 film staring Humphrey Bogart. Founded in the year 788 AD, Morocco has a long-standing history and rich culture. Its official languages are Arabic and Berber.

What is Moroccan Cuisine?

Moroccan cooking is all about combining bold and aromatic spices to create incredible aromatic and colorful dishes. When cooking these recipes, you aren’t afraid to combine the sweetness of pomegranates, honey, and raisins with the savory components of spiced marinated lamb or chicken. Also prevalent is the combination of different textures in a single recipe.

Meals are often served with a neutral side such as flatbread or couscous which can soak up the extra sauce from the dishes so that nothing is left behind.

What spices are used in Moroccan Recipes?

Robust and earthy spice blends are vital to a Moroccan dish. Ras el hanout is probably the most famous Moroccan spice blend which combines nutmeg, coriander, cumin, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, paprika, cardamom powder, allspice, and cloves.

Saffron is commonly used to impart a unique color and flavor to many dishes. Sumac can be used both during cooking and sprinkled over dishes after they’re cooked to impart a warm earthy flavor. Herbs like mint, cilantro, and parsley are also used to marinate and top off dishes.

Nuts such as pistachios and almonds are used too. And while fruits like pomegranates and apricots are common, their sweetness is often balanced with a spicy component such as with harissa, a hot chili pepper paste. Although you can certainly get a premade harissa paste, there’s nothing like creating your own harissa from scratch (recipe here).

Harissa paste, used for authentic Moroccan recipes — Harissa Paste

Ras el Hanout, used for authentic Moroccan recipes — Ras el Hanout

How are authentic Moroccan recipes typically cooked?

A tagine (aka tajine) is probably the most widely-recognized Moroccan cooking vessel. Tagines appear to have originated back in the ninth century, as they were first wrote about in the story, One Thousand and One Nights.

This traditional dish is a shallow earthen pot, with a flat circular base and a cone-shaped lid designed to braise, steam, and simmer the food inside, trapping in all the flavors. In Morocco, the tagine cooks over hot charcoal, but in the confines of our small grad student apartment, we just use our stove and/or oven.

Note that while a slow cooker could also get the job done, the tagine is the more authentic way to go!

How to Cure and Season a Tagine

If you’re new to tagine cooking, you’ll want to cure and season your new tagine:

Water: submerge both components of the tagine in water for 6 hours.

Drain: remove from water, dry the tagine, and let cool for about an hour.

Season: lightly coat the inside surfaces (not the outside) of the tagine with olive oil.

Heat: place oiled tagine in a cold oven, set temperature to 350 degrees, and let it heat for about an hour

Cool: After an hour, turn off the heat and let the tagine cool down completely

Use: now your tagine is ready to cook with! To prevent cracking, just make sure not to subject the tagine to abrupt and dramatic changes in temperature.

Top 10 Authentic Moroccan Recipes by GradFood

Without further ado, we have compiled our favorite recipes from Morocco, including Moroccan main dishes, Moroccan side dishes, and Moroccan desserts.

Shakshuka

Harissa-Glazed Chicken Wings

Pastilla

Harissa-Roasted Cauliflower

Lamb & Apricot Tagine

Chicken Tagine with Olives & Raisins

Vegetable Couscous

Lamb & Chickpea Tagine

Beef Daube

Pistachio & Coconut Ghriba Cookies

Coconut Lemon Ghriba (Moroccan Cookies) — Tangy, nutty, and coconut-y, who could resist these delicious and unique Moroccan shortbread cookies?

We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about Moroccan cuisine and will make good use of our Top 10 authentic Moroccan recipes! Comment below if you have any suggestions or questions. And feel free to check out our Shop Page and/or use our Amazon links for your purchases to help support GradFood.

And if you liked this post, check out our other similar African recipe compilation, 6 Easy Authentic Ethiopian Recipes.

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