Moroccan Harira

History

Harira is a thick soup made from tomatoes, lentils, chickpeas, and often small pieces of meat, flavored with ginger, turmeric, cilantro, and celery, then thickened at the end of cooking with tedouira, a flour-and-water mixture stirred in gradually to avoid lumps. This soup holds an absolutely central place in Moroccan culinary tradition, where it’s the ritual dish served every evening to break the Ramadan fast, alongside dates and chebakia, a sesame-and-honey pastry.

While related versions exist in neighboring Algeria and Tunisia, each with its own spice and legume variations, Moroccan harira stands out for its texture, specifically thickened with tedouira, a technique characteristic of Maghrebi cuisine that sets it apart from other, thinner Mediterranean legume soups. Outside of Ramadan, it remains eaten year-round as a comforting dish, especially in winter.

Ingredients — for 6 people

• 300 g (10 oz) crushed tomatoes, 150 g (¾ cup) lentils
• 150 g (1 cup) cooked chickpeas
• 300 g (10 oz) lamb or beef, in small pieces
• 1 onion, celery, fresh cilantro and parsley
• Ginger, turmeric, cinnamon
• 30 g (¼ cup) flour (for the tedouira), lemon juice

Step-by-step Moroccan harira recipe

1. Sauté the meat with the onion, celery, and spices in a large pot.
2. Add the crushed tomatoes and a generous amount of water, and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Stir in the lentils and chickpeas, and continue cooking until the meat is tender.
4. Whisk the flour into a little cold water to make the tedouira, without lumps.
5. Pour the tedouira in a thin stream into the simmering soup, stirring constantly until thickened.
6. Add the chopped cilantro, parsley, and a squeeze of lemon juice just before serving, piping hot.

Cooking Method

Technique: a long simmer of legumes and meat, finished with the tedouira poured in a steady stream to thicken it without forming lumps.

Traditional equipment: a large clay or metal pot, a whisk or wooden spoon for incorporating the tedouira.

Signs to watch for: always pour the tedouira in gradually while stirring nonstop — poured in all at once, it will inevitably clump.

Nutrition, per serving

Calculated from the raw ingredient quantities above, divided across six servings.

Six grams of fiber per serving is a meaningful figure for a soup — lentils and chickpeas both contribute, and together with the flour-thickened tedouira they also explain most of the carbohydrate. Protein, at 18 g, comes from a mix of the legumes and the small amount of meat, rather than from meat alone, which keeps the dish substantial without being especially fatty.

Economic context

Harira is built almost entirely from pantry legumes, tomatoes and a modest amount of meat, which is exactly why a Ramadan tradition built around feeding an entire household every evening for a month can rest on it: it scales cheaply, and none of its core ingredients are seasonal luxuries.

Source: World Bank / FAO, Food Prices for Nutrition database (Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet) v4.0, 2024 data, CC BY 4.0, DOI 10.57966/41AN-KY81. Retrieved 29 July 2026. This figure describes the cost of a healthy diet in Morocco generally — it is not a costing of this specific recipe.

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