Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Adasi
A warming Persian lentil breakfast stew spiced with turmeric, cumin, and cinnamon.
Iranian · easy · serves 4
prep 10 min · cook 50 min
~304 cal · 19g protein · 53g carbs · 2g fat · 10g fiber · 5g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Adasi is a warming Persian lentil breakfast stew, brown lentils cooked soft and spiced with turmeric, cumin, and sometimes cinnamon, mashed to a thick, comforting consistency. Filling and cheap, it is a good way to start a cold morning in Iran.
The dish is simple and economical, the lentils simmered with onion and warm spices until they break down into a rich, savory porridge, often brightened with lemon and topped with fried onions or mint. It is prized for its sustaining warmth.
Sold at traditional breakfast eateries and made at home across Iran, adasi is everyday food, eaten with flatbread, especially in winter.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
1.5 cups brown lentils
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 lime
3 tbsp olive oil
5 cups water
to taste salt
1 onion, thinly sliced and fried until golden (to garnish)
Instructions
1
Soften the onion and garlic in the oil, then add the spices.
2
Add the lentils and water and simmer until very soft, about 40 minutes.
3
Mash some of the lentils to thicken.
4
Season with salt and a good squeeze of lime.
5
Serve hot with flatbread, topped with the crisp fried onions and a final drizzle of olive oil.
✎ Chef’s note
A heap of golden fried onions on top is the classic Iranian finish for adasi; some cooks also dust it with golpar (Persian hogweed).
Tehran tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Tehran. Ghormeh sabzi is less purely Persian than its reputation suggests. The dried limes are limoo omani, developed in Oman, and ghormeh is a borrowed Ottoman Turkish word for an old method of preserving meat. What is not negotiable is dried fenugreek leaf, without which it becomes a different stew entirely.
🗺️
Iran. The best part of the rice is the bit stuck to the pan. Tahdig is the crust formed at the bottom of the pot, sometimes plain rice, sometimes lined first with potato slices or flatbread or yoghurt-loosened rice, and it is turned out and fought over. Ghormeh sabzi and fesenjan are the two khoresh to know, one green with herbs and dried lime, the other dark with walnut and pomegranate.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Iran
Ghormeh SabziIran’s beloved herb stew: mountains of sautéed greens, kidney beans, dried limes, and lamb over saffron rice.
Ash-e ReshtehOne of Iran’s best-loved thick soups: legumes and a mountain of herbs simmered with reshteh noodles, finished with tangy kashk, sizzled mint, and caramelized onion.
Chelo Kabab KoobidehGrilled skewers of seasoned minced meat with saffron buttered rice and grilled tomato, Iran's national dish.
Browse all Iran recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a Iran meal
SekanjabinDrink
Sholeh ZardDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Adasi?
A warming Persian lentil breakfast stew spiced with turmeric, cumin, and cinnamon.
Where does Adasi come from?
Adasi is a Iranian dish from Tehran, Iran.
Can Adasi be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Adasi recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Adasi safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Adasi take to make?
About 60 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 50 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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