🥗 STARTER
Harira
The tomato, lentil, and chickpea soup that breaks the fast across Morocco, silky, herbal, and lemon-bright.
Moroccan · medium · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 50 min
~406 cal · 22g protein · 47g carbs · 15g fat · 8g fiber · 9g sugars · 4g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Harira is the fragrant tomato, lentil, and chickpea soup that Moroccans turn to above all others to break the daily fast during Ramadan. Thickened with a flour-and-water 'tadouira' and brightened with fresh cilantro, parsley, and a squeeze of lemon, it is simultaneously nourishing, soothing, and complex, the product of a long-simmered base of tomatoes, spices, and often a little lamb.
In the imperial cities of Fès and Meknès, harira is elevated to an art, served with and sweet honeyed 'chebakia' pastries so that the first bite after a day of fasting is both savory and sweet. Its combination of legumes and grains makes it a complete, restorative meal in a bowl.
While it is most associated with Ramadan evenings, harira is eaten year-round as a starter or a light supper. The ritual of gathering at sundown around steaming bowls of it, the whole family waiting for the call to eat together, makes it as much a social institution as a recipe.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut-, egg- 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 6
- 8 oz lamb shoulder, small dice
- 3/4 cup brown lentils
- 1.5 cups cooked chickpeas
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 2 stalks celery with leaves, chopped
- 1 yellow onion, grated
- 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1/2 cup parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- a pinch threads
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 3 tbsp flour (for the tadouira thickener)
- 1/2 cup fine
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- plenty lemon wedges, to serve
- plenty , to serve
Instructions
- 1Brown the lamb (or mushrooms) in oil with the onion, celery, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, saffron, and black pepper for about 5 minutes.
- 2Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, lentils, and 7 cups water.
- 3Simmer for 35 minutes, until the lentils are tender.
- 4Add the chickpeas and half the herbs and simmer 5 minutes more.
- 5Whisk the flour with 1 cup cold water until smooth, then stream it into the simmering soup, stirring constantly.✎ Chef’s noteThis flour-and-water thickener (the tadouira) is what gives harira its signature glossy, velvety body. Pour it in slowly while stirring so it does not clump.
- 6Stir a few minutes until the soup turns glossy, then add the vermicelli and cook 4 minutes more.
- 7Stir in the remaining herbs and serve hot, with lemon to squeeze and dates alongside.
Fès Ramadan-table tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Fès-Meknès. Bread in the medina is made at home and baked in public. Households knead their own dough, mark it with a family sign so it can be told apart, and carry it on a board to the neighbourhood ferran, the wood-fired communal oven that sits beside the mosque, the hammam and the fountain as one of the fixed points of a quarter. Tangia and pastilla go in the same way.
🗺️
Morocco. Couscous is not Morocco's alone: UNESCO inscribed the knowledge and practices around it in 2020 as a shared Algerian, Mauritanian, Moroccan and Tunisian tradition. In Moroccan homes it is the Friday dish, hand-rolled from semolina and steamed three times over the broth it will be served with, carried out on one communal platter after midday prayers.
🌍
Africa. The structure repeats across most of the continent: one starch and one sauce. A grain or root is cooked stiff, torn or rolled by hand, and used to carry a stew of leaves, groundnut, okra or fish, usually from a shared bowl and with the right hand. UNESCO listings have followed that logic, inscribing couscous in 2020 as a shared Maghreb tradition and Ivorian attieke in 2024.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Morocco
Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemon & OlivesSlow-braised chicken perfumed with saffron and ginger, brightened by salty preserved lemon and green olives.
Chicken BastillaA sweet-savory pie of spiced shredded chicken and almonds in crackling pastry, dusted with sugar and cinnamon.
Kefta Mkaouara (Meatball Tagine)Spiced meatballs simmered in a cumin-scented tomato sauce with eggs cracked on top, a bubbling tagine eaten with bread.
Browse all Morocco recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Whisk.
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
Make it a Morocco meal
Moroccan Mint TeaDrink
ChebakiaDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Harira?
The tomato, lentil, and chickpea soup that breaks the fast across Morocco, silky, herbal, and lemon-bright.
Where does Harira come from?
Harira is a Moroccan dish from Fès-Meknès, Morocco.
Can Harira be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Harira recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Harira 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 still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), 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 Harira take to make?
About 70 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 50 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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