Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Kefta Mkaouara (Meatball Tagine)
Spiced meatballs simmered in a cumin-scented tomato sauce with eggs cracked on top, a bubbling tagine eaten with bread.
Moroccan · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 35 min
~500 cal · 46g protein · 16g carbs · 27g fat · 4g fiber · 8g sugars · 10g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Kefta mkaouara is a Moroccan comfort-food of spiced meatballs simmered in a cumin-and-paprika-scented tomato sauce, with eggs cracked over the top in the final minutes to in the bubbling sauce. It is homier and quicker than the grand , the kind of dish cooked on an ordinary weeknight.
The kefta, beef or lamb kneaded with cumin, paprika, parsley, and onion, carry the warm spicing of Moroccan cooking, while the tomato sauce cooks down thick and sweet-savory around them. The eggs, set with soft yolks, turn it into a complete one-pot meal.
Served straight from the earthenware in the center of the table, it is eaten communally with bread torn to scoop up meatballs, sauce, and egg together. Unpretentious, it's the sort of everyday Moroccan dish that families make again and again.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, 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
1.25 lbs ground beef or lamb
1 onion, grated
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon (for the kefta)
1 tsp black pepper
28 oz crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
4 cloves garlic
4 eggs
3 tbsp olive oil
1 loaf bread, to serve
Instructions
1
Mix the meat (or plant mince and lentils) with half the grated onion, half the herbs, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, black pepper, and salt.
2
Roll the mixture into small, walnut-sized meatballs.
3
Make the sauce: soften the rest of the onion and the garlic in olive oil, then add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and a little more cumin.
4
Simmer the sauce 10 minutes, until slightly thickened.
5
Slip the meatballs into the sauce and simmer 20 minutes, turning them gently now and then.
6
Make wells in the sauce and crack in the eggs (or scatter over chickpeas), then cover and cook 5 minutes until the whites just set.
✎ Chef’s note
Cover the pan once the eggs go in so they steam-poach in the sauce, whites set but yolks still soft.
7
Scatter over the remaining herbs and bring the whole tagine to the table with bread for scooping.
Marrakesh everyday tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Marrakesh-Safi. Red-walled Marrakech is Morocco's capital of slow food, where clay tagines of lamb, prunes, and preserved lemon steam in every riad. The Jemaa el-Fnaa square becomes an open-air kitchen each night, and spice souks perfume the medina.
🗺️
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.
BaghrirSpongy "thousand-hole" semolina pancakes drenched in a warm honey-and-butter syrup.
Browse all Morocco 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.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Kefta Mkaouara (Meatball Tagine)?
Spiced meatballs simmered in a cumin-scented tomato sauce with eggs cracked on top, a bubbling tagine eaten with bread.
Where does Kefta Mkaouara (Meatball Tagine) come from?
Kefta Mkaouara (Meatball Tagine) is a Moroccan dish from Marrakesh-Safi, Morocco.
Can Kefta Mkaouara (Meatball Tagine) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kefta Mkaouara (Meatball Tagine) 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 Kefta Mkaouara (Meatball Tagine) 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 Kefta Mkaouara (Meatball Tagine) take to make?
About 55 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 35 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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