Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Loubia
White beans slow-simmered in a garlicky tomato sauce with cumin and paprika, a humble everyday Moroccan lunch.
Moroccan · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 90 min
~356 cal · 21g protein · 65g carbs · 2g fat · 16g fiber · 6g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Loubia is one of Morocco's most common everyday dishes, a humble, thrifty stew of white beans that is a staple of home kitchens and cheap eateries across the country. Warming and filling, it is that the simplest food can be the most satisfying.
Dried white beans are simmered slowly with a fragrant tomato sauce, plenty of garlic, and the warm Moroccan spices of cumin, paprika, and a little ginger, until soft and creamy and the sauce thickens around them. Finished with fresh coriander and olive oil, and mopped up with crusty bread, it is inexpensive, nourishing comfort, naturally vegan and deeply flavoured.
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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
2 cups dried white beans, soaked
1 onion, finely chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp ground cumin and paprika
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 cup olive oil
1 handful fresh cilantro and parsley
Instructions
1
Soften the onion and garlic in the olive oil, then stir in the tomato paste and the spices and fry them together for a couple of minutes until the paste darkens.
✎ Chef’s note
Frying the tomato paste with the onion rather than dropping it into the water is the tkalya, the flavour base of every Moroccan stew. It cooks out the raw acidity and gives loubia its deep red colour.
2
Add the soaked beans, the chopped tomato, the bay leaf, and plenty of water, and simmer until the beans are nearly tender, about 1 hour.
3
Keep cooking uncovered until the beans are soft and creamy and the sauce has thickened around them.
✎ Chef’s note
Let the beans cook down until some break and thicken the sauce naturally; that creaminess is what makes a good loubia.
4
Season well and stir in the fresh herbs.
5
Serve hot with crusty bread.
Moroccan home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Casablanca-Settat. Casablanca-Settat is Morocco's Atlantic heartland, two farming plains, the Doukkala and the Chaouia, running down to a working coast. Oualidia's sheltered lagoon makes it the country's oyster capital, El Jadida and Mohammedia grill the day's catch at the port, and Settat presses some of Morocco's best olive oil. Couscous on Fridays, chermoula-marinated fish, and preserved lemon run through its cooking, and Casablanca eats all of it at once.
🗺️
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. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
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
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 Loubia?
White beans slow-simmered in a garlicky tomato sauce with cumin and paprika, a humble everyday Moroccan lunch.
Where does Loubia come from?
Loubia is a Moroccan dish from Casablanca-Settat, Morocco.
Can Loubia be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Loubia 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 Loubia 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 Loubia take to make?
About 105 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 90 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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