Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Palestinian Maqluba
The Palestinian upside-down pot: spiced chicken, fried vegetables and rice layered, cooked, then flipped into a tower.
Palestinian · medium · serves 6
prep 40 min · cook 70 min
~550 cal · 44g protein · 65g carbs · 11g fat · 3g fiber · 3g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Maqluba means upside down in Arabic, and this Palestinian celebration dish earns the name at the table, where the pot is inverted to reveal a tower of golden fried vegetables crowning spiced rice and tender chicken. Layers of eggplant, cauliflower and potato are fried, stacked with the meat and rice, and simmered in a fragrant broth of cinnamon, allspice and .
The drama is in the flip: a whole pot turned onto a platter so the once-bottom vegetables shine on top. Families across the West Bank make their own version for Friday gatherings, served with cool yogurt and a chopped salad.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, 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
2 lb chicken pieces
2 cups long-grain rice
1 large eggplant, sliced
1/2 head cauliflower florets
1 large potato, sliced
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp baharat or seven-spice blend
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 cup olive oil
enough to cover water
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Simmer the chicken with the onion, half the baharat, cinnamon and salt in water until cooked, about 25 minutes. Strain and reserve the broth.
2
Fry or roast the eggplant, cauliflower and potato slices in batches until golden, then drain on paper towels.
3
Rinse and soak the rice, then toss with the remaining baharat and turmeric.
4
Layer the fried vegetables and chicken in the bottom of a heavy pot, spread the rice on top, and pour over the hot reserved broth to cover the rice by a finger width.
✎ Chef’s note
Taste the broth before adding: it should be a touch saltier than you want, since the rice will absorb it.
5
Bring to a boil, then cover and cook on low 40 minutes. Rest off the heat 15 minutes.
6
Set a platter over the pot and confidently invert. Lift the pot away to reveal the tower, and serve with yogurt and salad.
Palestinian family recipe.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
West Bank. Musakhan means heated, and the name comes from farmers warming yesterday's taboon bread through with the new oil. It belongs particularly to the Tulkarm and Jenin area, it is made at the olive harvest when the oil is fresh and green, and pine nuts or almonds go over the top of it.
🗺️
Palestine. Musakhan means heated, and the dish began as a way of using day-old taboon bread: soaked with new olive oil, piled with onions cooked slowly with sumac, and topped with chicken. It is associated with the Tulkarm and Jenin area and is made at olive-harvest time, when the first pressing of the year is running and the oil is at its sharpest.
🌍
Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Palestine
MusakhanSumac-and-onion roasted chicken over olive-oil-soaked taboon bread, showered with toasted pine nuts, Palestine on a platter.
Labneh with Za'atarThick strained yogurt swirled with olive oil and za'atar, scooped with warm taboon bread.
MaftoulHand-rolled Palestinian couscous simmered with chicken and chickpeas in a warmly spiced broth, a warming village dish.
Browse all Palestine recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Oven.
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it a Palestine meal
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QatayefDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Palestinian Maqluba?
The Palestinian upside-down pot: spiced chicken, fried vegetables and rice layered, cooked, then flipped into a tower.
Where does Palestinian Maqluba come from?
Palestinian Maqluba is a Palestinian dish from West Bank, Palestine.
Can Palestinian Maqluba be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Palestinian Maqluba 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 Palestinian Maqluba 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 Palestinian Maqluba take to make?
About 110 minutes total (40 minutes prep, 70 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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