Moroccan cuisine is one of the great food traditions of the world — built on centuries of Andalusian, Berber, Arab and sub-Saharan influence. This is the definitive guide to 30 dishes every visitor should eat before leaving.
The Foundations: Tagine and Couscous
A tagine is both the clay cooking vessel and the slow-cooked stew made within it. The conical lid traps steam, returning moisture to the ingredients over two to three hours of cooking — the result is meat that falls from the bone in liquid infused with preserved lemon, olives, cumin, saffron and ras el hanout. The most essential versions are chicken with preserved lemon and green olives; lamb with prunes and almonds (mrouzia); and kefta (spiced ground meat) with egg. Couscous is the other national centrepiece — hand-rolled semolina grains steamed over a broth of seven vegetables. By tradition it is served on Fridays after the midday prayer, and the best couscous in Morocco is eaten in a family home rather than a restaurant.
Moroccan Cuisine in Numbers
30+
Spices in ras el hanout
3 hrs
Minimum tagine cook time
7
Vegetables in traditional couscous
800+
Years of Fassi pastilla tradition
50,000t
Chinese green tea imported annually
The Bread That Is Everything: Khobz and Msemen
Moroccan meals begin and end with bread. Khobz is the round, slightly domed leavened loaf baked in communal neighbourhood ovens (farrans) throughout the day. Families still mix dough at home, stamp it with their identifying mark, and send it to the farran on a wooden board. Msemen is the flaky, layered griddle bread made by folding and refolding semolina dough with butter and oil. It is eaten at breakfast with honey and argan oil, served with harira at sunset during Ramadan, or rolled around kefta as a street snack. Harcha, made from fine semolina, is grittier and perfect with goat's cheese.
I spent two weeks eating my way through Fes and Marrakech. Nothing prepared me for the pastilla — that moment when sweet icing sugar hits savoury pigeon and egg filling is completely unlike anything else in the world.
Soups That Sustain: Harira and Bissara
Harira is Morocco's national soup — a rich, tomato-based broth thickened with flour and filled with chickpeas, lentils, lamb or beef pieces, celery, coriander and parsley. It breaks the Ramadan fast every evening across the country, but is eaten year-round. Bissara, the fava bean puree drizzled with olive oil and dusted with cumin and paprika, is the Marrakchi worker's breakfast — deeply warming, cheap at 8 to 10 dirhams, and found at small stalls in the Mellah and the artisan quarters where it fuels the craftsmen through the morning.
30 Moroccan Dishes to Eat Before You Leave
- Chicken tagine with preserved lemon and green olives
- Lamb mrouzia — slow-cooked with honey, almonds and saffron
- Kefta tagine with spiced ground beef and egg
- Friday couscous with seven vegetables and lamb broth
- Pastilla — pigeon pie in warka pastry dusted with cinnamon sugar
- Harira — the national tomato, chickpea and lentil soup
- Bissara — fava bean puree with cumin and argan oil
- Rfissa — shredded msemen in fenugreek and chicken broth
- Trid — layered crepe dish with chicken, lentils and onions
- Mechoui — whole slow-roasted lamb carved at the table
- Zaalouk — roasted aubergine and tomato salad with cumin
- Taktouka — roasted pepper and tomato cooked in olive oil
- Briouats — filo triangles filled with spiced lamb or almond paste
- Khobz — round leavened loaf baked in neighbourhood communal ovens
- Msemen — layered griddle bread with butter and honey
- Harcha — semolina flatbread, perfect with fresh goat's cheese
- Aghroum — Amazigh barley flatbread cooked over an open fire
- Grilled sardines from the Essaouira or Agadir port stalls
- Sea bass chermoula — marinated in coriander, cumin and lemon
- Calamari fried in spiced batter from Atlantic coast port restaurants
- Babbouche — snail soup in spiced thyme and liquorice broth
- Chebakia — sesame and honey pretzel coated in orange blossom syrup
- Kaab el ghazal — almond and orange blossom crescent pastries
- Sellou — roasted flour, almond and sesame energy paste
- Fresh-squeezed orange juice from the Djemaa el-Fna stalls
- Amlou — argan oil, honey and almond paste served with bread
- Jben — fresh Rif Mountain goat's cheese with olive oil
- Smen — aged salted butter used in couscous broth and festive dishes
- Khlii — preserved dried beef, a traditional Marrakchi breakfast protein
- Moroccan mint tea — three glasses from bitter to sweet
The Festive Centrepiece: Pastilla
Pastilla (or bastilla) is the pinnacle of Moroccan culinary refinement. Layers of warka pastry — gossamer-thin sheets made by touching wet dough to a hot plate — encase a filling of spiced pigeon (or chicken), beaten eggs, almonds and onions. The finished pie is dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon, creating a sweet-savoury contrast that surprises every first-time eater and convinces every second-time one. It is labour-intensive enough that it is served primarily at celebrations and in serious restaurants. In Fes, it is considered the city's greatest dish and the restaurants of the medina treat it accordingly.
Where to Eat the Real Thing
Avoid tagines and couscous in restaurants facing Djemaa el-Fna in Marrakech — turnover is high and shortcuts are common. Instead, ask your riad owner for a lunch recommendation in the residential quarters. In Fes, the neighbourhood around Rue Serrajine near the Attarine souk has honest working-class restaurants serving proper Fassi food at 40 to 60 dirhams for a full meal.
Pastries and Street Sweets
Chebakia is a sesame-and-honey pretzel deep-fried then coated in orange blossom syrup; it is the traditional sweet of Ramadan. Kaab el ghazal ('gazelle horns') are crescent-shaped pastries with an almond and orange blossom paste interior — delicate, not too sweet, and found at every pastry counter. Sellou is a dense, crumbled mixture of roasted flour, fried almonds, sesame seeds, honey and butter eaten as an energy food during Ramadan and at celebrations. Briouats are small triangular filo pastries filled with spiced lamb or almond paste, deep-fried and served as both starter and sweet.
Seafood on the Atlantic Coast
Morocco's Atlantic coastline produces some of the finest seafood in the world. In Essaouira, the port-side fish grill stalls at Moulay Hassan Square sell sardines, calamari, sea bass and prawns by weight, grilled over charcoal and served with bread and chermoula. In Agadir, the fish souk near the port sells the same quality for half the price. Zaalouk — a cold salad of roasted aubergine and tomato with cumin and garlic — alongside a grilled fish is one of the most perfect pairings in the cuisine. Do not leave the Moroccan coast without eating it.
The Spice Vocabulary: Ras el Hanout and Argan Oil
Ras el hanout ('head of the shop') is a blend of up to 40 spices — including rose petals, mace, cubeb pepper and dried ginger — whose recipe varies by spice merchant and is a closely guarded professional secret. Chermoula is a wet herb paste of fresh coriander, flat-leaf parsley, cumin, paprika, garlic and lemon used as a marinade for fish. Argan oil — pressed from the nuts of the argan tree unique to the Souss valley of southern Morocco — appears in both savoury cooking and the breakfast condiment amlou (argan oil, honey and almond paste). These are not interchangeable pantry items; each has a specific role in the dish.
