Famous Food in Morocco: 17 Dishes You Have to Try

What food is Morocco famous for? Tagine, couscous, pastilla, harira and mint tea are the big five, and right behind them come pancakes like msemen and baghrir, street food like snail soup and grilled kebabs, and honey-soaked sweets like chebakia.

Below are 17 dishes worth knowing, whether you’re planning a trip or cooking Moroccan food at home. For each one you’ll find what it is, when Moroccans eat it, and a link to our recipe when we have one.

The 17 dishes at a glance

Dish	What it is	When Moroccans eat it
Tagine	Slow-cooked stew in a clay pot	Lunch, most days
Couscous	Steamed semolina with meat and vegetables	Friday lunch
Pastilla	Sweet and savory filled pie	Weddings and celebrations
Mint tea	Green tea with fresh mint and sugar	All day
Harira	Tomato, lentil and chickpea soup	Ramadan sunset, winter
Chebakia	Honey-soaked sesame cookies	Ramadan
Zaalouk	Warm eggplant and tomato dip	Before the main dish
Tanjia	Beef or lamb slow-cooked in a clay jar	Marrakech weekends
Briouats	Filled pastry triangles and cigars	Parties and Ramadan
Snail soup	Snails in a spiced broth	Street food at night
Msemen	Square layered pancakes	Breakfast and tea time
Baghrir	Thousand-hole pancakes	Breakfast and tea time
Kebabs	Grilled meat skewers and kefta	Street food, any time
Sardines with chermoula	Sardines with a herb marinade	Coastal towns
Roast chicken and fries	Rotisserie chicken, fries, salad	Quick lunch or dinner
Seffa	Sweet vermicelli with chicken	Weddings
Rfissa	Msemen in chicken and lentil broth	After a birth, family gatherings

Tagine

Tagine is both the clay pot with the cone-shaped lid and the slow-cooked stew made in it. Meat or fish cooks gently with vegetables, spices and very little water, so the sauce ends up thick and full of flavor. You scoop it up with bread, not a fork. It’s the dish most people link with Moroccan cuisine, and there are endless versions. If you’ve got a tagine pot at home, start with our guide on how to cook with a tagine.

A few classics to try: chicken with preserved lemons and olives (ours is with potatoes and olives), lamb with prunes for something sweet and festive, chicken tagine with homemade fries, and a simple vegan potato and tomato tagine.

Couscous

Friday is couscous day in Morocco. After the midday prayer, families gather around one big plate of steamed semolina topped with meat or chicken and a pile of vegetables, usually seven of them. The grains are steamed two or three times over the simmering stew, which is what makes homemade couscous so light compared to the instant kind.

Here’s our Moroccan couscous recipe, steamed the traditional way.

Pastilla

Pastilla (also spelled bastilla) is the dish that surprises everyone: a crisp, flaky pie filled with spiced chicken or pigeon, eggs and almonds, then dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon on top. Sweet and savory in the same bite. It’s a dish for weddings and big family dinners, and it’s worth ordering if you see it on a menu. More on its history on Wikipedia.

There’s also a seafood version, filled with shrimp, fish and vermicelli in a spicy, lemony sauce. No sugar on this one.

Mint Tea

Mint tea isn’t a dish, but you can’t talk about Moroccan food without it. Green tea is brewed with a big handful of fresh mint and plenty of sugar, then poured from high up into small glasses so it foams. It’s served at breakfast, after meals, in shops while you bargain, and to every guest who walks through the door.

Want to make it at home? Here’s our Moroccan mint tea recipe.

Harira

Harira is the soup that breaks the fast during Ramadan in almost every Moroccan home: tomatoes, lentils, chickpeas, fresh herbs and a little meat, thickened at the end until it’s silky. It’s usually served with dates, boiled eggs and chebakia. You’ll also find it at weddings and on cold winter nights. Try our Moroccan harira recipe, and see what else Moroccans eat during Ramadan.

Chebakia

Chebakia are flower-shaped cookies flavored with sesame, anise and orange blossom, fried and then soaked in honey. Sticky, crunchy and very sweet, they’re made in huge batches before Ramadan and eaten alongside harira at sunset. Here’s our chebakia recipe.

Zaalouk

Zaalouk is a cooked eggplant and tomato salad, more like a warm dip, seasoned with garlic, cumin and paprika. It’s one of the small cooked salads that come to the table before the main dish, and it’s eaten with bread. Make it with our zaalouk recipe.

Tanjia

Tanjia is Marrakech’s own dish. Beef or lamb goes into a tall clay jar with preserved lemon, garlic, cumin, saffron and smen, and the jar is taken to the man who tends the fire of the neighborhood hammam. He buries it in the hot ashes for hours, and it comes back meltingly tender. It’s often called a bachelor’s dish, since it needs no real cooking skill, just patience. Read more on Wikipedia, and learn to make the preserved lemons that give it its flavor.

Briouats

Briouats are small triangles or cigars of paper-thin pastry, folded around a filling and fried or baked. Savory ones are filled with spiced ground meat, chicken, cheese or shrimp. Sweet ones are filled with almond paste and dipped in honey. You’ll find them at every party and on the Ramadan table.

Snail Soup

Snail soup (babbouche) is pure street food. In the evening, stalls in squares like Jemaa el-Fnaa in Marrakech serve small bowls of snails in a dark broth cooked with a long list of spices and herbs. You eat the snails with a toothpick and drink the broth, which many people swear is good for digestion and colds. If you’re adventurous, it’s a must.

Msemen

Msemen are square, flaky pancakes made by stretching dough very thin, folding it into layers and cooking it on a hot pan. They’re a breakfast and tea-time favorite, eaten warm with honey and butter, and they’re sold at street stalls every morning. Here’s our msemen recipe.

If you fall for msemen, you’ll love the rest of a Moroccan breakfast too.

Baghrir

Baghrir are the thousand-hole pancakes: a thin semolina batter cooked on one side only, so the top fills with tiny holes that soak up melted butter and honey. They’re easy to make at home, so they’re a good first Moroccan recipe. Try our baghrir recipe.

Kabobs

Moroccan kebabs (often called brochettes) are small pieces of beef, lamb, liver or chicken, marinated with cumin and paprika and grilled over charcoal. Kefta, spiced ground meat pressed onto skewers, is just as popular. You’ll smell the grills before you see them, from city snack shops to the weekly souks. Make our Moroccan chicken kabobs, or read more about kebabs around the world.

Sardines with Chermoula

Morocco is one of the world’s biggest sardine producers, so it’s no surprise they’re everywhere on the coast. Fresh sardines are grilled whole, or deboned, filled with chermoula and fried in pairs. In the cities you’ll also find them mashed into spiced sardine balls and served in a sandwich.

Chermoula is the marinade that makes Moroccan fish taste Moroccan: cilantro, parsley, garlic, lemon, olive oil, cumin and paprika. The same mix goes into our fish tagine with chermoula.

Roasted Chicken with Fries

Walk past any snack restaurant in Morocco and you’ll see chickens turning on a rotisserie, marinated in cumin, paprika, turmeric and garlic. They’re served with a pile of fries, a little salad, bread and a spicy sauce. Simple, cheap and very popular. At home, chicken and fries often come together as a chicken tagine with homemade fries.

Seffa with Chicken

Seffa is steamed vermicelli (or couscous) piled into a dome and covered in cinnamon, powdered sugar and toasted almonds, with chicken or lamb hidden inside. It’s sweet and savory at once and a classic at weddings and celebrations. Here’s our Moroccan seffa with chicken.

Rfissa

Rfissa is shredded msemen (or thin flatbread) soaked in a chicken and lentil broth flavored with ras el hanout and fenugreek. It’s the traditional dish served to a new mother after she gives birth, and it also shows up at family gatherings. It’s comfort food in the truest sense. More on Wikipedia.

How to eat like a local

• Bread is your spoon. Tear off a piece of khobz and use it to scoop up tagine, salads and sauce.
• Eat from your side of the plate. Tagine and couscous are served on one big shared dish. Stick to the part in front of you and let the host push the best pieces your way.
• Use your right hand. It’s the polite hand for eating and passing food.
• Say yes to tea. Turning down a glass of mint tea can feel a bit cold. Accept at least one.
• Plan around Fridays and Ramadan. Couscous is easiest to find on Fridays. During Ramadan many cafés close in the day, but the evenings are full of food.

Famous Moroccan food FAQ

What is the national dish of Morocco?

Couscous is usually called the national dish, and it’s the one served every Friday. Tagine and harira are close behind.

What should I eat first in Morocco?

Start with breakfast: msemen or baghrir with honey and mint tea. Then a tagine for lunch, and grilled kebabs or snail soup from a street stall in the evening. Our guide to a Moroccan breakfast will help you order.

Is Moroccan food spicy?

Mostly not. It’s full of spices like cumin, ginger, cinnamon and saffron, but it’s warm and fragrant rather than hot. Chili is usually on the side.

Is Moroccan food vegetarian friendly?

Fairly. Zaalouk, bissara, vegetable tagines, lentils and the breakfast table are all meat-free. Ask for couscous or tagine without meat and most places can do it.

Planning a trip? Read 10 things to know before visiting Morocco and our Marrakech guide.