My Cookbook: Souk to Table 
Best Ful Medames (Egyptian Beans)
Ful Medames is a traditional Egyptian style breakfast dish. It’s hands down one of the best ways to enjoy beans! If you’re not familiar with the dish, it’s one that’s said to date as far back as ancient Egypt. You gotta love the ancient wisdom behind this dish. It’s such a powerhouse of a breakfast, packed with nutrients and lots of protein to keep you going for the day. But hey – I also have it for lunch or dinner. Basically anytime because it’s that delicious.
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I love to make Ful Medames with a good amount of cumin, and lots of olive oil and fresh veggies like onions, tomato and parsley. Just picture grabbing that pita bread and digging in! And if you’re wondering where you can find Ful Medames (Egyptian Beans), then I recommend visiting your local middle eastern grocer. They will definitely have them there and at an inexpensive price. And to give you an idea of what the can will look like, it’ll be similar to this one on Amazon.
This traditional breakfast is enjoyed by many across the Middle East, and you can customize it to suit your taste buds. Many versions also include garlic, which is delicious, but I try to stay away from garlic if I’m having it for breakfast. My 3 core ingredients must be the onion, cumin and lemon – they work great together. But if I’m in a rush, I will sometimes skip the onions because it’ll cut down on cooking time and you’ll still enjoy the dish. Finally, what you really can’t skip when having Ful Medames, is that generous drizzle of olive oil at the end. It’s magical. I hope you give it a try and let me know what you think!
For more easy breakfast recipes, check out:
Ful Medames (Egyptian Style Beans)
Ingredients
- 800 grams Ful (Fava Beans), or mixed ful and chickpeas, 2 cans
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 onion
- 1 tomato, large
- 1 cup parsley, chopped
- 1/2 lemon Juice
- 1/3 cup water or reserved ful liquid
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1.5 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Dash black pepper, per preference
- Extra olive oil for garnish
Instructions
- Start by finely dicing the onion and cooking in the olive oil on medium heat for 3-4 minutes
- Drain and rinse the ful and chickpeas and place in a large plate. Mash well with a fork
- Add the mashed ful and chickpeas to the pan and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Add all the seasoning and mix well
- Dice the tomato and add to the pan. Mix well and continue to cook for a few minutes. Add the water if the mixture looks dry.
- Taste and adjust for seasoning. Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice and chopped parsley. Mix well
- Serve in a platter and garnish with tomato, parsley, and olive oil. Eat with pita bread and enjoy!
Thank you Amina for the recipe, very delicious and easy to make.
Lovely! Only thing is that us Egyptians rarely add chickpeas!
Hi Safaa, Humaira here from the HP Team. You are definitely correct, the Egyptian version does not have chickpeas in it typically. Some regions of the Levant do have variations with chickpeas. The option is there to just use ful or ful and chickpeas. Thank you for your comment!
I made this today, it was simple and delicious!
So glad you enjoyed it Sumera! 🙂
I agree. Ful is an all-day recipe! I have it for dinner pretty often, but I have many fond memories from my days in the Middle East when I’d stop by one of many local shops and have it as a late breakfast.
That’s such a nice memory Riz. I definitely feed my husband lots of Ful for dinner. He doesn’t mind – thankfully. 🙂
Thank you for this recipe. I made ful for the first time this weekend and it was SO good!! Quick, easy and full of flavour.
The cans I used had a mix of ful and chickpeas, perfect combo.
I love the ful and chickpea combo too! Thanks so much for the review!