My Cookbook: Souk to Table 
Authentic Moroccan Harira Soup
Moroccan harira soup is famous across the middle east and known to be one of the best soups you’ll ever have! It’s hearty and nutritious, with a lot of legumes like green lentils and chickpeas, tender cubes of veal, and fragrant Moroccan spices. You can also make this completely meat-free. Keep reading for my easy recipe with a few short cuts!
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5-STAR READER REVIEW
“I cannot say enough good things about this recipe. I tried making Harira during Ramadan and my family absolutely loved it. I actually was asked to make it again multiple times after that. It’s so incredibly flavorful, and so heartwarming and delicious.”
—Abir
A Soup That Can Stand on Its Own
Harira is one of the best dishes across Moroccan cuisine, often sipped on during Ramadan alongside soups like the classic lentil soup.
I love it because it’s delicious and substantial, which makes it perfect as a standalone meal. It’s traditionally made with meat (chicken, beef, veal, or lamb will work), but I have also tested it without meat and found it equally satisfying: there’s enough legumes and lentils in there!
Personally, I make it with only parsley as I have a reputation for despising cilantro, but the one time I did use cilantro…. I have to admit I liked it!
The spices are simple but work so well together: turmeric, ginger, cinnamon. These three spices create a zingy but warm combination of flavours. Finally, never skip the squeeze of lemon!
If you love soups that combine beans and noodles, this authentic afghan aush is quite similar albeit with a different flavour profile; also a must try in my books.
Let’s Make Harira
Gather the ingredients.
The ingredients for the soup are quite straight forward.
Just make sure you use the correct vermicelli noodles: the kind used in harira soup are actually not rice noodles, but in fact vermicelli pasta. The term Vermicelli usually refers to various thin pasta – much thinner than regular spaghetti. They can be tricky to find, so feel free to swap these with the same amount of rice, which will help thicken the soup towards the end.
Harira soup is a tomato-based soup, so fresh tomatoes are used, or you can replace with tomato sauce.
Start preparing your ingredients by finely dicing the onions, cutting the veal (or beef) into small cubes (about 1/4 inch in size), as well as washing and draining the lentils and canned chickpeas.
In a soup pot (I use a heavy bottom Dutch oven), start by heating the olive oil then searing the veal until browned. Once the meat is browned, add the onions and continue to cook for 5-7 minutes until they soften and caramelize.
TIP: If the meat ends up releasing a lot of water, ensure you allow the water to cook off and get the meat browned for maximum flavour!
Add the spices to the pot and cook them for 2-3 minutes to release their flavour. Then, add the tomato paste and also cook it for 2-3 minutes. Next, add the broth and the washed and drained lentils. Cover the pot and simmer for 15 minutes.
While the soup is simmering, blend the tomatoes, celery and parsley (or cilantro) until liquified and it forms a salsa. Make sure you save a bit of the parsley for garnish.
Add the salsa along with the drained and washed chickpeas to the pot. Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes.
Finally, add the vermicelli noodles to the pot and allow it to cook for 10 more minutes until the noodles soften and plump up. Now you’re ready to serve. Garnish with parsley or cilantro and a squeeze of lemon.
One last thing a lot of recipes call for when making Harira is a flour and water slurry to thicken the soup. I find that I never have to resort to this as a thickener, since this recipe does not use too much extra liquid, and the legumes and noodles end up thickening it perfectly.
Freeze Without Noodles!
Since the soup contains noodles, it is not recommended to freeze it. The noodles will turn to mush and really impact the consistency of the soup. However, if you plan to freeze your batch of harira soup, simply skip the noodles.
Place it in an airtight container and freeze for up to a few months. When ready to heat, thaw it in the fridge overnight, then heat it over the stove top, adding a bit of water as needed to loosen the consistency.
If you tried these recipes, please consider leaving a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page – I’d love to hear from you! You can also hop on over to Instagram and say hello!
Authentic Moroccan Harira Soup with Lentils
Ingredients
- 350 g Veal or beef cubes, skip if vegetarian
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large onions
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, more per preference
- 2 teaspoons salt, more per preference
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional for heat
- 1/2 cup brown lentils
- 800 ml chicken broth, (can be half water)
- 540 ml canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1/3 cup vermicelli pasta, short noodles, substitute with rice if unavailable
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 stalk celery
- 1 cup parsley, or cilantro
- 1 lemon, juiced
Instructions
- Start by finely dicing the onions, and prepare the veal (or beef) by cutting it into small cubes (maximum 1/4 inch in size)
In a soup pot, heat the olive oil. Then, sear the veal on medium high heat until its nicely browned. If it starts to steam and release water (due to overcrowding), simply allow the water to cook off until the meat starts to brown
Next, add the finely diced onions to the pot and continue to cook the onions with the veal, until the onions are translucent and lightly golden. This will take 5-7 minutes
Next, add the spices and cook for 2 minutes. Then, add the tomato paste and allow it to cook and caramelize for 2 minutes.
Add the chicken stock to the pot, along with the washed and drained brown lentils. Cover the pot and allow it to cook on medium heat for 15 minutes.
While the soup is cooking, prepare the salsa mixture by blending together the tomatoes, celery, and parsley or cilantro (whichever one you are using) in a blender. See notes if you dislike tomato peel.- After 15 minutes, pour the tomato salsa back into the soup pot, and add the washed and drained chickpeas. Cover and allow to cook for another 10 minutes.
- Lastly, taste the soup and adjust the seasoning if required. Then, add the vermicelli noodles and cook the soup a further 10 minutes until the noodles soften and plump up.
Serve the soup hot, with more parsley/cilantro for garnish and lemon slices for a final squeeze of lemon. Enjoy!
Notes
- Traditional Harira soup is made with meat, but feel free to make this a completely vegetarian soup by skipping it. It will still be delicious and hearty. You can also replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock.
- If you dislike tomato peel (but really there’s no need because it does get blended up really well if you use a high-powered blender), feel free to peel your tomatoes. Do this by submerging them in boiling water for a few minutes. Then, the peel should come off quite easily. Then proceed to the blending step.
- If you can’t find vermicelli noodles, feel free to replace them with medium or short grain rice.
- If you enjoy spicy soups, feel free to increase the amount of black pepper, or add some cayenne pepper to your preference.
A favourite at iftar. Great alternative to lentil or oat soap we usually serve.
This is soo hearty and delicous! I make this often and on my recent trip to Morocco, I was so surprised at how Amina’s recipe is literally exactly if not better than what I had in Morocco!
The perfect recipe! So easy and delicious! My family loved it and my Moroccan friend gave it a thumbs up!
Followed this recipe entirely to make Moroccan Harira for iftar today. I’ve never had it before plus could not taste while fasting but it turned into a big hit with the family! 🙂
Amazing to hear! Thanks so much for sharing your feedback with us, glad you loved it!
Such a delicious recipe. I love making this version, it’s so flavorful and easier than others I’ve tried.
I’m so happy you love my recipe, Nagham! Thanks so much for leaving us a review! 🙂
Very very nice soup <3
So thrilled you loved it Eva, thanks so much for the review!
Hi Amina, when you say cook the lentils on what heat should this be on?
Also when I blended the coriander tomato and celery it came out green, should I have put less celery?
Thank you
Hi Nadia! Medium heat for the lentils would be perfect. And that’s okay – my salsa often comes out green too if I was a bit heavy handed with the herbs. If you prefer it more red-ish you can do less celery. Somehow it always comes out super delicious, it’s a really forgiving recipe! Let me know how it goes for you 🙂
Yummy hearty soup. Missing one Ingredient, I feel , not sure which ingredient though. I would lesson the amount of chickpeas when I make it again.
Quick n easy to make.
Thank u
I’m glad you enjoyed it Aysha, thanks for the review!
What kind of beef cubes do you recommend? I cant wait to make this!!
Stewing beef will work if you cut it quite small so it isn’t too chewy! Otherwise I also love veal cubes or lamb leg/shoulder cubes, OR you can even use ground beef!