20 Moroccan Food Dishes to Try: From Tagine and Couscous to Tanjia and Pastilla
The essential Moroccan food dishes to try are tagine, couscous, pastilla, harira, tanjia, mechoui, zaalouk and taktouka salads, msemen and baghrir breads, and mint tea with pastries. Moroccan cuisine blends Amazigh (Berber), Arab, Andalusian and French influences, and relies on slow cooking, preserved lemons, olives and spices such as cumin, ginger, saffron and ras el hanout.
Main dishes
1. Tagine
Named after the conical clay pot it is cooked in, a tagine is a slow-simmered stew. Classics include chicken with preserved lemon and olives, beef or lamb with prunes and almonds, kefta (meatballs) with eggs, and vegetable tagines. It is eaten with bread rather than cutlery.
2. Couscous
Steamed semolina grains topped with vegetables and meat in a broth. It is traditionally a Friday lunch, shared after midday prayers, so many restaurants serve it mainly on Fridays. Couscous tfaya, with caramelised onions and raisins, is a sweet-savoury variation. In 2020 the knowledge and practices of couscous were inscribed on UNESCO's intangible heritage list, jointly by Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania.
3. Pastilla (bastilla)
A large pie of thin warqa pastry filled with spiced pigeon or chicken, eggs and almonds, dusted with sugar and cinnamon. A seafood version is common too. Originally a festive dish from Fes.
4. Tanjia
Marrakech's signature dish: beef or lamb with preserved lemon, garlic, cumin and saffron, sealed in a clay urn and slow-cooked for hours in the ashes of a hammam furnace. Traditionally a bachelor's dish, cooked by men.
5. Mechoui
Whole lamb slow-roasted in an underground pit oven until it falls apart, eaten with cumin and salt. In Marrakech, the lane of mechoui stalls near Jemaa el-Fnaa serves it by weight from late morning.
6. Rfissa
Shredded msemen or trid pastry with chicken, lentils and a broth rich in fenugreek and ras el hanout, traditionally served to celebrate a birth.
7. Seffa
Sweet steamed vermicelli or couscous with cinnamon, sugar and almonds, sometimes hiding chicken inside, served at celebrations.
Soups and salads
8. Harira
A tomato, lentil and chickpea soup with herbs and a little meat, thickened with flour. It is the traditional dish to break the fast during Ramadan, served with dates and chebakia.
9. Bissara
A thick soup of dried split fava beans with olive oil and cumin, a cheap and warming breakfast, especially in the north and in winter.
10. Zaalouk
A smoky cooked salad of aubergine and tomato with garlic, cumin and paprika, eaten with bread.
11. Taktouka
Grilled green peppers and tomatoes cooked with garlic and spices; often served alongside zaalouk as part of a spread of cooked salads.
Breads and breakfasts
12. Khobz
Round flat bread, baked daily and traditionally taken to the neighbourhood communal oven. It is the cutlery of Moroccan meals.
13. Msemen
Square, flaky laminated pancakes cooked on a griddle, eaten with honey, butter or cheese, or stuffed with onion and spices.
14. Baghrir
The "thousand-hole pancake" made from semolina, served with melted butter and honey.
15. Amlou
A spread of argan oil, roasted almonds and honey from the south-west. Delicious on bread.
Street food
16. Brochettes and kefta
Grilled skewers and minced-meat patties, seasoned with cumin and paprika, served in bread with harissa and onions.
17. Babbouche (snail soup)
Snails in a spiced broth with thyme, liquorice and aniseed, sold from carts in winter and in Jemaa el-Fnaa. The broth is said to aid digestion.
18. Maakouda and sardines
Potato fritters and fried or grilled sardines, often stuffed with chermoula, are cheap and delicious street snacks, especially in coastal towns.
Sweets and drinks
19. Moroccan pastries
Kaab el ghazal (gazelle horns, almond paste in a crescent), chebakia (sesame and honey flowers, especially at Ramadan), ghriba (crackled cookies) and briouats with almond. Buy them by weight at pastry shops.
20. Mint tea
Green gunpowder tea brewed with fresh spearmint and usually plenty of sugar, poured from height to create foam. Offered as a sign of hospitality; accept at least one glass. Ask for "bla sukkar" if you prefer it without sugar.
Where to try Moroccan food in Marrakech
| Dish | Where to try it | Approximate price (at the time of writing) |
|---|---|---|
| Tagine | Local restaurants in the medina | approximately 60-120 MAD |
| Tanjia and mechoui | Mechoui alley near Jemaa el-Fnaa | approximately 70-150 MAD per portion, often by weight |
| Harira | Jemaa el-Fnaa stalls, snack bars | approximately 5-15 MAD |
| Msemen, baghrir | Street stalls and cafés in the morning | approximately 3-10 MAD each |
| Pastilla | Traditional restaurants, riads | approximately 80-200 MAD |
For the evening stall experience, see our Jemaa el-Fnaa guide. If you are travelling on to Fes, our Fes el Bali medina guide covers the food streets of Talaa Kebira.
Regional specialities worth seeking out
Moroccan cooking changes from region to region. In Fes, look for pastilla and slow-cooked dishes flavoured with saffron and dried fruit. On the Atlantic coast, around Essaouira and Safi, fish tagines with chermoula and grilled sardines dominate. In the Atlas and the south, you will find Berber omelettes cooked in a small tagine, and madfouna, sometimes called "Berber pizza", a stuffed flatbread baked in the sand or an oven around Merzouga and Rissani. In the Rif, fresh goat's cheese and olive-rich dishes stand out. Tasting these specialities is a good reason to eat locally wherever you travel.
Dining etiquette
- Wash your hands before eating; many restaurants bring water to the table.
- Eat with your right hand, using bread to scoop from the section of the shared dish in front of you.
- Alcohol is not served everywhere; licensed restaurants and hotels offer it.
- During Ramadan, many local restaurants close by day; eating discreetly is respectful.
- Vegetarians eat well: vegetable tagines, couscous, salads, harira without meat (ask) and breads.
Learn to cook Moroccan food with a local operator
The best way to understand these dishes is to cook them. Our Marrakech cooking class with market visit starts with shopping for vegetables, herbs and spices with the chef, then you prepare a tagine, zaalouk and taktouka and knead khobz dough, before eating what you cooked, from €45 per person with recipes to take home. Ouirgane Marrakech Guide is based in Marrakech; reserve now, pay later, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before. Explore our city tours and food experiences, or message us on WhatsApp at +212 606 957 514 to book a hands-on Moroccan cooking class.
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