![Spicy Moroccan Lentil Soup - Veg Harira Recipe [+Video]](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Moroccan-Lentil-Soup-gog-2-150x150.jpg)
Moroccan Lentil Soup, aka Harira, is a spiced North African soup.
This is a vegan version of the Harira soup, and it's not a traditional authentic recipe. It's based on the original, which is prepared with meats.
![Spicy Moroccan Lentil Soup - Veg Harira Recipe [+Video]](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Moroccan-Lentil-Soup-2.jpg)

Global Food Recipes
with Spices and Herbs
Free E-Book available for a limited time. Grab yours now and get instantly inspired!
You missed out!
If you like soups like my Indian lentil soup, then this one-pot easy soup should be your next dinner meal!
Jump to:
📕 What is Moroccan Soup (Harira)?
Harira is a Moroccan Lentil Soup served all year round, but especially during Ramadan to break the fast at night.
The soup is usually prepared with local meats such as lamb to enrich it and make it super nutritious, because of the daylight fast.
If you don't eat the whole day, you need to pack the soup with nutritional value.
With the proteins from the meat and lentils, this is easily achieved, yet this is not the only perk of this wonderful soup.
Moroccan ladies know how to cook up great dishes, so they figured it would make sense to season it appropriately because you need to celebrate the fact that you managed to get through another day without eating, right?
So, the Moroccan soup is packed with gorgeous flavors.
You won't be able to leave your spoon alone.
![Spicy Moroccan Lentil Soup - Veg Harira Recipe [+Video]](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Moroccan-Lentil-Soup-4.jpg)
🥖 Moroccan stew ingredients:
This Moroccan Lentil Soup is vegan, simply because I am really picky with lamb meat and I don't think this soup would be that great with beef or chicken.
Besides I decided long ago that this soup is just amazing vegan and that anything more would be almost too much.
After all, I am not a person who needs to fast.
Yet, if you feel like adding lamb to it, just do it!
(and then invite me over to convince me to make mine with lamb meat in the future! :P)
You will need legumes, red lentils and chickpeas (garbanzo beans), for this soup.
I use only dried lentils and chickpeas, not the canned stuff and I usually go organic as well because those taste better and the quality is higher as well.
![Spicy Moroccan Lentil Soup - Veg Harira Recipe [+Video]](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Moroccan-Lentil-Soup-1.jpg)
Root vegetables are important here as well because they give the basic flavors to the soup.
I add carrots, celery green stalks, onion, ginger, and garlic.
The spices are essential as well. I like to use Turmeric, cumin, chili, cinnamon, and black pepper.
These spices combined to create a warm comfortable taste which works really well with the chosen legumes and root veggies.
Besides that, I add in some acidity with tomato, which also thickens the soup, and lemon juice at the end.
These flavors combined to create a well-rounded taste experience for this Moroccan Lentil Soup!
🔪 How to make Moroccan Lentil Soup?
The Moroccan soup with lentils and chickpeas is very straightforward to prepare.
Keep your ingredients cut and ready so that you can just cooking and add the ingredients along the way.
You need to keep the soup to cook for 60 minutes at least so that it gains in flavor.
This is important even if your chickpeas are cooked super soft in advance.
Lemon Juice is always used to garnish this soup.
I like to add cilantro as well as color contrast and for little flavor (you can skip the cilantro if you like).
The full recipe card is situated further below, with step-by-step details.
📖 Recipe
![Spicy Moroccan Lentil Soup - Veg Harira Recipe [+Video]](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Moroccan-Lentil-Soup-gog-2-300x300.jpg)
Spicy Moroccan Lentil Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon Oil
- 1 Onion sliced
- 1 Tomato diced
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic paste or chopped fine
- ½ Cup Celery Stalks greens cut small
- 1 Small Carrot cut small
- ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground
- ¼ Teaspoon Turmeric Ground powder
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds Ground powder
- 1 Teaspoon Red Chili Pepper Flakes optional
- ¼ Teaspoon Cinnamon Ground powder
- 1 Cup Red Lentils *see Notes
- 1 Cup Chickpeas aka Garbanzo Beans, soft Cooked
- 6 Cups Water mixed with concentrated Stock
- To Taste Salt
- 1 Lemon Juice to garnish
- Cilantro Fresh aka Coriander greens, to garnish
Instructions
- Add the oil to your pot and heat up. Throw in the onion slices and cook translucent.
- Then add the tomato pieces and stir-fry for a minute
- Next, add the ginger and garlic and stir fry on high heat quickly. Reduce heat and directly add the cut celery greens and carrot pieces.
- Fry on medium heat for 2 minutes.
- Reduce heat and add in the spices one by one. Black Pepper, Turmeric, Cumin, Chili flakes, and cinnamon.
- Mix a bit and increase heat to medium.
- Throw in the red lentils and the cooked chickpeas. Mix and let cook for a minute.
- Now pour in the broth and mix the content well.
- Taste to see if salt is needed. Cover and let cook for about 1 hour on slow heat.
- Check once in a while on your soup.
- The soup is ready when all the ingredients are soft after 60 minutes.
- Garnish with lemon juice and cilantro and serve hot.
Notes
- Use dry organic red lentils, but cooked soft chickpeas Red lentils cook quickly and here they don't need soaking in this recipe because the soup will be cooking beyond 20 minutes. However, the chickpeas need to be already cooked soft because they are notoriously hard otherwise and take a while to cook. I pressure cook my dry chickpeas before using them in my dishes.
Nutrition
How to serve the Harira Soup?
The most delicious way to enjoy Harira Soup, in my opinion, is simply to serve it as a main dish with bread or a flatbread.
Sometimes I prepare Lebanese zaatar flatbread (I know it's not Moroccan but the combination is really amazing!) with the Harira soup.
Moroccans that I met have their own opinion.
Most will say to serve the soup with dates.
Some have suggested dried figs or a potato patty called Maâkouda.
Others enjoy the Moroccan Lentil Soup as a starter and serve up other Mediterranean/North African meals after that, such as tajine or stuffed tomatoes.
![Spicy Moroccan Lentil Soup - Veg Harira Recipe [+Video]](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Moroccan-Lentil-Soup-3.jpg)
More Global Soups:
Dear Reader, how did you get to know about the Harira Moroccan lentil Soup?
![Spicy Moroccan Lentil Soup - Veg Harira Recipe [+Video]](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Moroccan-Lentil-Soup-pin-1.jpg)
Maybe you forgot some recipe to do this harira. I'm Morocann and tha'ts not a harira, sorry that's just wter with vegetables
Hi Latifa, thanks for pointing this out. The recipe was given to me by a Moroccan and they usually add meat to theirs but she had said that it could be made vegan too. So, I understand your point that a harira should be with meat. To avoid confusion and misinterpretation, I added the point that it's a Harira style vegan version and that it's not an authentic recipe with meat. Thanks again!
What are the instructions to make it in the slow cooker? Do you just dump everything in, or would you do all the frying steps and then transfer everything to the slow cooker before adding the broth?
Hi Andrea, I have never used a slow cooker, so I can't give you instructions for that. The ingredients definitely need to be sauteed and cooked before the broth is added. I hope this helps.
Definitely delicious! Specially in a rainy cold day. Didn't change anything we all love it and save some for our lunches. Thanks for sharing.
That's great, so glad you guys loved it as much as we did. 🙂
Best for rainy days. Love this.
thanks for your feedback Evelyn 🙂
I'm in love with this recipe. It's so fresh, healthy, and looks like fall in a bowl. Thanks so much for sharing! It's delicious!
Gorgeous soup and incredibly delicious, too! The spices are especially awesome, but I just love how much "good stuff" is in here. Perfect for lunch leftovers the next day, too 🙂
This was delicious, but it is definitely not low carb.