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    You are Here: Masala Herb » Recipes » Soups

    Spicy Moroccan Lentil Soup - Veg Style Harira

    Jun 19, 2025 by Helene Dsouza

    11.8K shares
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    Helene Dsouza
    Moroccan lentil soup (aka Harira) is a nutritious low carb soup, stuffed with legumes and veggies! The soup is enriched with healthy and taste giving spices and is not hot but perfectly mild balanced in flavor. One-Pot, easy plant-based, meatless north-African soup. Enjoy this soup as a main dish with flatbread or as a starter.
    Total Time: 1 hour hour 25 minutes minutes
    Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes
    2 servings
    RECIPE
    Spicy Moroccan Lentil Soup - Veg Harira Recipe [+Video]

    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]
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    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)?
    • 🥖 Moroccan stew ingredients:
    • 🔪 How to make Moroccan Lentil Soup?
    • 📖 Recipe
    • 💬 Comments

    📕 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]

    🥖 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]

    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]

    Spicy Moroccan Lentil Soup Recipe

    Moroccan lentil soup (aka Harira) is a nutritious low carb soup, stuffed with legumes and veggies! The soup is enriched with healthy and taste giving spices and is not hot but perfectly mild balanced in flavor. One-Pot, easy plant-based, meatless north-African soup. Enjoy this soup as a main dish with flatbread or as a starter.
    4.84 from 12 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Soup
    Cuisine: Middle Eastern
    Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour hour 25 minutes minutes
    Servings: 2 servings
    Calories: 613kcal
    Recipe by: Helene Dsouza

    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
    US - Metric

    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

    1. 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

    Nutrition Facts
    Spicy Moroccan Lentil Soup Recipe
    Amount Per Serving (1025 g)
    Calories 613 Calories from Fat 90
    % Daily Value*
    Fat 10g15%
    Sodium 2894mg121%
    Potassium 1507mg43%
    Carbohydrates 98g33%
    Fiber 36g144%
    Sugar 17g19%
    Protein 32g64%
    Vitamin A 6635IU133%
    Vitamin C 25.6mg31%
    Calcium 137mg14%
    Iron 10.4mg58%
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

    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]

    More Global Soups:

    • Turkish Lentil Soup
    • Japanese Onion Soup
    • Indian Lentil Soup

    Dear Reader, how did you get to know about the Harira Moroccan lentil Soup?

    Spicy Moroccan Lentil Soup - Veg Harira Recipe [+Video]
    11.8K shares
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    I am Helene, and I created Masala Herb in 2011. Here you will learn to cook with spices and herbs. I share from scratch, international food recipes and my mission is to teach you to cook flavorful food at home. Read More…

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    Comments

      4.84 from 12 votes (9 ratings without comment)

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    1. latifa says

      May 07, 2021 at 11:28 am

      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

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        May 07, 2021 at 11:36 am

        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!

        Reply
    2. Andrea Johnson says

      November 13, 2020 at 4:01 pm

      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?

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        November 13, 2020 at 4:04 pm

        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.

        Reply
    3. Elvira R. says

      October 11, 2020 at 7:11 pm

      5 stars
      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.

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        October 13, 2020 at 10:24 pm

        That's great, so glad you guys loved it as much as we did. 🙂

        Reply
    4. Evelyn says

      August 28, 2020 at 1:12 am

      5 stars
      Best for rainy days. Love this.

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        August 28, 2020 at 12:03 pm

        thanks for your feedback Evelyn 🙂

        Reply
    5. Renee Goerger says

      September 10, 2018 at 1:23 pm

      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!

      Reply
    6. Sues says

      September 10, 2018 at 1:03 pm

      5 stars
      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 🙂

      Reply
      • Anne says

        June 02, 2020 at 10:55 pm

        This was delicious, but it is definitely not low carb.

        Reply

    Welcome

    Hi there! I'm Helene and here you will learn how to cook with spices and herbs. Discover global food and learn to season your food like a pro. Read more about my work and mission or head over to my food ingredient space, Unknownbite.com, and our travel space, Paulmarina.com!

    More About Me ->

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