Vegan harira, a vegetarian recipe from Morocco

Name: Vegan harira
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Morocco
Ingredients: 150 g brown or green lentils; 250 g cooked chickpeas; 800 g peeled tomatoes (fresh or tinned), blended; 1 onion, chopped; 2 celery sticks with leaves, chopped; 1 bunch parsley and 1 bunch coriander, chopped; 2 tbsp tomato purée; 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp ground ginger, ½ tsp cinnamon; 3 tbsp olive oil; 50 g fine vermicelli; 3 tbsp flour whisked into 150 ml cold water; 1.5 litres water; Salt, pepper, 1 lemon

Vegan harira

Local name: حريرة

Thick tomato soup with lentils and chickpeas, fragrant with coriander and celery, bound with flour, finished with lemon. Morocco's Ramadan essential.

Published on 22 November 2025·Updated on 30 September 2026

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Method

Fry the onion and celery in the oil for 5 minutes. Add the spices, half the herbs and the tomato purée, and stir for 1 minute.
Pour in the blended tomatoes, lentils and water. Season, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Add the chickpeas and vermicelli and cook for another 10 minutes.
Pour in the flour mixture in a thin stream, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Let it thicken for 5 minutes at a gentle bubble.
Stir in the remaining herbs, taste and adjust the salt.
Serve piping hot with a lemon wedge to squeeze into each bowl, and dates on the side to keep with tradition.

Harira breaks the fast every evening of Ramadan in Morocco, but it is eaten all year whenever the weather turns cold. The flour thickening, called tadouira, gives it its signature velvety body.

The techniques this recipe uses

Sweat the aromatics
Medium heat, no browning: the onion should turn translucent and sweet, not toasted.
Reduce
Uncovered, water leaves and flavour concentrates. It is done when the sauce coats the back of a spoon.

Frequently asked questions

My flour thickener went lumpy. How do I avoid that?

The tadouira is poured in a thin stream into the boiling soup while you stir constantly, and the flour must first be slaked in 150 ml of cold water. Tipped in at once, or mixed with hot water, it seizes immediately.

Can this be made gluten free?

Two things would have to change: the vermicelli and the flour thickener. Rice vermicelli works, and you can thicken with a little cornflour slaked in cold water, bearing in mind the result is slipperier than a traditional tadouira.

Do I really need two whole bunches of herbs?

Yes, and they go in at two moments: half at the start with the spices to melt into the broth, half at the end to stay fresh. That split is what keeps harira tasting green after thirty minutes of simmering.

Meatless Moroccan cooking, from bessara to tagine

Bessara, zaalouk and taktouka are plant-based by tradition; harira, tagine and couscous, often made with meat or smen, work just as well without.

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Vegan harira

Method

The techniques this recipe uses

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Nutrition per serving

Frequently asked questions

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