Moroccan appetizers are more than just a great way to start a meal in Morocco- they’re a part of local culture which by the way, takes its food very seriously. Morocco’s appetizer scene is very diverse and it was very hard to stick to only 24 but here is the final list of dishes that made it to our list of the best Moroccan appetizers, from delicately spiced dips to hearty stuffed pastries. We have divided the appetizers into 6 categories- breads/pastries, cold appetizers, hot appetizers, fritters, stuffed snacks, and dips/spreads.
Let’s start from the beginning…
Popular Moroccan Breads
We’re starting off this ultimate list of the best Moroccan appetizers with a few popular Moroccan bread varieties.
Khobz
When it comes to the bread game, every country seems to have its MVP, right? But for Morocco, that pride and joy is undoubtedly Khobz. Just as India’s streets are adorned with sizzling samosas and tikkis, Moroccan bylanes echo with the sounds of vendors selling this daily staple. Think of it as Morocco’s version of India’s naan. At its core, it’s a simple round bread, simple to make and so versatile, you can eat it with anything, from Moroccan mint tea to earth tanginess.
Batbout
At first glance, Batbout might come across as the Moroccan cousin of the English muffin. It’s basically the “pan bread” of Morocco, typically cooked on a griddle or skillet rather than baked with a fluffy texture and airy pockets that can be filled with spicy kefta, zaalouk, cheese, or other kinds of hearty, sizzling meats. Think of khobz as the ultimate classic and batbout as the regional variety, culinary hidden gems that you can’t miss on trying.
Msemen
Imagine if croissants and pancakes had a culinary love affair in Morocco. The outcome? None other than Msemen, a square-shaped, thin but flaky bread griddled to perfection, but still soft and tender on the inside. The best part about msemen is its versatility. Most indulge in msemen during breakfast, slathered in honey or jam but you can also have it filled with spiced meat or sauteed vegetables.
Cold Moroccan Appetizers
Next on our list of the best Moroccan appetizers are a few popular cold starters.
Zaalouk
Zaalouk is a hearty appetizer made of grilled eggplant, until its skin burns and its tender and smoky inside, mixed with ripe tomatoes, garlic, and some of Morocco’s signature spices- paprika, cumin, and chili. The final result is one of Morocco’s most versatile dishes – a spread, a dip, a side; it’s hard to label it, really. If you combine it with some crunchy khobz it can even be a light meal of its own, or at least a brunch.
Taktouka
Taktouka is another versatile vegetarian dish made of roasted green bell peppers (until their skin burns and they have a nice and smoky flavor inside) and ripe tomatoes having a bit of a soirée, cooked with garlic, cumin, and paprika, resulting in in a nice spread/dip, perfect to go along with some crunchy Moroccan bread varieties. You can add a sunny side egg on top of it and make a nice breakfast or even lunch.
Moroccan Carrot Salad
This list of the best Moroccan appetizers wouldn’t be complete without the Moroccan beetroot salad with cilantro and lemon. The salad consists of fresh, beetroot and carrots, slightly steamed, but still slightly crunchy, mixed with some toasted cumin seeds, garlic, a splash of lemon juice, and a tad of paprik powder. It’s one of those appetizers that can work up your appetite like nothing else.
Beetroot Salad with Cilantro and Lemon
It’s basically the same as the previous appetizer, except it uses beetroots instead of carrots. The beetroots are still slightly steamed and a little bit crunchy and all the other ingredients are the same with one addition- it’s also common to add a little bit of bland couscous to the mix.
Cucumber Raita With Moroccan Spices
This one is an interesting fusion of the popular Indian yogurt and some Moroccan spices. The final result is crisp, cool cucumbers into a creamy yogurt pool spiced up with Ras el Hanout (Morocco’s kingpin spice blend) which gives this dish an undeniable Moroccan flavor. It’s the perfect appetizer but also a great snack when you’re sweating during a hot Moroccan summer day.
Hot Appetizers
This list of the best Moroccan snacks wouldn’t be complete without a few popular hot starters.
Cheese Briouat
Briouat is the most popular Moroccan pastry, kind of like the local version of the croissant. I know I mentioned cheese in the title but briouat can actually be filled with other fillings too, but more about this below. It’s the perfect appetizer but if you combine it with some yogurt, it even makes a nice breakfast to start your day.
Meat Briouats
Meat briouats is more or less the same pastry but can take a slightly different shape (think extra layer of phyllo to provide more support for the greasy meat filling). This briouat is stuffed with finely minced meat, often lamb or beef, seasoned with some spices, including cumin, paprika, and sometimes, a dash of cinnamon. Envelop the mixture in wafer-thin pastry sheets, roast it, and voila, you get one of the tastiest Moroccan appetizers.
Harira
Harira is one of the most popular Moroccan soups and a perfect choice for an appetizer. It consists of of tomatoes, lentils, chickpeas, and either rice or fine noodles. Because it has two different types of legumes and a base of rice or noodles, some people add meat in it and make it a main course meal which means this is one of the more versatile Moroccan dishes. As with most other Moroccan appetizers, it’s the spices that elevate it: saffron, ginger, and a hint of cinnamon give this soup a quirky but irresistable flavor.
Kefta Mkaouara
Kefta are succulent balls of minced meat (usually lamb or beef) seasoned withcumin, paprika, and a hint of coriander that give these meatballs an undistinguishable Moroccan flavor. The meatballs are usually cooked in spiced tomato sauce and combined with poached eggs. The finishing touches are minced garlic, onions, and often a splash of lemon. Technically, this is more of a main course than an appetizer but many Moroccans still consider this to be more of a snack than a main course meal, hence it deserves a mention on our list.
Merguez Sausages
North Africa is one of the rare places where sausages are considered an appetizer but it is what it is, I don’t judge. These sausages are a culinary hallmark of not just Moroccan but also North African cuisine and consist of red spicy mutton or beef-based meat. Garlic and onions are used in the mixture to marinade the meat that traditionally is derived from lamb intestine.
Chermoula-Marinated Grilled Sardines
Chermoula-Marinated Grilled Sardines is a perfect hearty appetizers where these tiny fishes we’ve all grown to love are grilled until they develop a nice smoky flavor and then bathed in chermoula marinade, which is a versatile local sauce that’s primarily used for seafood. Its main ingredients feature fresh cilantro or parsley (or both), minced garlic, paprika, cumin, and of course, a free drops of lemon juice.
Fritters & Pancakes
Navigating this list of the best Moroccan appetizers, we get to some of the most popular guilty treasures of Moroccan cuisine.
Maakouda
Maakouda is probably Morocco’s most popular fritter. At a first glance, it looks like a meatball but it’s actually made of potato. To be more specific, it’s made of boiled and then mashed potatoes, mixed with onions, garlic, and sometimes even meat, then shaped into discs, rolled in a batter and dumped in hot oil for deep frying. It’s like the Moroccan version of aloo tikki.
Baghrir
Baghrir, often dubbed the “Moroccan pancake” or “thousand-hole pancake,” famous for its spongy texture and many tiny holes on its surface (which personally I don’t like but I try to eat it with my eyes closed). These holes serve a functional purpose as pockets soaking up sauces, honey, or butter. Made primarily from semolina or a mix of semolina and all-purpose flour, the batter also incorporates yeast, which gives it that signature bubbly texture.
Harcha
Harcha is a tasty, versatile flatbread that can best be described as a cross between cornbread and an English muffin. Made primarily from semolina (coarse durum wheat), harcha’s dough is often combined with butter, milk, sugar, and a touch of salt and the final result (after shaping the discs and deep frying them) is a golden brown disc-shaped flatbread with crunchy exterior and soft, crumbly, and warm interior.
Calamari Rings in Spiced Batter
Moroccan Calamari Rings in Spiced Batter is a flavorful twist on the classic fried calamari, made with slightly different batter. Instead of the traditional lightly seasoned batter, the Moroccan version incorporates the good, ol’ mixture of spices, mentioned in a few other snacks on this list including but not limited to paprika, cumin, coriander, and a touch of turmeric or saffron, with some variations even adding a hint of harissa or cayenne pepper.
Stuffed Delicacies
Just like most other Mediterranean countries, this list of Moroccan appetizers couldn’t be complete without a few local stuffed delicacies.
Stuffed Mussels With Chermoula
Moroccan Stuffed Mussels with Chermoula is another seafood dish that uses Morocco’s favorite seafood marinade- the chermoula. The mussels, sourced from the Atlantic coast, are stuffed not with breadcrumb filling but a combination of rice and chermoula (marinade made of fresh cilantro, garlic, cumin, lemon juice, and chilli flakes or paprika powder).
Moroccan Stuffed Dates
Moroccan stuffed dates is a simple snack that takes dates, pits them and stuffs them with almond paste (for a creamy sweet snack), walnuts (for a crunchy snack), or goat cheese (for a savory snack) depending how you want to eat.
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Stuffed Grape Leaves à La Marocaine
Stuffed Grape Leaves is a Moroccan adaptation of a dish that can be found across the Mediterranean and Middle East most commonly known as dolma. The dish consists of a mixture of rice, veggies, and minced meat (most usually lamb) wrapped inside grapevine leaves. Dolmas are bite-sized making them a perfect appetizer or a snack when you’re feeling hungry and know lunch isn’t coming for another 2 hours or so.
Dips & Spreads
Last but not least, we wrap up this list of the best Moroccan appetizers with a few dips and spreads.
Hummus With Moroccan Twist
Hummus is extremely popular spread in the Arabic world but the Moroccan version is slightly different- it takes the classic creamy chickpea dip from the Levant and mixes it with local spices (as Moroccans love to do to a few more other dishes you saw in this list) like cumin, paprika, harissa, etc.
Bessara
Bessara is one of few traditional Moroccan appetizers primarily made from dried fava beans (or sometimes lentils), which are soaked, boiled, and then pureed into a smooth, creamy consistency and then seasoned with garlic, cumin, paprika, and a generous amount of olive oil. This dish serves multiple purposes- when thick enough it’s a dip (eaten with crusty bread), when it’s thinner, it can be eaten as a soup, especially during the colder months.
Amlou
Amlou is a brown paste made of roasted almonds, honey, and argan oil with a peanut butter-like texture. Most often used as a spread, amlou is a very popular snack that originates from the southern part of Morocco where you can find plenty of argan oil which is one of the main ingredients for the amlou recipe.
How did you like this list of the best Moroccan appetizers? Did you ever try any of them? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
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