Chermoula

Chermoula is a tasty sauce, condiment, marinade, and dressing from North Africa. It’s light, zesty, herby, citrusy, and mildly spicy.

You can make it with fresh cilantro, flat-leaf parsley, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, chili, cumin, and lemon juice.

Chermoula sauce is a quick, easy, and tasty condiment from the Maghrebi cuisines of Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria used on grilled chicken, meats, fish, vegetables, and stews.

Chermoula works beautifully with other North African recipes, like our Moroccan chickpea stew, Harira soup, Moroccan lentil soup, and Moroccan carrot salad with couscous.

Its bold, vibrant, herby, zest, citrusy, and spicy flavor perfectly matches anything grilled and roasted. It’s also excellent on stews and tagines.

Chermoula reminds us of chimichurri sauce, Italian salsa verde, and cilantro lime dressing, where fresh herbs are combined with garlic, oil, and an acid such as vinegar or lemon juice.

We first tried chermoula on our whole roasted cauliflower recipe, and it was love at first bite.

But it’s also excellent with recipes from other cuisines. You’ll love it on marinated tofu, grilled tofu, baked tofu, roasted eggplant, roasted carrots, roasted zucchini, and roasted cauliflower.

Chermoula can elevate the taste of many dishes and is a beautiful addition to any home cook’s sauce repertoire.

Quantities are in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.

Fresh cilantro

Fresh cilantro or coriander is the main fresh hern in chermoula sauce. It adds a distinctive taste to the sauce with citrusy, refreshing, and peppery notes.

Fresh parsley

Fresh flat-leaf parsley or Italian parsley is what’s used in Moroccan chermoula. Parsley is not always added to chermoula, but it often is.

We like to add it to balance out the cilantro flavor.

Extra virgin olive oil

Good quality extra virgin olive oil adds a beautiful fruity and grassy flavor.

Fresh lemon juice

Freshly squeezed is best.

You can substitute apple cider vinegar for lemon juice, although that’s not traditional.

A grating of lemon zest is optional.

Garlic

Use fresh garlic for this condiment. Chop it into small pieces before adding it to the food processor.

Cumin

We recommend using ground cumin since we make chermoula with a food processor.

Traditionally, whole cumin seeds are used to make chermoula source. The seeds are ground with a mortar and pestle with the other ingredients.

Red chili

Fresh red chili adds heat. You can add more or less hot peppers based on your preference.

Substitute red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper for fresh red chili.

Salt

We recommend using sea salt or kosher salt for the best flavor.

Optional ingredients

• Saffron threads: Saffron is one of the many spices often used in Moroccan cuisine and is sometimes added to chermoula sauce. If you like to add saffron, you’ll need to dissolve a pinch of saffron threads in a bit of water and add it to the blender.
• Honey: Honey is another popular ingredient in North African cooking. Add a teaspoon or two to this Moroccan sauce to add sweet notes.
• Paprika: sweet or smoked, depending on your preference. It’s also optional.

US cups + grams measurements in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.

To a small food processor, add fresh cilantro, fresh parsley, extra virgin olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice, chopped garlic, chopped chili, ground cumin, and salt.

Tip: If you don’t have a food processor, you can chop the ingredients finely by hand and mix them in a bowl. Alternatively, you can pound the ingredients in a mortar and pestle until pasty.

Pulse a few times until the fresh herbs are finely chopped, and the chermoula sauce is well combined.

You might have to scrape down the sides of the food processor once or twice.

Thanks to its bold and vibrant flavor profile, citrusy, herby, and garlicky notes, chermoula is excellent for adding flavor to various dishes.

Here are some examples we can recommend for you:

Chermoula with roasted and grilled veggies

• Whole roasted cauliflower
• Roasted cauliflower florets and air fryer cauliflower
• Roasted eggplant and grilled eggplant
• Roasted zucchini and grilled zucchini
• Roasted carrots and Moroccan carrot salad
• Lentil sweet potato salad

On stews, soups, and tagines

• Moroccan chickpea stew
• Moroccan lentil soup
• Harira soup with lentils and chickpeas
• Chickpea and sweet potato stew
• Roasted cauliflower soup
• Turkish lentil soup

30-Min Meals

Moroccan Chickpea Stew

One-pot Meals

Harira Soup

Soups

Cauliflower Soup

Soups

Moroccan Lentil Soup

Chermoula with tofu

Thanks to its bold, vibrant flavor, chermoula is excellent for adding flavor to tofu. We recommend it with:

• Marinated tofu
• Grilled tofu
• Air fryer tofu
• Baked tofu and tofu skewers

Chermoula as a dip with bread

• Pita bread
• Naan bread
• Focaccia bread
• Homemade crostini

Make ahead: we recommend making chermoula on the same day you serve it to preserve the fragrance and aroma of the fresh herbs.

Refrigerator: keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The sauce will thicken; add some olive oil or lemon juice to thin it up.

Freezer: Transfer Chermoula to a freezer-friendly container like a mason jar or an ice cube tray and freeze it for up to 3 months.

Thaw: Defrost it in the fridge over several hours.

• Moroccan carrot salad
• Plain couscous
• Moroccan couscous
• Harira soup
• Moroccan chickpea stew
• Moroccan lentil soup
• Zaalouk or Moroccan eggplant dip
• Lentil cauliflower salad

Salads

Zaalouk (Moroccan Eggplant Dip)

30-Min Meals

Moroccan Couscous

Soups

Moroccan Lentil Soup

Salads

Moroccan Carrot Salad

• Tahini sauce
• Yogurt tahini sauce
• Romesco
• Parsley pesto
• Muhammara dip
• Hummus

For more sauce ideas, check out our 25 Easy Sauce Recipes compilation.

Sauces

Tahini Sauce

Sauces

Yogurt Tahini Sauce

Starters

Muhammara

Sauces

Cilantro Lime Dressing