Dishes & the table
What is bissara?
- Type
- Dried fava-bean soup
- Eaten at
- Breakfast, cold days
- Topped with
- Olive oil, cumin, paprika
- Cost
- One of the cheapest meals
Quick answer
Bissara is a thick, velvety soup of dried split fava beans (or dried peas), blended smooth with garlic and olive oil and finished with cumin, paprika and a slick of olive oil on top. Cheap, warming and protein-rich, it's a classic winter breakfast and street food, eaten with bread — especially in northern Morocco and the medina.
Peasant food, perfected
Bissara (بيصارة, also spelled bessara) is proof that Moroccan cooking can turn the humblest ingredient into something people crave. It starts with dried, skinned split fava beans — or sometimes dried green split peas — simmered soft with garlic and a little olive oil, then blended to a thick, pourable purée the texture of loose hummus. It is seasoned with salt, and served in a bowl under a generous pool of good olive oil, a dusting of cumin and sweet paprika, and sometimes a pinch of chilli for those who want it.
That's the whole dish — beans, garlic, olive oil, cumin, bread to dip. It costs almost nothing and yet it is deeply satisfying. Our bissara recipe walks through the soak-and-blend method, and the bissara dish profile places it among Morocco's soups.
A winter breakfast
Where much of the world thinks of soup as a lunch or dinner course, Moroccans eat bissara for breakfast on cold mornings, especially in the north around Chefchaouen, Fez and the Rif, but you'll find it in Marrakech too. Workers stop at a hole-in-the-wall counter, get a steaming bowl slicked with oil and cumin, tear in some bread, and set off for the day fuelled by cheap plant protein. It is the archetypal cold-weather comfort food.
It also plays a role in Ramadan and among people fasting or watching their budget, because it is filling, warming and nutritious out of all proportion to its price.
How it fits the wider soup tradition
Morocco has a rich culture of soups beyond the famous harira. Bissara is the smooth, beany, everyday one; harira is the tomato-and-legume soup of Ramadan sunset; and there is even the medina's snail broth, babbouche. Together they form a spectrum of bowls that open a meal, break a fast or stand as a meal on their own. The Moroccan soups beyond harira guide maps them all.
For vegetarians and vegans, bissara is a gift: naturally plant-based, high in protein and fibre, and available everywhere. It appears on our vegetarian and vegan in Morocco guide for exactly that reason.
Where to eat it in Marrakech
Look for small, no-frills soup counters and breakfast stalls in the medina, often marked simply by a steaming vat and a stack of bowls. It's a morning dish, so go early — many stalls have sold out by midday. A Marrakech breakfast tour is the surest way to find a good bowl and eat it the way locals do, and a vegetarian street-food tour will seek it out too.
To make it yourself, you only need dried split favas from any market and a blender; a soup cooking class can teach the seasoning balance that separates a great bissara from a bland one.
Related questions
What beans is bissara made from?
Dried, skinned split fava beans are traditional. Some versions, especially in certain regions, use dried green split peas instead, giving a slightly sweeter, greener soup.
Is bissara vegan?
Yes, in its classic form it is entirely plant-based — beans, garlic, olive oil and spices. Always confirm no butter or stock was added, but the traditional recipe is vegan.
What does bissara taste like?
Mild, savoury and comforting: earthy fava beans and garlic, rounded by fruity olive oil and warm cumin. It's smooth rather than chunky, more purée than broth.
Is bissara the same as ful medames?
No. Ful medames uses whole cooked fava beans and is more of a stewed-bean dish; bissara uses split, skinned favas blended completely smooth into a soup.