Vegan Dinner menu
Vegan Moroccan Dinner Menu — Plant-Based Tagine and Couscous
Moroccan cuisine is a gift to plant-based cooking — its pulse soups, vegetable tagines, cooked salads and fruit desserts are naturally vegan and full of flavour, built on spice rather than dairy. This dinner for six is entirely plant-based without compromise: a silky bissara to start, a rich vegetable and chickpea tagine, light seven-vegetable couscous, a spread of cooked salads and a fragrant orange dessert. The only swaps needed are oil for smen or butter, and it is otherwise pure tradition. Explore more vegetable-led ideas, then lay it all out together so guests scoop and share. Hearty, aromatic and proudly plant-based.
The menu
Soup
Bissara with olive oil and cumin
A thick, warming purée of dried split fava beans finished with a generous swirl of olive oil, cumin and paprika. Naturally vegan and deeply satisfying.
Cooked salads
Zaalouk, taktouka and beetroot salad
A colourful trio of cooked salads, all plant-based and best made ahead. Serve cool with bread for scooping.
Centrepiece
Vegetable and chickpea tagine
Pumpkin, carrot, courgette and chickpeas slow-cooked with ginger, saffron, preserved lemon and dried apricots until silky. A tagine that needs no meat.
Grain
Seven-vegetable couscous with vegetable broth
Steamed couscous topped with a mound of vegetables and chickpeas, the broth built on oil and spice rather than meat. Steam twice for lightness.
Side
Lentils with cumin and tomato
Brown lentils simmered with garlic, cumin and tomato for extra plant protein and substance alongside the tagine.
Dessert
Orange and date salad with orange-blossom
Sliced oranges and chopped dates perfumed with orange-blossom and cinnamon — naturally vegan, refreshing and a classic Moroccan finish.
Shopping list
- Dried split fava beans and brown lentils
- Dried chickpeas (or tinned)
- Pumpkin or squash, carrots, courgettes and turnips
- Aubergines, peppers, tomatoes and beetroot (for the salads)
- Onions, garlic, fresh ginger and saffron
- Preserved lemon, green olives and dried apricots
- Couscous (check it is not enriched with butter)
- Cumin, paprika, cinnamon and fresh coriander and parsley
- Oranges, dates and orange-blossom water
- Good olive oil, bread and green tea and mint
Prep timeline
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Day before
Soak the favas, chickpeas and lentils. Make all the cooked salads and refrigerate; they improve overnight.
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Morning
Cook the bissara and the lentils and cool. Start the vegetable and chickpea tagine so it has time to grow silky.
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2 hours before
Steam the couscous for the first time. Prepare the seven vegetables and build the meat-free couscous broth.
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1 hour before
Simmer the couscous vegetables, give the grain its second steaming, and gently reheat the tagine, bissara and lentils.
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To serve
Bring the salads to room temperature, mound the couscous with vegetables, warm the bread, and slice the oranges with dates for dessert.
Host's tips
- Use good olive oil or a spoon of vegetable smen alternative wherever a recipe calls for butter or smen.
- Build the couscous broth on onions, tomato and plenty of spice so it is rich and savoury without any meat.
- Favas, chickpeas and lentils together give the meal real protein and body — do not skimp on the pulses.
- Preserved lemon, olives and dried apricots add the savoury-sweet depth that makes plant-based Moroccan food sing.
- Check your couscous and bread contain no butter or milk — some enriched versions do.
Questions about this menu
Is Moroccan food suitable for vegans?
Remarkably so. Bissara, vegetable tagines, cooked salads, lentil and chickpea dishes, couscous and fruit desserts are all naturally plant-based, built on spice, vegetables and pulses rather than dairy. The few swaps needed — oil for butter or smen — are minor, so a vegan can eat a full, traditional Moroccan feast very easily.
How do I make couscous vegan?
Check the grain itself contains no butter, then build the broth on onions, tomato, chickpeas and the seven vegetables, seasoned with ginger, turmeric, saffron and pepper. Use olive oil rather than smen. Steam the couscous over the vegetable pot so it absorbs the fragrant steam, and dress it with oil, not butter.
What gives a vegan tagine enough substance?
Chickpeas and hearty vegetables like pumpkin and potato give body, while dried fruit such as apricots or prunes adds richness and depth. A well-reduced, spice-laden sauce and a side of lentils ensure the meal is filling and protein-rich. Nobody misses the meat when the pulses and spicing are generous.
Which Moroccan desserts are vegan?
An orange and date salad scented with orange-blossom and cinnamon is naturally vegan and refreshing. Many fruit-based sweets and some pastries qualify too, though check for honey and butter. Sticky sweets often use honey, so an orange or dried-fruit dessert is the safest and most traditional plant-based way to finish.
Is smen vegan and what replaces it?
No — smen is a fermented Moroccan butter, so it is not vegan. Replace it with a good extra-virgin olive oil, or a spoon of a plant-based cultured spread for a hint of the funky depth smen brings. In most tagines and couscous, olive oil works perfectly well without any loss of authenticity.
Learn to cook this menu with a local in Marrakech
Every dish here is taught, hands-on, in a Marrakech cooking class — or taste them across the medina on a guided food tour.