Vegetarian Feast menu
Vegetarian Moroccan Feast Menu — Cooked Salads, Veg Tagine and Couscous
Moroccan cooking is quietly one of the most vegetable-friendly cuisines in the world — its salades cuites, pulses and grains are dishes in their own right, not afterthoughts. This meat-free feast for six loses nothing in generosity: a table of cooked salads, a rich chickpea and vegetable tagine, light seven-vegetable couscous and a fragrant orange dessert. Everything here is naturally vegetarian and most of it is better made ahead. Browse more ideas in our recipe collection, then lay the whole spread out at once so guests graze across salads and mains together, scooping with bread in the proper Moroccan way.
The menu
Cooked salads
Zaalouk, taktouka and carrot-and-cumin salad
The classic trio of smoky aubergine, cooked pepper-tomato and sweet spiced carrots. Cold or room temperature, all made the day before.
Centrepiece
Chickpea and seasonal vegetable tagine
Chickpeas, pumpkin, carrot and courgette slow-cooked with ginger, saffron and preserved lemon until silky. Hearty enough to anchor the meal.
Grain
Seven-vegetable couscous with vegetable broth
Steamed couscous crowned with a mound of vegetables and chickpeas, the broth kept entirely meat-free. Steam twice for lightness.
Side
Loubia — white beans in tomato sauce
Creamy butter beans simmered in a paprika-and-cumin tomato sauce, a beloved Moroccan comfort dish that adds real substance.
Bread
Warm khobz
The essential tool for eating cooked salads and scooping tagine sauce. Warm it just before the table sits down.
Dessert
Orange and cinnamon salad
Sliced oranges dusted with cinnamon and orange-blossom water — clean, fragrant and the traditional refreshing end to a rich meal.
Shopping list
- Aubergines, peppers, tomatoes and carrots (for the cooked salads)
- Pumpkin or squash, courgettes and turnips (for tagine and couscous)
- Dried chickpeas and dried white beans (loubia)
- Onions, garlic and a generous bunch of coriander and parsley
- Preserved lemon and green olives
- Cumin, sweet paprika, ginger, saffron and cinnamon
- Couscous (medium grain)
- Cabbage and a little tomato paste (for the couscous broth)
- Oranges and orange-blossom water
- Bread or flour for khobz, plus good olive oil
Prep timeline
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Day before
Soak the chickpeas and white beans overnight. Make all three cooked salads and refrigerate; they only improve.
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Morning
Cook the loubia and cool. Start the chickpea tagine so it has time to grow silky, then set aside to reheat later.
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2 hours before
Steam the couscous for the first time and rub through. Prepare the seven vegetables for the couscous broth.
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1 hour before
Simmer the couscous broth and vegetables; give the grain its second steaming. Gently reheat the tagine and loubia.
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To serve
Bring the salads to room temperature, warm the khobz, mound the couscous with its vegetables, and slice the oranges for dessert.
Host's tips
- Cooked salads are the heart of vegetarian Moroccan entertaining — make three or four and the table already looks abundant.
- Keep the couscous broth meat-free but deeply seasoned with ginger, turmeric and a little smen or oil for richness.
- Chickpeas and white beans give the meal the body meat would otherwise provide — do not skip the pulses.
- Preserved lemon and olives add the savoury depth that vegetarian food sometimes lacks; use them generously.
- Steam couscous twice even for a vegetarian menu — the light, separate grain is what makes it special.
Questions about this menu
Is Moroccan food good for vegetarians?
Exceptionally. Cooked salads, pulse dishes like loubia and bissara, vegetable tagines and couscous are all naturally meat-free and central to the cuisine, not side dishes. A vegetarian can eat magnificently in Morocco, especially across the many cooked-salad and bean-based classics.
How do I make couscous vegetarian?
Build the broth on onions, tomato, chickpeas and the seven vegetables, seasoned with ginger, turmeric, saffron and pepper instead of meat. A spoon of smen or good olive oil adds richness. Steam the grain over the vegetable pot so it drinks up the fragrant steam.
What protein is in a vegetarian Moroccan feast?
Chickpeas, white beans, lentils and fava beans do the work of meat here. A chickpea tagine and a pot of loubia together give the meal real substance, while eggs and cheese can feature in briouats if you want more. Nobody leaves the table hungry.
Can this feast be made vegan?
Almost entirely. The tagine, couscous, cooked salads, loubia and orange dessert are naturally vegan if you use oil rather than smen or butter and skip any cheese briouats. Check your bread contains no milk. See our dedicated vegan menu for a fully plant-based version.
How far ahead can I prepare it?
Most of it a day ahead. Cooked salads and loubia are better the next day, the tagine reheats beautifully, and couscous can be steamed early and finished at the last minute. Only warming the bread and slicing the oranges need doing once guests arrive.
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.