By season
Winter Warming Moroccan Soups
Morocco is not only the hot country of the postcards. From December to February the nights around Marrakech drop close to freezing, the High Atlas turns white, and the north can be grey and wet for weeks. In winter the kitchen answers with soup — cheap, nourishing and endlessly comforting bowls that are among the most loved everyday foods in the country.
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- Updated
- 19 July 2026
At a glance
- Harira and bissara are the two great Moroccan winter soups.
- Bissara, a thick dried-fava puree under a slick of olive oil and cumin, is classic winter breakfast food.
- Soups are cheap, filling and sold from tiny hole-in-the-wall stalls across every town.
- Winter is the season of hearty root vegetables, pulses and warming spices.
Bissara: the working person's winter breakfast
If one bowl defines a Moroccan winter morning it is bissara — dried split fava beans (or sometimes split peas) simmered soft and blended to a thick, silky puree. It is served scalding hot in a shallow bowl, finished with a generous pour of olive oil, a dusting of cumin and paprika, and often a pinch of dried chilli, then scooped up with crusty bread.
Bissara is peasant food in the best sense: a few dirhams buys a filling, protein-rich bowl that keeps a labourer going through a cold day. In the medinas of Fez, Marrakech and the north you will find bissara stalls doing brisk trade from dawn, the pot never off the heat.
Harira and the hearty broths
Harira — the tomato, lentil and chickpea soup thickened with a flour-and-water tadouira and scented with celery, coriander and ginger — is famous as the Ramadan soup, but Moroccans eat it all winter long as a warming supper. A bowl of harira with dates, a boiled egg and a wedge of bread is a complete, restorative meal on a cold night.
- Harira: tomato, lentils, chickpeas and herbs, thickened and tangy with lemon.
- Chorba / hssoua: lighter vegetable and vermicelli or barley broths.
- Belboula: a barley-grits soup, sometimes enriched with milk, popular in the mountains.
- Trid and rfissa broth: fenugreek- and lentil-scented broths poured over torn pastry.
Warmth from the mountains
In the Amazigh villages of the Atlas, where winters are genuinely harsh, soups lean on what stores well: barley, corn, dried beans, turnips and squash. Belboula, made from coarsely ground barley, is thick enough to stand a spoon in and is often loosened with buttermilk. These are the quiet, unglamorous dishes that keep families fed when the passes are under snow.
For the wider cold-weather table beyond soups, see Moroccan comfort food for cold nights and what to eat in Morocco in winter.
Frequently asked questions
What soups do Moroccans eat in winter?
The two classics are harira (tomato, lentil and chickpea soup) and bissara (a thick puree of dried fava beans with olive oil and cumin). Lighter chorba vegetable broths, barley belboula and fenugreek-scented broths for rfissa and trid also feature, especially in the mountains.
What is bissara?
Bissara is a thick soup made from dried split fava beans (or split peas) simmered soft and blended to a smooth puree. It is served very hot with a pour of olive oil, cumin, paprika and chilli, scooped with bread. Cheap and filling, it is a classic Moroccan winter breakfast.
Is harira only eaten during Ramadan?
No. Harira is famous as the soup that breaks the Ramadan fast, but Moroccans eat it throughout winter as a warming, complete supper — traditionally with dates, a boiled egg and bread. It is a year-round comfort food that simply peaks in the cold months and during Ramadan.
Does it get cold enough in Morocco for soup?
Yes. Inland cities like Marrakech and Fez have cold nights from December to February, the High Atlas gets heavy snow, and the north is wet and grey. Soup is genuine seasonal comfort, not just tradition, and hole-in-the-wall soup stalls do their best trade in winter.