7 Harissa Recipe Ideas

From making a lemony salad dressing to whisking it into yogurt for a marinade or sauce, here are our favorite ways to enjoy harissa.

Food & Wine Editors

Thu, April 17, 2014 at 4:00 PM UTC

1 min read

Harissa is a North African chile paste traditionally served with bread, stews, and couscous dishes, made with ingredients like caraway, cumin, coriander, and mint.
Ways to use harissa include mixing it into burger meat, mashed potatoes, salad dressing, pasta dishes, marinades, seafood, and eggs for added flavor and spice.
Harissa can be incorporated into various recipes to enhance the taste, such as salmon burgers with harissa mayonnaise, harissa mashed potatoes, Moroccan carrot salad with spicy lemon dressing, and harissa-lamb skillet lasagna.

Harissa is a fiery, garlicky North African chile paste that's traditionally served alongside bread, stews , and couscous dishes. Recipes vary widely, but they typically include caraway, cumin, coriander, and sometimes herbs, like mint. Harissa is easy enough to make your own, but jarred versions work equally well. Here are nine tried-and-true ways to use this flavor-packed spice paste.

Burgers

Mix harissa paste into the burger meat itself, or blend it into ketchup or mayo for a zingy condiment.

Get the Recipe: Salmon Burgers with Harissa Mayonnaise

Potatoes

Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Christine Keely

Mix harissa into mashed potatoes for a delightful spin on the classic side dish.

Get the Recipe: Harissa Mashed Potatoes

Salad Dressing

Add a spicy kick to salad by whisking harissa into a tangy dressing. It's delicious tossed with raw julienned carrots or with pickled veggies .

Get the Recipe: Moroccan Carrot Salad with Spicy Lemon Dressing

Pasta

Southern Italy is not so far from North Africa, so using harissa in pasta dishes isn't a huge stretch. Try it in a ragù or in this stovetop lasagna.

Get the Recipe: Harissa-Lamb Skillet Lasagna

Marinade

Whisk harissa into yogurt to make a marinade for roasted or grilled meats, like lamb chops or these chicken legs.

Get the Recipe: Rosy Harissa Chicken

Seafood

*Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Dickey / Prop Styling by Heather Chadduck Hillegas*

Steam mussels with harissa and butter, or toss grilled shrimp in a homemade harissa sauce.

Get the Recipe: Mussels with Harissa and Basil

Eggs

Greg Dupree / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christina Daley

More complex than Tabasco or sriracha, harissa is incredibly tasty on fried eggs or a breakfast sandwich, in shakshuka , or mixed with yogurt to top a scramble .

Get the Recipe: Çilbir (Turkish Eggs)

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