Lebanese spiced lentils and basmati rice are tossed with caramelized onions and fresh cilantro to make this flavor-packed mujadara. Delicious as a main dish or a show-stopping side!
Mujadara is an amazingly delicious rice pilaf that's known for being made with pantry staples. And that's why I like to keep this recipe in my back pocket for when I'm not sure what to make. I have almost all of the ingredients on hand at all times!
Best of all, mujadara is hearty enough serve as a main dish, but also pairs up great as a side for other middle eastern dishes like falafel or loubieh.
What You'll Need
- Dried lentils. You can use brown or green for this recipe. I don't recommend using red lentils.
- Olive oil. Another high-heat oil will technically work, but olive oil will give this dish the best flavor.
- Onions. You'll need yellow onions, and LOTS of them — a pounds and a half!
- Garlic.
- Spices. We're using cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper.
- Basmati rice. I recommend sticking with the recipe for this ingredient. If you absolutely must sub another variety, you'll need to adjust the amount of liquid and cook time — refer to your rice's package instructions.
- Salt & pepper.
- Lemon juice.
- Fresh cilantro. Cilantro really makes the dish, unless you're a person who hates cilantro, in which case I'd recommend subbing parsley.
How to Make Mujadara
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll past it if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Caramelize the Onions
- Add sliced onions and olive oil to a pot and place it over medium low heat. Give it a stir to evenly coat the onions with oil.
- Slowly cook the onions, giving them a stir every so often. Be patient and keep the heat low! Caramelizing onions takes a while, but the good news is that it's a mostly hands-off process. In the meantime, you can cook your lentils while the onions caramelize.
- The onions are done caramelizing when they're amber colored and super soft.
- Remove about half of the onions from the pot before proceeding with the recipe — these will be used to top your dish.
Make the Rice Pilaf
- Turn up the heat to medium, then add minced garlic and spices to the pot. Cook everything for about a minute, until it becomes very fragrant.
- Stir in the broth and rice.
- Bring the liquid to a boil.
- Lower the heat, cover the pot, and let everything simmer for about 20 minutes, or until all of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice.
Assemble the Dish
- Let the pot sit for 5 minutes before uncovering it.
- Stir in lemon juice, salt, pepper, and fresh cilantro.
Serve your mujadara with the caramelized onions that you reserved earlier.
Mujadara Tips & FAQ
- Is this dish gluten-free? It is!
- Shelf-life & storage: Store any leftover mujadara in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Most of the cook time is devoted to caramelizing your onions. If you want to cut down on that, cook them ahead of time (make a big batch so you can use them for multiple dishes!). Refrigerate them for 3-4 days, or freeze them.
- Can you make mujadara with red lentils? I don't recommend it. Red lentils cook up super soft — you might end up with mujadara mush!
- Can you use a different variety of rice? Yes, but the flavor and texture of basmati is perfect in this dish. I highly recommend using it if you can. You might also need to adjust the amount of vegetable broth and cook time if you switch things up — refer to the cooking instructions for your rice.
- What if I hate cilantro? Try subbing parsley!
More Middle Eastern Recipes
- Lentil Shawarma Pitas
- Easy Baked Falafel
- Lebanese Green Bean Stew
- Eggplant Gyros
- Herbed Split Pea & Basmati Rice Soup with Caramelized Onions
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Mujadara
Lebanese spiced lentils and basmati rice are tossed with caramelized onions and fresh cilantro to make this flavor-packed mujadara. Delicious as a main dish or a show-stopping side!
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried brown or green lentils
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ pounds yellow onion (about 3 medium onions), thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste
- 1 ¾ cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup basmati rice
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
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Place the oil and onions into a medium saucepan. Toss a few times to coat the onions and place the pot over medium low heat.
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Allow the onions to cook for 45 to 60 minutes, until they're caramelized and slightly browned.
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While the onions cook, place the lentils in medium saucepan. Cover them with water and place the pot over high heat.
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Bring the water to a boil, lower the heat and allow it to simmer for until the lentils are tender (about 20 minutes for brown lentils, 40 for green).
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Remove the pot from heat and drain the lentils into a colander. Set them aside.
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When the onions have finished caramelizing, remove half of them from the pot and transfer them to a plate.
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Raise the heat beneath the onions to medium, add the garlic, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper, and cook 1 minute more, until very fragrant.
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Stir in the broth and rice.
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Bring the liquid to a boil, lower the heat and cover. Allow the mixture to simmer until the rice is cooked and liquid is absorbed, 15-20 minutes.
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Remove the pot from heat and allow it to sit for 5 minutes.
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Stir the lentils, lemon juice and cilantro into the pot with the rice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. You can also add extra lemon juice if you'd like.
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Divide the mujadara onto plates and top with the reserved caramelized onions.
Could the rice amount be cutback by half? I am diabetic so tend to stay away from rice as a general rule. This looks like a wonderful recipe. I am thinking that would be freezable too...husband probably won't try it but he might surprise me and like it! Thanks for posting this.
I think so, though you might want to add the spices at the end so you can adjust if needed. You could also try swapping out the rice with cauliflower rice. Here's a post on how to prepare basic cauliflower rice, in case you aren't familiar. Enjoy!
Euch - hate moths. We have clothes moths and they're a nightmare to get rid of. I got some magic stuff from a Bulgarian cleaner that seems to keep the numbers down but we still get some. So if you have any Eastern European connections that's the way to go, nothing I found in the shops here seemed to really work.
Your Mujadara sounds great - I love Middle-Eastern food. Must try this.
Thanks Hanna! I got a few emails with ideas that I'm going to try out. If they don't work maybe I'll scour the internet for some magic Bulgarian cleaner. ;)
That seems so surreal to me, just opening a container and having moths flying out of it! I never heard of these until now. It looks like a lot online sources suggest pretty much emptying pantries, vacuuming, washing it out with vinegar, and laying out bay leaves.
Just made this tonight for dinner and I loved it and have plenty leftover! Will make again!
This is a good one for getting a few days worth of meals. :) Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Leslie!
I had a lentil salad this spring that incorporated preserved lemons throughout - they added a wonderful layer of flavor. Thought of it since this recipe uses lemon juice. Wonder how that would be? I've wanted to make preserved lemons since then!
It's been a while since you originally posted, I hope the moths have stayed away! I get them when I have old pasta or grains in the cabinet - it seems the larva are in the glue of the boxes, iirc. Giving the cabinets a thorough clean-out does the trick.
That sounds delicious! I've been wanting to try making preserved lemons forever. :) And YES! Thankfully, I scrubbed and scrubbed and had to throw out a bunch of things and seal everything else up, and it took forever, but it's been months since I've seen a moth in the kitchen.
I can’t say as I like cinnamon in savory dishes so not sure about this but the rest of the combo sounds great.
As for moths, you’ll need to seal everything in your pantry. Flour, any mixes whether rice or cake or whatever. Noodles, everything. Seal each unit off or type of unit. YOu’ll probably have to do this for a year or so. I lost almost 50 pounds of flour due to one item coming in contaminated. If you buy bulk items especially seal them off. They get contaminated more easily since they sit in the store in unsealed bins. Good luck. It’s not fun. (Oh, seal of any cereals too - anything not in a can or jar! It happened to me at Thanksgiving with company in the house. They were not impressed!
We finally got rid of the moths, and it took forever! I did like you said and sealed everything up and cleaned the pantry obsessively. It did take about a year and we lost so much food. :( But thankfully, at this point it's been a while since I've found any sign of moths.
Don't be afraid to use the cinnamon....it is subtle. The over-all flavor profile is stunningly good.!
So glad you re-posted this! I used a different recipe when I made this a month ago and it was bland. Definitely going to give this one a try.
If you've never made this dish--trust me, it is so much more glorious than the sum of its parts! Delicious!
Absolutely agreed!
Your recipe is awesome. I grew up in a middle eastern
family.
This was a staple almost every holiday and a great warm bowl during colder weather.
This is pretty close to my moms, so props to you.
Delicious and a pot on the stove as I type.
I'm so happy to hear that!! This has become one of my favorite cold weather meals too. :)
My recipe, learned from Lebanese family members, only uses salt as seasoning with the fried till crisp onions. This sounds like a tasty more spicy version of the dish my children and father used to cover with ketchup. The side dish I usually serve with mjudra is salata malfouf (cabbage slaw seasoned with garlic-lemon-olive oil dressing).
That sounds like a delicious combination! I need to check out some recipes for salata malfouf so I can try it. :)
This was SO good. The only difference was that we added cooked green cabbage and topped it off with a bit of Braggs. Love Braggs! Loved this recipe!! Thank You!
Sounds delicious!! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Hi, I am looking to meal prep for Monday-Friday and I cook my meals on Sundays. Would this hold for the whole week? The recipe looks delicious and I really want some Lebanese food!
Thank you!
It'll keep for a few days, but a whole week might be stretching it a bit. I'd try freezing half of the batch and then thawing it out for the second half of teh week. I hope you enjoy it!!
Great Mujadara recipe! Thanks. About the moths, I learned many years ago never keep rice in the pantry. Lucky for me I kept the rice inside a large plastic box in my pantry, and when I saw the moths, I took the box to the yard and let the moths out and there the rice in the trash. I store small quantities of rice in the freezer now.I only use brown rice from California, India or Thailand.
We had this for lunch last Sunday and it was delicious. I would definitely make this again. Thanks
I cannot tell you the number of times I have made this recipe. It is a staple in my repertoire. I send people this recipe every time they want a lentil and rice dish.
Also, I frequently just throw all ingredients in a rice cooker and cook for an hour. It works beautifully. (Though, when making it for others I do make it the traditional way.)