Mujadara, sometimes spelled mujaddara, is a signature Middle Eastern dish made with lentils, rice, and deeply caramelized onions.
My Family Mujadara Recipe
My husband, Saba, and I both grew up eating Mujadara. His family is from Jordan, and his mom made Mujadara both for her family and as a staple at their restaurant. For me, growing up in Egypt, we called this recipe roz we addas, which means rice and lentils, and it’s related to our national dish, Koshari.
Literally meaning “pockmarked” in Arabic, Mujadara is a common recipe enjoyed throughout the Levant, specifically in countries like Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. It’s made with three key ingredients: lentils, rice, and loads of deeply caramelized onions! The seasoning is very simple—a dash of kosher salt, pepper, and cumin.
I typically serve it with a topping of crispy onions and a side of plain yogurt with a fresh Mediterranean salad such as cucumber and tomato salad, fattoush salad, or shirazi salad. When I need something meatless, gluten-free, and hearty, mujadara is one of my go-to meals, thanks to satisfying, protein- and fiber-packed lentils.
Take one bite, and you’ll see why mujadara is a staple in so many households, including my own.
Mujadara Ingredients
You only need 8 ingredients to make traditional mujadara
- Lentils: I prefer black lentils as they provide a nice color contrast in the final recipe, but both green and brown lentils will also work. All three will hold their shape. Avoid using red lentils; they break down too much, and won’t work in this recipe.
- Olive oil: I use quality extra virgin olive oil to both caramelize the onions and make the crispy fried onion topping. A lot of people think you can’t fry with olive oil, but that’s not true. To learn more about cooking with olive oil our guide Olive Oil 101.
- Yellow Onions: These everyday cooking onions are the best choice for this recipe. The sugars concentrate well when caramelized, and they fry to a crisp as well!
- Salt enhances the other flavors in the recipe. Typically, if a recipe tastes flat, it just needs a little more salt. Taste and adjust as you see fit.
- Long-grain white rice like basmati is a great option. You can also use standard American long grain rice if that’s easier to obtain or even bulgur. You can use short-grain rice as well, but I prefer long grain.
- Seasonings: Black pepper and Cumin give this recipe subtle warmth.
- Parsley (to garnish) adds a bit of color to an otherwise brown dish.
How to Make Mujadara
- Par-cook the lentils. In a saucepan, combine 1 cup of rinsed black lentils with 2 cups of water and a dash of salt. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer and cover, until the lentils are par-boiled (10 minutes). Remove from the heat, drain the lentils, and set them aside.
- Caramelize the chopped onions. To a large, deep sauté pan set over medium-high heat, add 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil. Add the diced onions, a dash of kosher salt, and cook until the onions are caramelized and deeply golden brown (but not burned), about 40 minutes. This will give the rice a deep, rich flavor and a beautiful golden brown hue.
- Cook the lentils and rice. Carefully pour the remaining 2 cups of water into the large pan with the caramelized onions. Stir the rice and par-cooked lentils into the onion mixture and bring to a boil. Add a dash of kosher salt, black pepper, and 1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground cumin. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the liquid has been absorbed and the rice and lentils are both cooked through (about 20 minutes).
- While the lentils and rice cook, make the crispy onions. Set a large pan over medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, and heat until the oil is shimmering. To test the oil, add one thinly sliced onion ring and see if the oil bubbles vigorously; if it does, the oil is ready. Add the remaining onion slices and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are crispy and deeply browned. If you need to, do this step in batches to make sure your onion rings are properly crisp (you don’t want them soggy).
- Let the Mujadara rest, then serve. When the rice and lentils are fully cooked, let them sit for about 10 minutes, then top with crispy onion, and garnish with parsley. Enjoy!
Variations, Tips, and Tricks
Rice
- You can use long grain, short grain white rice or even brown rice to make mujadara, if using brown rice, you will have to add additional cook time.
- Rinse the rice well until the water runs clear, then soak it for about 15 minutes in cold water until you can easily break one grain of rice. This helps the rice cook quickly and evenly, and prevents it from becoming mushy.
Bulgur
- You can replace the rice with coarse bulgur in this recipe for an equally delicious variation. If you want to use it instead, the cooking process is similar. Just give the grains a good rinse and allow them to soak for a few minutes before cooking until the bulgur is tender.
- If using bulgur instead of rice, the recipe is no longer gluten-free.
The Best Lentils for Mujadara
- I use these all-natural black lentils for mujadara. These petite lentils cook fairly quickly, and they have a wonderful earthy flavor, a good texture, and they don’t lose their shape when cooked with the rice.
- Brown lentils or green lentils will also work.
- Avoid red lentils. They breakdown too quickly and will turn to mush.
Onions: The Secret to Authentic Mujadara!
The secret to an authentic mujadara recipe is in the onions! This dish starts and ends with onions. First, you’ll cook deeply caramelized chopped onions rice and lentils. This imparts flavor and the deep, golden hue for which this recipe is known. Then, to finish mujadara, you’ll top the cooked rice and lentils with a thinly sliced, crispy onion ring!
- Pay close attention to the onions at both steps of the process. You want them deep brown, but not burnt.
- Don’t be afraid of rich, dark brown coloring.
- For crispy fried onions, you may need to cook them in batches.
What to Serve with Mujadara?
To serve mujadara lentils and rice the traditional way, you’ll dish it in bowls and add the crispy onion on top.
For sides, we typically add some plain yogurt and a big fresh Mediterranean salad such as cucumber and tomato salad, tomato and feta salad, fattoush salad, balela salad, or shirazi salad.
Egypt’s Copts (Christians) often serve lentils and rice during the Great Holy Fast in the spring, when “fasters” are required to eat a mainly vegan diet for 55 days! So it makes sense to look for additional vegan recipes like these vegan eggplant “meatballs.”
Try These Middle Eastern Recipes Next!
- Maqluba: A layered recipe of spiced rice, chicken, and vegetables.
- Fatteh: Spiced Chickpeas with pita and garlicky yogurt.
- Kibbeh: “Meatballs” stuffed with ground beef, onions, and pine nuts.
- Batata Harra: Middle Eastern Spicy Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 cup black lentils, sorted and rinsed
- 1/4 cup Extra virgin olive oil, more for later
- 2 large yellow onions, diced (4 cups)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt more to taste
- 1 cup long-grain white rice, soaked in water for 10-15 minutes and then drained
- black pepper
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cumin
- Parsley, for garnish
For the fried crispy onion garnish (optional)
- extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion cut in very thin rings
Instructions
- Cook the lentils. Set a small saucepan over high heat, and add the lentils and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the lentils are par-boiled, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from the heat, drain the lentils, and set aside.
- Cook the onions. In a large sauté pan with a lid, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the diced onions and cook until they are dark golden brown, darker than typical caramelized onions, about 40 minutes. Sprinkle the onions with a teaspoon of salt as they cook.
- Combine. Carefully add 2 cups of water to the pan with the onions, bring the water to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2 minutes. Stir the rice and par-cooked lentils into the onion mixture. Add a good dash of kosher salt, black pepper, and the cumin.
- Reduce heat and finish cooking. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the liquid has been absorbed and the rice and lentils are both cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Make the fried onions. While the rice and lentils cook, make the fried onions. In a large skillet set over medium-high heat, add 2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. Add a small piece of onion to the oil; when it bubbles vigorously, the oil is ready. Fry the onions in batches until they are crispy and deeply golden brown. Transfer the crispy onion rings to a paper towel-lined plate to remove excess oil.
- Rest and serve. Let the rice and lentils rest covered for about 10 minutes undisturbed, then transfer to serving bowls. Top each bowl with the crispy onion rings, and garnish with parsley.
Video
Notes
- Black lentils are the best option for mujadara, but brown lentils will work as well
- Rinse the rice well and soak it in water for 15 minutes or until you are able to break a rice grain easily. This will help it cook quickly and evenly
- If you choose to add the crispy onion garnish (highly recommended), to save time, you can start this while the rice and lentils cook (as I do in the video).
- Visit our Shop to browse our lentils, olive oil, spices and more!
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Absolutely delicious your tatziki and string bean with feta recipe! All the flavors totally work together! ????
Now to try the zucchini sticks….. ?. Your recipes are an absolute joy for me! ( And my 1/4 Lebanese husband )
My family is from Syria and Lebanon and we’ve traditionally made this dish with brown lentils, but the black lentils hold their shape much better. I now use this recipe instead of my mom’s.
You do say 2 large onions (4 cups of diced onion). Maybe my onions aren’t large enough but I end up with 4 onions for 4 cups. Is it really 4 cups of onions? I might have been under measuring.
Hi, Rhonda! Yes, you’ll want to use approximately 4 cups of chopped onions here. Enjoy!
Thanks for sharing this simple recipe! So yummy even though I substituted onions with big white cabbage, black lentils with green lentils and white rice with brown rice! The end product came out not as dark as yours but still delicious ?
Thanks for sharing your adaptations, Felicia!
Should the lid be on when cooking the onions? Maybe this is why they never turned dark for me ?
Hi, Dojjan! Onions are used 2x in this recipe. The first time, they should be sautéed with the lid off. The lid should be placed on after the rice and lentils are added. For the rest of the onions, which are fried and used as a topping, no lid would be used. If you’ve been doing it this way, not quite sure why they haven’t been turning out dark. I never seem to have an issue there.
Absolutely love this recipe! It’s amazing how these very simple (and affordable!) ingredients can come together in such a comforting, belly warming way! I ate this with roasted balsamic red cabbage, some sauteed mushrooms, and greek yogurt with grated garlic. Delicious!
Yum! Thanks so much, Ana!
This is my new favorite recipe!! I didn’t have high hopes initially, owing to the fact that I had to substitute brown lentils for black and whole grain rice for the white, but my taste buds have no complaints. It was absolutely scrumptious. Planning to keep ingredients on hand to make on a regular basis. I’m so happy I found your blog and this recipe. Thank you very much!
So glad you liked it, Pam! Thanks for sharing your substitutions!
LOVE this recipe. It’s truly a labor of love (like so much of the food I enjoy cooking), but my family’s reaction is worth the standing over the stove for so long! I use sweet onions because it’s just what I buy, but the recipe is spot-on. It’s one of the few recipes I sacrifice using brown rice because I LOVE the finished product of the white rice when it’s all toasty. 🙂 Thanks for yet another winner from your site!
Thank you so much, Delaney!
Hi dying to make Mujadara. Going to make it today but just saw in my pantry we only have green lentils, not black. Can i sub using same amount and same cooking time and procedure as with the black? Please advise. Thank you.
Hi David, apologies. I am not always able to get to each question immediately. Mujadara is best made using black lentils given their particular consistency. But green or brown lentils will likely work with some variation in cooking time (they are larger too in size). These are the lentils I typically use here: https://shop.themediterraneandish.com/product/black-lentils/
Hi! Is it okay to substitute with green lentils instead of black lentils?
Thank you!
Sure!
I recently made the acquaintance of mujadara at a local Lebanese restaurant in North Carolina, USA. It was fabulous! Scanning the net for a recipe that most closely resembled what I devoured in the restaurant I found your blog. However, I’m not clear on the steps for preparing the dish. For example, you say “diced” onions in the instructions, but do you mean thinly sliced? Also, at step 3, should I pour the remaining 2 cups of water over the caramelized onions and is the uncooked rice added to this mix along with the parboiled lentils? (There’s only one thing I’d change about this recipe. I’d save the water poured off the parboiled lentils and use it in the final simmering process assuming it contains nutrients.) I can’t wait to try this and will report back. Thank you for sharing!!
Hi Pam, this recipe uses onions a couple of different times. 2 large onions are diced and cooked with the rice and also one large onion that’s thinly sliced into rings and fried to make the crispy onions topping the rice.
Hi Suzy,
Fist of all I wish to tell you that I love reading your newsletter and all the yummy dishes some of which remind me of my childhood and growing up in Egypt. My memories of the intoxicating smells coming from the kitchen will always remain with me.
I do have some comments re some of the ingredients used in some of your dishes. For example this dish sounds fab but it is an Iraqi speciality, I am egyptian and coptic christian. This dish in Egypt is called Koshari and is a famous street food. During our period of fasting it is one of our main dishes though it also includes small pasta .Our other famous dish is falafel which contrary to lebanese who cook it with chickpeas, ours is cooked with ‘foul madshoush’ which are dry crushed fava beans also used whole to make our famous foul.
I wonder if you probably have been influenced more by lebanese cooking which is also very yummy but slightly different.
In any case it is a delight reading you, shokran
Yvonne El Masri
Thank you very much for sharing, Yvonne. I appreciate your kind note so much and happy to hear from you. I am very much Egyptian, but Mujadara is a different version of Koshari that is popular in the Levant and other parts of the Middle East. Here is the Egyptian Koshari recipe for your reference: https://www.themediterraneandish.com/egyptian-koshari-recipe/ Enjoy 🙂
Absolutely delicious! Is a family favorite now!
Great! Thanks so much!
My wife, who is of Syrian descent, makes her “M’jedra” with cracked wheat like you use in tabooli instead of rice. We seve it piping hot with yogurt, raw onion, tomato, and extra olive oil. Somerimes with hot peppers. Very yummy for a cold winter day.
Thank you for sharing, Jeff. Yes, there is a variation of this recipe using bulgur wheat.
Hi! I just tried your recipe and it was my first time making mujadara. I am a caterer and I am trying to figure out if I could make it in an oven in big foil pans. Do you think if you had the onion stock prepared you could bake it instead of cooking it on the stove? Just combine the onion stock, the rice and the lentils in a 350 degree oven? Then toss the fried onions on top?
Hi there, thank you for reaching out! Mujadra is not typically a recipe I recommend for baking. If you do give it a try, I’d love to hear 🙂
Hi when frying up the onions is it at a very low temperature for 40 mins? Or is 40 mins a typo?
Recipe looks delish can’t wait to try it
Medium heat should work here, Laz. I just make sure to watch the onions and toss them occasionally until you arrive at a nice deep golden brown color.
This was fantastic, but unless you want to set off every smoke alarm in your kitchen, do NOT brown the onions at medium-high heat for 40 minutes. Start at that level, but when they begin to brown, reduce the heat to medium low and stir constantly.
Ha! Thanks for the tip, Jacqui!
Is there any way to substitute brown rice for the white rice? We don’t use white rice anymore.
Hi Cheryl, in most cases I’m all for using brown rice, but in this particular recipe, it does not provide the same results. That said, you can use brown rice if you need to. Keep in mind that it does take more liquid and longer time to cook.
I’ve used brown rice for mujaddra and we love it. You could also try with cracked wheat.
Awesome! Thanks for the tip, Desiree!
Can you use brown lentils for this recipe?
Sure, Karen. Brown lentils will work here.