This Moroccan Spice Blend is a total flavor booster! It's earthy, slightly sweet, a little smoky, and has just the right amount of warmth.
It's a brilliant way to bring flavor to your dinners. Think cumin, paprika, cinnamon, and ginger all coming together to make your meals taste amazing with barely any effort. Rub it on chicken or lamb, stir it through roasted carrots or pumpkin, add it to rice or couscous, or even mix it into your burgers for something a little different.
Jump to:
Ingredients Notes
These notes are here to help make this recipe a success; they cover some but not all ingredients. For a complete ingredient list, with quantities, check out the recipe card below.
Cracked black pepper: You want cracked or coarse black pepper, don't use the fine dusty powder.
Cayenne pepper: You can increase or decrease the cayenne according to taste. As written this spice blend has a mild kick but isn't super fiery.
Brown sugar: This balances the other spices. It is quite common in North African cuisine to have a hint of sweetness in savoury meals. You can leave it out if you prefer.
How to use Moroccan Seasoning
- Make a Marinade: For 4 people, mix 1 tablespoon of Moroccan seasoning with ¼ cup of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of salt*. Marinate your chosen protein for at least 30 minutes. Perfect for chicken, pork, fish or shrimp. (* check your seasoning blend, if it contains salt don't add more.)
- Make a Dry Rub: Rub ½-1 teaspoon per portion into your meat or seafood before cooking. Great for lamb, beef or chicken.
- Make Flavored Butter: Add ½ teaspoon of seasoning per tablespoon of softened butter and mix well. You can use this on top of grilled meats and fish. Or toss it through cooked rice or couscous. Or add it to boiled potatoes.
- Sprinkle over Vegetables: Sprinkle ¼-½ teaspoon per portion of veg before or after cooking. Great for when roasting vegetables.
Why Is This Recipe Special?
- I love how homemade spice blends are a great way to quickly add flavor to meals.
- I love how you can adapt this to suit your family's tastes.
- I love portioning up little jars of this to give as gifts.
Recipe Adaptations
These are just suggestions and things that have worked in my test kitchen for my family, but it is your dinner, so adapt it to suit your family. That is the beauty of cooking; we can all create our own delicious meals.
- Add more heat with extra cayenne pepper or some crushed chili flakes.
- Go smoky with smoked paprika instead of sweet.
- Make it sweeter with a little extra cinnamon and brown sugar.
- Add a citrusy kick and use lemon pepper instead of regular black pepper.
- If you want to add extra spices, cardamon, ground cloves and fennel are great additions. Or go for floral with some lavender or rose petals.
Want to save this recipe?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
FAQ's
These are some of the questions our testers have asked. If you have any other questions, please drop me a comment below, are I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
Not really. It has the warmth from the spices, but it's not extra hot. You can remove the cayenne for a very mild flavor, or add extra if you want more of a kick.
Yes, absolutely! While traditional tagines often use a few additional spices, this blend gives you a great base. Just add it to your dish and adjust to taste as you go. It's perfect for quick, weeknight versions of tagine style dishes.
Of course. It's a great one to make in a bigger batch so you've alway got it on hand. Just be sure to store it in a sealed container away from heat and light.
This spice blend won't go off. But the spices will start to lose flavor over time. When you are making it have a look at the individual spices you are adding. The date on those will tell you when you should use your blend by.
Recipes that use this Moroccan Spice Blend
Enjoy x
If you try this Moroccan Spice Blend, please leave a 🌟rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I really appreciate it, and it helps others to know that this recipe is trustworthy. And in a world where AI is becoming so common, it is nice to still have real human interactions.
Any questions about the recipe? Use the comment section below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
Get the Recipe
Moroccan Spice Blend
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
- ½ tablespoon cracked black pepper
- ½ tablespoon ground cumin
- ½ tablespoon light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper optional - leave out for a mild spice mix
- 1 teaspoon all spice
Instructions
- Mix the spices together until well combined and store in a sealed jar or pot.1 tablespoon ground coriander1 tablespoon sweet paprika½ tablespoon cracked black pepper½ tablespoon ground cumin½ tablespoon light brown sugar1 teaspoon ground cinnamon1 teaspoon ground ginger1 teaspoon cayenne pepper1 teaspoon all spice
Nutrition
Nutrition is per serving
J. West says
This blend is the perfect amount of warmth. I used in chicken breast chunks sauteed on top of stove in cast iron; I saved this recipe and will definitely make it again with chicken as per this recipe. At the time, I already had the chicken breast chunks defrosted and ready to go when I found this recipe. Just wonderful! I look forward to trying your other recipes.
Helen says
Love your style Claire! I wouldn't have found you if I had not been looking for Old Bay seasoning in Australia! Of course I have then looked at other parts of your website and will definitely bookmark.
Claire McEwen says
Thank you Helen, I hope you enjoyed the Old Bay Seasoning. I use it in so many dishes!!!!
Vickie G says
What is mixed spice? Is this another of your recipes?
Claire McEwen says
Hi Vickie, mixed spice is a blend that you can buy in most supermarkets here in Australia and in the UK. It is a mixture of Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice and then depending on the brand it may contain a touch of ginger and cloves.
I believe it is similar to the pumpkin spice blends they sell in America.
A few people have asked me about mixed spice, so I think I will get a recipe to make you own up on the blog soon, especially as it is such a wonderful blend to use at Christmas.
Hope this helps x