Muhmmara is a Middle Eastern walnut and roasted red pepper dip that’s all sorts of savory, sweet, slightly smoky, and just enough spicy! It is almost a cousin to Spanish romesco sauce. This muhammara recipe is easy to make, and I love serving it with warm pita as part of a Mezze platter, spread it on your sandwiches, or scoop it on top of grilled chicken or fish.
A couple of things make all the difference. Be sure to read through and watch my video below.
My love for muhammara began a few years ago. I was raving to a friend about roasted red pepper hummus when she asked, “have you tried muhammara yet?”
She got me going on a muhammara hunt!
I have tried all sorts of it and have been playing around and perfecting this homemade muhammara recipe, which is now a constant on my table.
This is a different kind of red pepper dip–next level delicious. If you’re a fan of flavorful dips and spreads to serve with your veggies or pita, you’ll want to give this one a try. Leftover muhammara is great to spread on your sandwiches or serve with chicken or fish.
What is Muhmmara (or Mouhammara)?
Muhmmara is a hearty walnut and roasted red pepper dip or spread that’s all sorts of savory, sweet, slightly smoky, and just enough spicy!
The word muhammara is from the Arabic word ahmar, which literally means red. This red dip, originally from the Syrian city of Aleppo, this delicious dip made its way from the heart of the Levant to many parts of the world including Europe and the U.S. You may have even seen muhammara jars at the grocery store–word to the wise, make your own!
What’s in this Muhammara recipe?
To get our heads around just how different and exciting this roasted red pepper dip is, let’s walk through the ingredients and what they each bring:
- Roasted red peppers– I roast my own here, but you can use store-bought jars of roasted red peppers
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Walnuts (shelled)
- Bread crumbs- this adds heft and texture giving muhammara a rustic finish
- Pomegranate Molasses– adds a certain acidity, tang and sweetness. In a pinch you can substitute with a mixture of lemon juice and honey.
- Aleppo pepper– distinctly Syrian chili pepper flakes from Aleppo. It is fairly mild and has the sweetness and roundness of the best sun-dried tomatoes you’ll try. Aleppo pepper is also slightly spicy, the heat will build slowly leaving a fruity flavor. Find Aleppo pepper at our online shop here.
- Other flavor makers (this will vary somewhat from one recipe to another): tomato paste (I like this for added depth and color, but Turkish Red Pepper Paste works here as well), garlic, and sumac (for extra tang), and a little cayenne pepper for more spice.
The more you make muhammara the more you’ll adjust the spices to your liking. If you enjoy hot dips, you can absolutely kick the Aleppo pepper and cayenne up a couple notches.
What can I substitute for Aleppo chili pepper
I’m such a big fan of the sweet, tangy, and just enough spicy Aleppo pepper flakes. You’ve seen me use it in chicken kofta, shrimp and rice, white bean salad, and even on baked eggs. And it’s a key element in muhammara.
Some say you can substitute Aleppo pepper for a bit of ancho chile pepper mixed with a pinch of salt and some cayenne. I cannot personally vouch for how close a substitution that will be.
(Note: check our online shop for all-natural Aleppo-Style Pepper).
What to serve with muhammara?
You will typically find muhammara served as a mezze dish with other dips like baba ganoush and hummus, of course. I also like to add a salad like tabouli, fattoush, or chickpea salad.
Storage
Muhammara will keep in the fridge anywhere from 4 days to one week, if properly stored. Some say you can freeze it, but I haven’t personally tried that, we’ve always been able to wipe that bowl clean!
My father, who has been to Aleppo, Syria some years ago, speaks of the hospitable culture and the vibrant flavors of the city. I believe this muhammara recipe is just a tiny taste of that.
You may also enjoy our collection of Mediterranean diet recipes. For all recipes, visit us here.
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Muhammara Recipe (Roasted Red Pepper Dip)
Ingredients
- 2 red bell peppers
- 4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil divided
- 1/4 lb shelled toasted walnuts
- 1 garlic clove roughly chopped
- 2 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
- 3/4 cup bread crumbs
- 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
- 1 tsp Aleppo pepper
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp sumac
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Brush the bell peppers with 1 tbsp of olive oil, and place in a lightly oiled oven-safe pan or cast-iron skillet. Roast the peppers in the 425 degrees F heated oven for 30 minutes or so, turning them over once or twice.
- Remove from the oven and place the peppers in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap for a few minutes. This traps the steam from the roasted peppers, making them easy to peel. When cool enough to handle, simply peel the peppers, remove the seeds and slice the peppers into small strips.
- Now in the bowl of a large food processor, combine the roasted red pepper strips with 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, garlic, walnuts, tomato paste, bread crumbs, pomegranate molasses, Aleppo pepper, sugar, sumac, salt and cayenne. Blend into a smooth paste.
- Transfer to a serving bowl. You may cover the muhammara and refrigerate, but be sure to bring the dip to room temperature before serving.
- When ready to serve, top the dip with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and garnish with a little more walnuts and fresh parsley, if you like. Serve with pita bread or pita chips. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Storage: You can refrigerate muhammara in a tight-lid container for 4 days and up to one week. A thin layer of extra virgin olive oil to cover the top of the dip will help preserve it.
- Find Aleppo-style pepper here and extra virgin olive oil here.
- Visit our Online Shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients including all-natural and organic spices, extra virgin olive oil and more.
Nutrition
This post originally appeared on The Mediterranean Dish in 2016 and has been updated with new information and media for readers’ benefit
How would you suggest preserving for future use?
Freezing, canning?
Hi, Kim! It should freeze just fine :).
Made this last night, very tasty but color was very dark. Could the walnuts have caused this?
Perhaps, or just the combo of the roasted red peppers and pomegranate molasses.
I plan to use this recipe to marinate and encrust chicken breasts to be served over Basil Pesto Pasta. This is for a Cummunity Lunch Program serving about 150 meals. I think I’ll thin it just a bit with V8 juice. Wish me luck!
Good luck, Jimmy! Let us know how it turned out!
Dear Suzy,
We love this dip and make it often. I was wondering if you could recommend a good substitute for bread crumbs that would work well in it. We have some friends with celiac/gluten free needs and I would love a GF option when we have them over.
Thank you!
Hi, Natalia. This is Kate, the gluten free team member over here at The Mediterranean Dish. This is actually one of my very favorite dip recipes on the site. I make it all the time using gluten free breadcrumbs. The brand I use is 4C Gluten Free Plain Bread Crumbs (it can usually be found with the regular bread crumbs at grocery stores).
I’ve made this several times by now using this recipe, and it was lately a hit at the party we threw tonight. Thank you so much!!! Always SLAPS.
A thousand blessings to you. I just catered a graduation buffet luncheon for 80+ guests and I used 6 of your recipes including this one. They were all a big hit and I had many folks asking where the recipes came from — a few of them were doctors who recommend the Mediterranean diet to their patients — they eagerly copied down your web address. So again, thank you so very much
All the ingredients are there but proportions are off. Way too much bread crumbs, not enough olive oil. If you know the teste of muhammara please add maximum if 1/3 cup bread crumbs when mixing and maybe add more if you like. I added more molasses as well.
Tasted amazing, although I halved the bread crumbs. Loved it but would have omitted the sugar and added it by taste after. The red peppers had enough sweetness, in my opinion.
I did 1/4 cayenne but would up it to 1/2 tsp cayenne next time.
I cannot wait to try this. I just wanted to make a note for those (like me) who may have trouble finding pomegranate molasses but really want to use it, there are recipes online to make it yourself from pomegranate juice which is far easier to find. I made it once and it was easy, but does take time to reduce to the right consistency. I am wondering if grenadine with extra lemon might also do the trick despite being sweeter??
Hi, Cindy! We also have a recipe for pomegranate molasses on our site, and we sell it in our online shop as well.
Hi Cindy,
I buy pomegranate molasses on line – even amazon has quite a few options. The one that I got was imported and appeared excellent quality.
For the breadcrumbs, do I use fresh or dried?
Hi, Sheila. You would use dried breadcrumbs here. Enjoy!
Made it for the first time … yum … absolutely loved it!
I have had it without breadcrumbs, can I make without them?
Hello! The breadcrumbs are a bit of an essential ingredient here, but it will taste okay without them. I would probably add more walnuts, though, to maintain some of the texture.
I love the recipe as is. I went out and bought it all and thought it better than the local Mediterranean restaurant that is so pricey. I appreciate the short cut advice. It’s one one of those, what do I have, what can I get, what can I afford, why am I making it dish. For myself, and a guilty pleasure, I want this recipe with no substitute.
Loved this dip from restaurant in Seattle and now you’ve taught me to make it. Thanks so much. Dave. p.s. I can buy the red peppers already roasted at a farmers market in Tucson, AZ which makes it super easy.
Flavor is wonderful, and the substitution suggested for the pomegranate molasses seemed to work really well. Like others have mentioned, the consistency turns out a bit too thick, so next time I’ll try using only 1/2 breadcrumbs.
Also, I didn’t have Aleppo pepper but I had Korean gochugaru (red pepper flakes), which I thought tasted great!
A solid base recipe, which I adjusted. I found the taste of the pomegranate molasses slightly overpowering, and didn’t think the walnuts or red peppers came through enough. I used jarred peppers (12 oz) and threw in some of the juice which helped. Next time, I’ll use half the pomegranate, toast the nuts a bit extra, and try roasting the peppers fresh. I also added an extra garlic clove and didn’t have Aleppo pepper, so I substituted a combo of black pepper, cayenne, and smoked paprika, which I thought worked well. I left out the tomato paste as well. Thanks Suzy for this recipe! You’ve taught us something new.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing your thoughts here, Mary!
Sounds like you wanted to post your own recipe……..
Incredible taste!
But, I think mine became a bit dry? How smooth/fluid is it supposed to be?
Thx 🙂
Hi, Trond. It’s just supposed to be creamy and dip-able. If it seems a bit dry, you could add a little olive oil, or, if you used jarred roasted red peppers, you can add some of the liquid from the jar.