Mujadara (mujaddara) is a signature Middle Eastern dish of lentils, rice, and deeply caramelized onions. A bold and comforting dish that’s typically served with a topping of crispy onion rings and a side of plain yogurt with a fresh Mediterranean salad such as cucumber and tomato salad, fattoush salad, or shirazi salad.
Mujadara or Mujaddara!
Literally means “pockmarked” in Arabic, Mujadara is a signature Middle Eastern dish made of three key ingredients: lentils, rice, and loads of onions! The seasoning is often very simple-a dash of kosher salt, pepper, and cumin. Sometimes, coarse bulgur wheat is used instead of white rice, an equally delicious variation.
This simple vegan lentils and rice dish is known throughout the Middle East, and particularly the Levant including, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria, as a “poor man’s” meal. But take one bite, and you’ll be surprised by how comforting and flavorful mujadara is!
When I need something meatless but hearty, mujadara is one of my go-to meals, thanks to satisfying, protein and fiber-packed black lentils. In fact, 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!
The secret to authentic mujadara!
The secret to an authentic mujadara recipe is in the onions! This dish starts and ends with onions. First, deeply caramelized chopped onions are cooked with the rice and lentils, imparting flavor and the deep, golden hue this dish is known for. And to finish your mujdara, you’ll top the cooked rice and lentils with thinly sliced, crispy onion ring! Comforting and bold in the best way.
What kind of lentils to use for mujadara?
I use these all-natural black lentils for mujadara. These petite lentils cook fairly quickly, and they have a wonderful earthy flavor and good texture that they don’t lose their shape when cooked with the rice. Brown lentils will also work, but I prefer black lentils here. Browse all our all-natural lentils.
The rice
You can use long grain or short grain white rice to make mujadara. It’s important to rinse the rice well until the water runs clear, then soak it for about 20 minutes or so in cold water until you are able to easily break one grain of rice. This will ensure that the rice cooks quickly and evenly, and it will help avoid mushy rice. If you want to use brown rice instead, you’ll extend the cooking time a bit.
As mentioned earlier, coarse bulgur is also another option for mujadara. 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 somewhat tender.
How to make mujadara
Here is the step-by-step tutorial for how to make authentic mujadara (the print-friendly recipe with ingredient measurements):
- 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, and then reduce the heat and simmer, covered until the lentils are par-boiled (10 minutes). Remove from the heat, drain the lentils and set them aside.
- Caramelize the chopped onions. In a large, deep sauté pan with a lid, heat about 1/4 cup of extra virgin oil over medium-high heat. Add the diced onions and a dash of kosher salt and cook until the onions are caramelized and deeply golden brown (but not burned). This will give the rice a comforting flavor and a beautiful golden brown hue.
- Cook the lentils and rice. Carefully pour the remaining 2 cups of water in 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 about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon 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).
- Make the crispy onion rings. Add 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil to a large pan and cook over medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering. To test the oil, add one thinly sliced onion ring and see if the oil vigorously bubbles, if it does, the oil is ready. Add the remaining onion slices and cook over medium-high heat, tossing occasionally, until the onions are crispy and deeply colored. If you need to, do this step in batches to make sure your onion rings are properly cooked (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 undisturbed, then garnish with parsley and serve with a bit of the crispy onion rings on top.
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.
More lentil recipes to try
Browse our top Mediterranean diet recipes. All Mediterranean recipes.
Mujadara: Lentils and Rice with Crispy Onions
Ingredients
- 1 cup black lentils, sorted and rinsed
- 4 cups water, divided
- 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
- Place the lentils in a small saucepan with 2 cups of the water. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, and then reduce the heat and simmer, cover until the lentils are par-boiled (10-12 minutes). Remove from the heat, drain the lentils and set them aside.
- In a large saute pan with a lid, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the diced onions and cook until the onions are dark golden brown, darker than typical caramelized onions (about 40 minutes), sprinkle the onions with a teaspoon of salt as they cook.
- Carefully pour the remaining 2 cups of water, bring the water to a boil over high heat, and 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 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).
- If you are adding the the fried onions, work on them while the rice and lentils are cooking. In a large skillet, heat about 2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil over medium-high heat. When a small piece of onion 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 get rid of excess oil.
- Let the rice and lentils rest covered for about 10 minutes undisturbed, then garnish with parsley and transfer to serving bowls. Top each bowl with the crispy onion rings.
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!
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 )
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.