Food of Tunisia
Tunisian food is bold and spicy, built around harissa, olive oil, tomatoes, peppers and fresh seafood. Couscous is the national dish, brik pastries open many meals, and lablabi, ojja and mechouia are daily favorites. Sweets feature dates, almonds and honey, and mint tea with pine nuts finishes the meal.
Couscous
Steamed semolina served with a stew of lamb, fish or vegetables and a spoon of harissa.
How to make Couscous- Main dishes (8)
- Breakfast (2)
- Street food (1)
- Soups (1)
- Salads (2)
- Breads (2)
- Desserts and sweets (4)
- Drinks (3)
- Fruits and produce (7)
Staples
- couscous
- olive oil
- tomato
- peppers
- fish
- lamb
- chickpeas
- dates
- eggs
Signature flavors
- harissa
- caraway
- coriander
- cumin
- mint
- garlic
- rose water
Main dishes
Steamed semolina served with a stew of lamb, fish or vegetables and a spoon of harissa.
Key ingredients: semolina, lamb, chickpeas, harissaFull guide →
A crisp fried pastry holding a runny egg, tuna, capers and parsley.
Key ingredients: warqa, egg, tuna, parsley, capersFull guide →Eggs and merguez sausage simmered in a spicy tomato and pepper sauce.
Key ingredients: eggs, merguez, tomato, harissa
A chickpea soup ladled over bread and topped with harissa and an egg.
Key ingredients: chickpeas, bread, egg, harissa, cuminFull guide →
A baked egg pie of cheese, chicken and parsley, quite different from Moroccan tagine.
Key ingredients: eggs, cheese, chicken, parsley
A cumin-rich stew of beef or liver.
Key ingredients: beef, cumin, garlic, olive oilA lamb stew with tomato, potato and warm spices.
Key ingredients: lamb, tomato, potato, cinnamonSmall fried bread rolls stuffed with tuna, egg, olives and harissa.
Key ingredients: dough, tuna, olives, egg, harissaBreakfast
Eggs poached in spicy tomato sauce.
Key ingredients: eggs, tomato, peppers, cuminFull guide →
A Tunisian doughnut, fried and rolled in sugar, eaten warm in the morning.
Key ingredients: flour, yeast, sugarStreet food
Folded flatbread filled with tuna, egg or cheese.
Key ingredients: flour, oil, tuna, harissaSoups
A lamb and orzo soup with tomato and mint.
Key ingredients: lamb, orzo, tomato, mintSalads
Grilled pepper and tomato salad with tuna and olives.
Key ingredients: peppers, tomato, tuna, olive oilFull guide →
Diced tomato and cucumber dressed with olive oil, lemon and harissa.
Key ingredients: tomato, cucumber, olive oilBreads
Round bread baked in a clay oven.
Key ingredients: flour, yeast, water
Thick semolina bread cooked on a griddle.
Key ingredients: semolina, oilDesserts and sweets
Date-filled semolina diamonds fried and dipped in honey.
Key ingredients: semolina, dates, honey
Pistachio and almond pastries in syrup.
Key ingredients: phyllo, almonds, honeyFull guide →A cream pudding made from ground Aleppo pine seeds.
Key ingredients: pine seeds, sugar, nuts
Soft fried doughnuts soaked in orange syrup.
Key ingredients: flour, orange, sugarDrinks
Sweet mint tea topped with a few pine nuts.
Key ingredients: green tea, mint, pine nutsFull guide →
Strong coffee scented with orange blossom or geranium water.
Key ingredients: coffee, orange blossomA popular local apple-flavored soda.
Key ingredients: apple flavor, sugar, sodaFruits and produce
The golden, honey-sweet dates of Tozeur and Nefta.
Key ingredients: snacking, stuffed, pastriesFull guide →
Citrus from Cap Bon.
Key ingredients: juice, fresh
Juicy fruit from Gabes.
Key ingredients: juice, salad
Fresh and dried.
Key ingredients: freshFull guide →
Olives and oil from Sfax and the Sahel.
Key ingredients: oil, table olives
Sweet cactus fruit.
Key ingredients: fresh
Summer fruit.
Key ingredients: chilledFull guide →Dish guides from Tunisia
More cuisines of Northern Africa
Descriptions written by Intercontinental Chef. Dishes are listed as commonly eaten today; many are shared across neighbouring countries.
- Moroccan cuscus, from Casablanca, September 2018: Lmmima, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Brikdish: Muckster, CC BY 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Bol de Leblabi de Tunisie, 21 mars 2017: Habib M'henni, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Tajine-marocain-un-plat-varie-et-sain (cropped): BBouchra00, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Tunis Glaïa Djerba: Rais67, Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
- Shakshuka by Calliopejen1: Calliopejen1, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Bambalouni 05: Yamen, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Bean soup with tomatoes and red peppers: Gillgaramond, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- A large mixed salad: Gatorfan252525, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Vue panoramique de Kesra Tunisie: Amina Chaker, CC BY 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Makrouds: Credits to Mourad Ben Abdallah / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
- Baklava(1): Sakaman, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Yo-Yo-Plastic-Toy-Green: Evan-Amos, Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
- Tunisian Tea with pine nuts: sky#walker, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Latte and dark coffee: Bex Walton, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Dates005: Nepenthes, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Oranges - whole-halved-segment: Ivar Leidus, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Pomegranate Juice (2019): Augustus Binu : flickr, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Ficus carica L, 1771: Trew, C.J, Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
- Olivesfromjordan: en:User:Nickfraser, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Dikenli İncir (Opuntia ficus-indica) Gaziantep Turkey.IMG 1104: YG01, CC BY 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Taiwan 2009 Tainan City Organic Farm Watermelon FRD 7962: Fred Hsu (Wikipedia:User:Fred Hsu on en.wikipedia), CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
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