10 Minute Moroccan-Style Chermoula Sauce

This easy homemade Moroccan Chermoula is a flavorful sauce made with preserved lemons, fresh parsley and cilantro, cumin, paprika, and olive oil. While it’s perfect for fish, it’s also terrific for adding flavor to shellfish, veggies, or just about anything savory. Best of all, it takes just 10 minutes to make!

Allow me to introduce you to your new favorite marinade, chermoula! It’s vegan, made with simple ingredients and super quick to throw together.

If you’re wondering what this sauce tastes like and how it will transform your cooking, imagine a rich, pungent acidity from the preserved lemon and garlic paired with the bright freshness from all the herbs.

It holds many of the most classic spices and flavors of Moroccan cuisine.

It’s best used as a marinade (like this whole stuffed trout recipe) but I also recommend trying it as a sauce, dip, or dressing on classic Moroccan side salads.

Ingredients

See recipe card for exact quantities.

Instructions

No preserved lemons? If you can’t find preserved lemons and don’t have the time to make your own, they can be substituted with fresh lemon juice and a pinch of lemon zest. The pungent flavor won’t be 100% the same, but it will be pretty darn close!

Minced vs. Blended

If you’d like you can also blend this marinade (pictured above) using an immersion blender or food processor.

It’s not necessary but will save you some time spent chopping the herbs and can be make the marinade stick to your chicken or fish better.

Note: The consistency of chermoula sauce will differ slightly when prepared with a food processor or immersion blender. The result will be slightly thicker and creamier in texture.

How to Use Chermoula

Moroccan chermoula is a super versatile marinade and can be used in many different ways.

Here are some of my family’s favorite uses:

• Fish – chermoula is most commonly used on fish. It’s colorful, bright flavors really compliments most mild buttery varieties of white fish and, of course, sardines!
• Shellfish – similar to fish, shellfish loves this marinade. I’ve tried it with scallops, clams, and shrimp.
• Veggies – some potatoes, zucchini, or even carrots love a good toss in this sauce before roasting!
• As a quick snack – we are not above spreading some of this magical sauce on a piece of toasted bread or throwing a spoonful in our leftover couscous for a bright pop of flavor! Have fun with this vegan sauce and don’t overthink it.
• Swirled into brothy things – I’m not kidding, I’ve mixed a spoonful of this into this Moroccan Fish Soup, or in a pot of beans or lentils to amp up the flavors too.

Chermoula Sauce in Morocco

I’ve been lucky enough to have lived a lifetime of enjoying this magical marinade, so I can’t vividly remember my first time trying it.

That said, I do remember the first time I decided I needed the recipe for myself. It was on a trip to Agadir with my parents and brother.

We stopped at this beautiful little seafood restaurant near the ocean, where you could see the fishermen reeling in their catch of the day. The restaurants were using their special chermoula sauce recipe to marinate the fresh sardines before grilling them.

You wouldn’t think sardines would leave such a lasting impression, but I promise you haven’t truly experienced sardines until you try them this way.

I’m not sure if the magic came from the fresh fish or from this marinade (probably both), but either way it’s something you have to try.

Bismillah,

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