Zaalouk (30 Minute Moroccan Eggplant Dip)
Today we are making one of my favorite vegan dishes, Zaalouk. This Moroccan eggplant dip is made with fresh eggplant, tomato, spices, and olive oil. It’s fabulous served as a salad, in a tagine, or as a dip with bread.

Zaalouk is one of my favorite ways to eat vegetables. This classic Moroccan recipe combines a blend of eggplant, tomatoes, and herbs to make a super flavorful and colorful dip.
It features flavors similar to this easy roasted eggplant, but in mashed form!
You’ll often find this dip served on top of beef and chicken tagines, or as a side amongst a variety of other veggie based salads.
If you want to explore the colorful world of Moroccan salads (more on this later!), I recommend starting with this tomato salad and cucumber mint salad.
Ingredients
Prepping the Tomatoes
Here are some tips on how to peel and remove the seeds from the tomatoes:
- score the top and bottom of the tomatoes
- blanch in boiling water for 1 minute before transferring to an ice bath and pull the peels off with ease
- slice the tomatoes into fourths and remove the seeds with your fingers
Instructions
How to Serve Zaalouk
Zaalouk can be served as a salad, dip or entree (more on that later).
To serve it as a salad or dip, simply add to a plate and top with a drizzle of olive oil and a light sprinkle of paprika if desired. Serve with freshly toasted bread.
A complete recipe for Zaalouk tagine is coming soon. In the meantime, it’s fabulous served warm on top of this Moroccan Lamb Shank Tagine.
More Moroccan Salads
Bismillah,
Zaalouk (30 minute Moroccan Eggplant Dip)
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: salad, side, snack, dip
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Moroccan, North African, Mediterannean, African
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Today we are making one of my favorite vegan dishes, Zaalouk. This Moroccan eggplant dip is made with fresh eggplant, tomato, spices, and olive oil. It’s fabulous as a salad, with lamb, or as a dip with bread.
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a medium sized stock pot combine everything except the vinegar and mix. Turn the heat up to medium high and bring to a simmer.
- Cover and continue to simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes or until the eggplant has broken down and reduced significantly.
- Check the consistency and if it’s too dry add a splash of water. Next, add the vinegar and mix to combine. Mash to desired consistency with a fork.
- Serve with a slice of toasted bread, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of cilantro and paprika if desired.
Notes
Here are some tips on how to peel and remove the seeds from the tomatoes:
- score the top and bottom of the tomatoes
- blanch in boiling water for 1 minute before transferring to an ice bath and pull the peels off with ease
- slice the tomatoes into fourths and remove the seeds with your fingers
This is truly the greatest compliment to me! Thank you Steve ❤️
Hi Salima, I’ve eaten Zaalouk lots of times in Morocco so decided to try and make this myself using your recipe. It was absolutely lovely. In fact it’s the best Zaalouk I’ve ever eaten. We just had it with a nice moroccan bread, didn’t toast it because couldn’t wait to eat the zaalouk. I will be using your recipe again very soon. A big thankyou.
Do you have a recipe for the moroccan spicy rice I could use.
Thanking you.
Janet