Harissa – Recipe for Spicy Middle Eastern Chili Garlic Sauce on ToriAvey.com
Attention, pepperheads! I love to spice things up in my kitchen, and there is no fiery condiment I love more than harissa. This North African garlic chili pepper sauce is a must for serving alongside savory foods. From soups to stews to roasted chicken to savory couscous, harissa adds a serious kick to anything it touches. I always have it in my kitchen, and not a meal goes by that we don’t have a dish of harissa at the table.
Harissa has roots in North Africa and the Maghreb. The sauce has spread throughout the Middle East, where it is very popular and made in a variety of ways. The basic ingredients are usually the same– fiery red chili peppers, garlic, and spices. Olive oil may be added to thin out the mixture (a thin layer of oil is added before storage to keep it fresh), and lemon juice is often in the mix to help preserve the sauce and brighten things up a bit. Sometimes green herbs are added, like parsley and cilantro, but green harissa is less common than red. The texture can vary from thick and paste-like to soft and saucy.
You can purchase harissa in jars or in the refrigerated section of any Middle Eastern market. Several gourmet markets carry it too, but I much prefer to make my own. Making it at home is less expensive, and it allows me to control the flavor/heat level to taste. I love toasting the whole spices and grinding them for freshest flavor. I add a few slightly unusual ingredients to my harissa– bell peppers, tomato paste and chipotle. The bell peppers and tomato paste are added for a bit of sweetness, which helps to balance the very spicy pepper flavor. Chipotle, a Southwestern pepper, adds a bit of smokiness to the mix that my family finds irresistible. If you prefer a less smoky harissa, I’ve provided a substitution below. I roast all of the peppers (except the chipotle) for a deeper, more complex flavor and a more saucy texture.
If you like spicy foods, I encourage you to give this homemade harissa a try. It is well worth the effort, totally addictive. Seriously. I put it on everything, except ice cream. Enjoy!
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Harissa
Ingredients
- 2 whole red bell peppers
- 7 whole Fresno chili peppers they look like red jalapeños (you may substitute 5 red serrano peppers)
- 2 dried chipotle peppers adds a slight smoky flavor - if you do not want it smoky, substitute 3 additional fresh Fresno chilis
- 8 cloves garlic divided
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil plus more for storing
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
NOTES
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with foil. Place the bell peppers and Fresno chili peppers on the sheet along with 4 of the garlic cloves. Place in the oven and let the peppers and garlic roast for 10 minutes.
- Cover the dried chipotle peppers with very hot water in a small bowl. Let the chipotles soak while you prepare the other ingredients.
- After roasting for 10 minutes, turn the Fresno chill peppers and garlic cloves with tongs. Continue to roast for another 10 minutes until Fresno chilis are soft and collapsing.
- Take the Fresno chills and garlic cloves off the baking sheet with tongs and set aside.
- Turn the bell peppers over with tongs and continue to roast in the oven for another 20 minutes.
- While bell peppers are roasting, pour the spice seeds into a pan and heat over medium, stirring constantly, for a few minutes until they are toasted and fragrant (watch carefully so they don’t burn).
- As soon as the seeds are toasted, remove them from the skillet and pour into a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Grind the spices to a powder. Reserve.
- When the bell peppers are soft and collapsing with the skin blackened in places, remove from the oven. Place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap or foil, and let the peppers steam for 5-10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, stem and seed the Fresno chills (if a few seeds cling to the peppers it's ok). Wear gloves during this process to protect your skin from the capsaicin and a burning sensation. Remove and discard any loose pieces of the thin, blackened pepper skin. Reserve the seeds.
- When the bell peppers have steamed for a few minutes, stem and seed them. Peel off the charred skin. Discard the skin, stem and seeds. Drain the soaked chipotles and chop them into small pieces.
- Place the roasted peppers in a food processor along with the 4 roasted and 4 raw garlic cloves, ground spices, tomato paste, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and chopped soaked chipotles.
- Process the ingredients, scraping the sides of the food processor periodically, until the mixture is thick and smooth. Add a little more olive oil for a more liquid texture, if desired. The mixture will be very spicy as written, but if you want to take it over the top you can add in some of the reserved Fresno pepper seeds and process again (use gloves). The seeds are extremely spicy, so add with care! Note: if you want to do this the old fashioned way, you can pulverize the mixture together using a large mortar and pestle. This will give you a chunkier, more traditional texture.
- Serve harissa as an accompaniment to meat dishes, couscous, soups and stews, or anyplace you want a spicy kick.
- When ready to store, place in a sealed container and top with a thin layer of olive oil (this helps to preserve the sauce). Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Nutrition
A tastes so much like the Harissa we had in Tunisia- first recipe I have found that comes close. Thank you!
trying to find a recipe that a mediterranean restaurant here has. I came across your Harissa recipe and made it. While this is not the same kind I had in that restaurant, your recipe is very good in its own way.
And to clean out my blender jar of the stuck sauce with water – I had to come up with something and instant as it was my lunch time. I had leftover plain pasta. So I made Pasta with Harissa sauce and some chopped tomatoes and sauteed garlic. and it is the best pasta I can say.
Thank You.
Have several Carolina peppers and was thinking about making a hot sauce with them using regular peppers,garlic, olive oil, coconut oil ,fresh cilantro, cumin powder, kosher salt,vinegar, First will grill all the peppers and the garlic, remove the seeds and skin of the peppers and then process the kit and kaboodle together. Any thought about other ingredients and how do I clean my Ninja after I am done so that it does not stay coated with that heat?
I just made this but I didn’t have Fresno Chili’s, so I used a Ghost Pepper Chili. … …
WOW!
Hot but good. I used only 1 raw pepper, but roasted it same as noted. I ended up only using about 15% of the pepper in the paste. It came out fantastic!
This recipe ironically resembles another recipe for Romescu sauce found in the book “Flavoring with Chiles” on page 25. They used Scotch Bonnets and instead of roasting, you simmer in vermouth and vinegar! http://www.amazon.com/Flavoring-Chiles-Gordon-Smith-Clare-Paperback/dp/B011YT2Y5E/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1439846332&sr=8-5&keywords=flavoring+with+chiles
it is a great recipe if you want to try something similar to this one.
Wow you are brave, David– ghost chilis are nothing to mess around with! Glad you liked it 🙂
Does this freeze well? If so, any tips about that?
Those Fresno’s look scary but delicious! Definitely want to make sure they are fully seeded…
They’re about as hot as jalapeños… without seeds they are considerably more mild, especially after roasting. They add terrific flavor. But even without seeds, this harissa has quite a kick! 🙂
My father in – law is usually unimpressed with anything spicy that my wife or I prepare for him, but when we made a double batch of this and included the Fresno seeds the got his attention and took the left overs home with him. Good recipe!
With all the seeds?? He is a serious pepperhead! Impressive. 🙂 Glad he enjoyed it!
When i read this i felt silly and relieved. I walked into a spice store once and asked for harrissa….now i know!
is there an option for making this without the fiery hot heat? Could I use one or two fresnos and more red bell peppers?
Mary Ann, absolutely. Make sure the Fresnos are fully seeded– the heat is in the seeds. If you like you can add another bell pepper, which will up the natural sweetness a bit and tone down the spice. Enjoy!
Tori … Thanks so much for posting this! Have you ever canned this? If so, can you direct me on “how to”? I can hungarian hot wax peppers in olive oil, garlic and oregano. You have to salt the peppers first and let sit 24 hours, rinse and press out all water before processing in a water bath. I wonder if it is the same with your recipe or if the baking takes out most of the moisture. Thought you would know 😉 Thanks, Eva
Hi Eva, I’ve never canned it but to be safe I’d use the pressure canning method. Here’s a tutorial: https://toriavey.com/how-to/pressure-canning/ Enjoy!