Koshari (also spelled kushari and koshary) is one of the national dishes of Egypt, and it's what I call "real deal comfort food". You can find koshari in almost every home in Egypt, kind of like mac and cheese. This Egyptian koshari recipe is a family recipe and the best I've ever had. If you are ever visiting Egypt, I recommend trying ful medames, mulukhiyah with roz, and koshari (of course)!
What Is Koshari?
Koshari is a hearty vegan meal made with lentil rice, pasta, chickpeas, vinegar tomato sauce, and topped with fried onions.
What I Love About This Recipe
This meal is delicious! However, the thing I love the most about this recipe is it's perfect for batch cooking and meal prepping. It reheats extremely well, so it's one of my favorite meals to prepare ahead of time. It takes some time to make, but it's worth it!
Why This Koshari Recipe Is The Best
Many kushari recipes only have a cooked red vinegar sauce. However, this recipe has two types of red sauce: a fresh red sauce and a koshari cooked vinegar red sauce. This recipe has been perfected over a lifetime, and the fresh red sauce is the secret sauce.
Ingredients You'll Need:
- Tomatoes: I like to use tomatoes on the vine, however, Roma tomatoes and beefsteak tomatoes work just fine. I don't recommend using canned tomatoes in this recipe.
- Chickpeas: I recommend using dried chickpeas, however, canned chickpeas can be substituted to save some time.
- Pasta: Traditional koshari uses white pasta, but a healthier alternative is whole wheat pasta. In fact, I prefer whole wheat pasta for this recipe when I can find whole wheat spaghetti and whole wheat elbow pasta.
- Brown Lentils: I recommend using brown lentils for the right koshari experience.
- Onions: You can use white onions, brown onions, white onions, sweet onions, or red onions.
- Tomato Paste: Any type of tomato paste will do for this recipe. The tomato paste is used for the koshari vinegar red sauce.
- Garlic: I recommend using fresh garlic.
- Bell Peppers: I use green bell peppers, but yellow, red, or orange bell peppers can be used.
- Spicy Pepper: If you like spicy food, you can use any type of spicy pepper. Be careful not to overdo it though!
- White Vinegar: I use distilled white vinegar. I don't recommend using any other type of vinegar, because it will change the flavor of the koshari vinegar red sauce.
- Lime: I use fresh limes, and prefer limes over lemons for this dish.
- Oil: Any type of oil can be used in this recipe. One tip is to use the same oil that was used to fry the onions (after frying the onions) because it's infused with an onion flavor.
- Spices: This authentic Egyptian koshari recipe needs ground cumin, ground coriander, and ground chili powder.
How To Make Koshari
Soak the lentils and chickpeas ahead of time for about 3 hours.
Make The Chickpeas and Fried Onions
Boil the chickpeas with cumin while preparing the fried onions. Chop the onions into thin circles. Allow the onions tossed in flour to rest for 30 minutes prior to frying. Sunflower oil yields the most crispy fried onions. Once the chickpeas are tender, add a squeeze of lime on top.
Make The Fresh Red Sauce
Make the fresh red sauce by adding bell pepper, tomatoes, onion, and garlic cloves. Blend on high. Add the ground cumin, ground coriander, salt, pepper, lime juice, and some oil from the fried onions in a food processor. Blend on high.
Make The Koshari Lentil Rice
Prepare the koshari lentil rice by blending the peeled onion in the food processor. Add some oil to a high-rimmed pot and fry the blended onions for about 15 minutes on medium heat.
Add the soaked brown lentils and water to the cooked onions. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Turn down the heat to medium-low and add the rice and more water. Add salt and pepper and mix the rice. Cover and cook for about 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and keep the rice covered.
Make The Pasta and Koshari Red Vinegar Sauce
Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the box while making the koshari red vinegar sauce.
Blend 5 medium tomatoes in a blender and strain the tomato juice.
In a pot on high heat, add some oil and fry the chili flakes and minced garlic for about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and white vinegar for about 30 seconds before adding the strained tomatoes. Stir in the ground cumin, ground coriander, salt, sugar, and ground pepper and boil on medium-high heat for about 10 minutes. Add a chili pepper if desired.
How to Assemble the Perfect Koshari Bowl
Because koshari has several parts to it, you might be wondering how to assemble everything. I made the list in order of how you assemble the bowl starting with the bottom-most layer (being the koshari lentil rice).
- Lentil rice
- Pasta
- Chickpeas in cumin
- Cooked red sauce
- Fresh red sauce
- Fried onions
Tips and Variations
- I recommend following the steps just as I lay them out in the recipe instructions to save the most time.
- If you want to lighten this recipe up, use whole wheat pasta and reduce the amount of oil used for the koshari rice.
- Use the oil from the fried onions in other parts of this recipe. This is a tip I've heard from 2 sources to make the most flavorful koshari.
The secret to an amazing bowl of koshari is the right portions of each layer. Personally, I go overboard with the fresh red sauce and fried onions. But, experiment for yourself with what you prefer.
What To Serve With Koshari?
Normally, koshari is served as a standalone dish. However, you can add some boiled eggs to the side. Also, a chopped salad goes well with this dish.
How Long Does It Take To Make Koshari?
Each part is easy to do, but if you are in a hurry, it can get overwhelming. If you are making this for your first time, block off about 2 to 3 hours to take your time. When you've made koshari a few times, you can cook it in less than 1 hour and 30 minutes. If you have made this meal a lot, you can get it down to an hour.
Other Authentic Egyptian Recipes
Egyptian Koshari Recipe (The Best I've Had)
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 8
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Koshari is a hearty vegan meal of lentil rice, chickpeas, spicy vinegar tomato sauce, pasta, and fried onions. This Egyptian koshari recipe is authentic and perfect for meal prepping.
Ingredients
- 4 medium onions (about 1.5 lbs)
- 1 cup dried chickpeas (or 2 - 15 ounce cans of chickpeas)** See note 3
- ½ bag of 1 lb spaghetti
- ½ bag of 1 lb elbow pasta
- 1 cup dried brown lentils
- 2 cups dry Calrose rice (or short-grain rice) **See note 4
- 8 whole tomatoes (about 2 lbs or 1 kg in weight)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 9 garlic cloves
- 1 bell pepper (size of a clenched fist)
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- ground cumin
- ground coriander
- 2 limes
- oil for frying (preferably sunflower oil)** See note 5
- flour (to toss the onions in prior to frying)
- salt and pepper to taste
- ½ tsp sugar
- chili flakes or chili powder (optional)
- 1 spicy chili (optional)
Instructions
Soak Dry Lentils and Dry Chickpeas Ahead of Time
- Soak the dried lentils and dried chickpeas in water for 3 hours prior to making koshari.
Prepare the Chickpeas
- See note 3 if using canned chickpeas. Boil 1 cup of dried chickpeas until semi-cooked (about 45 minutes to an hour). Drain water.
- Add fresh water and ½ tablespoon of cumin. Boil chickpeas a second time for another 30 minutes.
- Once chickpeas are cooked, squeeze ½ of a lime over chickpeas.
Fry The Onions
- Chop 2 medium onions into circles. Mix with flour and set aside for 30 minutes prior to frying.
- Fry in oil, preferrably sunflower oil. Using a frying spatula, remove the onions from the oil. Set onto a paper towel and set aside.
- Keep the sunflower oil to use some of it in other parts of the recipe.
Make the Fresh Red Sauce
- Blend 3 tomatoes, 1 bell pepper, ½ medium onion, and 3 garlic cloves in the food processor.
- If you would like a spicy sauce, add 1 spicy pepper.
- Add ½ teaspoon of ground cumin, ½ teaspoon of ground coriander, 1 tablespoon of oil (from the fried onions), salt, and pepper. Add juice from 1 lime.
- Blend and set aside.
Make the Koshari Rice
- Blend 1.5 medium onions in a food processor.
- In a high rimmed stovetop pot, add 2 tablespoon of oil (from the fried onions). Cook the onions on medium heat for about 15 minutes.
- Add the brown lentils (these will be about 2.25 cups after being soaked) and 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes.
- Turn down heat to medium-low. Add 2 cups of dry rice and 1 more cups of water.
- Add salt and pepper. Mix the koshari rice and cover.
- Continue to cook on medium-low heat covered until the rice has finished cooking (about 12 minutes).
- Turn off the stove and allow the rice to rest covered for 5 minutes.
Cook the Pasta
- Boil water and add about 1 tablespoon of salt.
- Break the spaghetti pasta in half, then break the half again making quarter size sections of spaghetti. Break about 15 spaghetti noodles at the same time.
- Add the spaghetti pasta and elbow pasta to the boiling water.
- Cook the pasta until desired firmness.
- Drain the pasta and set aside.
Koshari Vinegar Red Sauce
- Blend 5 medium tomatoes in a blender. Strain tomatoes into a bowl.
- Fry 2 tablespoon of oil (or ghee) with 1 teaspoon chili flakes (or chili powder) for 30 seconds then add 5 minced garlic cloves.
- Add 2 tablespoon of tomato paste and 2 tablespoon of vinegar for about 30 seconds before adding the blended tomatoes.
- Add 1 teaspoon of cumin, 1 teaspoon of coriander, 1 teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon of ground pepper.
- Boil for about 10 minutes.
Equipment
Le Creuset Enameled Dutch Oven
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Notes
- Store koshari rice, pasta, fresh red sauce, koshari vinegar red sauce, fried onions, and chickpeas separately in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Whole wheat pasta is a suitable substitution.
- Substitute 2 cans of chickpeas (15 ounce cans) for 1 cup dried chickpeas. Because canned chickpeas are already cooked, just drain the chickpeas. Boil for 5 minutes in water with ½ tablespoon of ground cumin. Then squeeze ½ a lime on top.
- Use Calrose rice, Egyptian rice, or Japanese short-grain rice for this recipe. If using medium or long-grain rice, the water ratio will need to be adjusted.
- After frying the onions, save the frying oil. Use some of the frying oil in other parts of the recipe.
- The nutrition facts do not factor in the oil from frying the onions.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Category: Entree
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Egyptian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 cups
- Calories: 528 calories
- Sugar: 6 g
- Sodium: 161 mg
- Fat: 12 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 10 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 90 g
- Fiber: 28 g
- Protein: 58 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: egyptian koshari, koshary, kushari, koshari, egyptian lentils and rice, egyptian national dish
Morgan says
I can’t quite tell from the photos - do you mix all of the lentil/rice chickpeas and pasta together and then do the sauces? Or do you later these things?
Lily says
Hi Morgan, good question! I keep the lentil rice, pasta, chickpeas, fried onions, and sauces separate (even when storing in the fridge). Then, when you are ready eat, build the koshari by layering kind of like a Chipotle bowl. Hope that helps!
Anonymous says
hi,
I am Egyptian and I know how to make koshari very well. But your recipe and the way you explain it are amazing. Love it
★★★★★
Kerry says
A question what do you do with the sauces am
I missing something
Lily says
Hi Kerry! Thanks for the comment, you spoon the sauces over the pasta, lentil rice, and chickpeas (as little or as much as you want), then top with fried onions.
Lily says
Thank you so much for the comment! It’s so easy to forget a step but hearing comments like this are very helpful
Candace says
I made this tonight, and while it took a while to prep everything, the recipe is very straightforward and easy to follow. That tomato vinegar sauce is to die for and is my new favorite thing. Gonna try it on everything now!
★★★★★
Lily says
Thanks, Candace for the review! I'm so glad you liked the tomato vinegar sauce... I really like making mine super spicy. The red sauce has a nice way of pulling all of the ingredients together in the final bowl.
Jessica says
This recipe was okay, but not amazing. Firstly, for the amount of rice-lentil base it makes, it proportionally needs WAY more than 1 fried onion to top it! You’ll actually need 2-3 onions at minimum, if not more.
Secondly, the best koshari I’ve had always has vermicelli in the rice as well, and both it, the rice, and the lentils are fried in oil first before cooking in water to vastly improve t flavor.
Finally, this recipe has no daqqa (garlic vinegar sauce) in addition to the red sauce and hot sauce.
Like I said, this is an okay recipe, but there are definitely much better ones out there.
Lily says
Thank you for the comment! And great tips you've included. I've updated the recipe to include another onion for frying because I think you are right about that. If you have a recipe for daqqa, drop it below.
Debra Alcala says
I lived in Cairo for 6 years and koshari was a favorite. I can't wait to try your recipe. Thanks
Lily says
Hope you like it! It takes a little bit of time, but it's worth it.
Judy says
I am really interested in making this recipe! While it looks time consuming, I like how you broke down all the steps. Keep the recipes coming; I’m enjoying learning how to make new dishes that I find in this blog.
★★★★★
Lilian B. says
Thanks Judy Batootie!
★★★★★
Mo says
Took a lot of time to make but it was worth it in the end.
★★★★★
Lilian B. says
Thanks Mo!
★★★★★