Harissa powder is a delicious African spice blend often found in Middle Eastern and African cuisine. If you love the spicy kick of harissa paste but cannot find it at your local grocery store, then this harissa powder recipe is for you!
What is Harissa?
Harissa is a common condiment in many Middle Eastern and North African cuisines. Made with a variety of spices, including dried chile peppers, coriander seeds, and caraway seeds, this powder can be used in a variety of dishes to add a rich, flavorful depth of taste.
This harissa spice mix can easily be doubled or tripled to make as much as you like. In addition, it will last for several months stored in an airtight container in a cool, dark place.
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❤️ Why you'll love it
This recipe is easy to follow and makes a great pantry staple. It is also very versatile! You can use it as a rub for meats, a seasoning for vegetables, or even as a condiment for sprinkling on sandwiches or wraps.
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To learn more about spices used in African cooking, this article will explain the different traditional spices used in different regions of Africa.
🥘 Equipment Used
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For this recipe, you'll need a spice grinder, coffee grinder, personal blender, or small mortar and pestle.
🧾 Ingredients Used
Here are the ingredients used for traditional harissa powder.
- Peppers. I use two different dried chile peppers for this recipe - guajillo chiles and arbol chiles. These are the main ingredients that give this spice blend its smoky flavor.
- Spices. Smoked paprika, coriander seeds, caraway seeds, cumin seeds, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and salt. The rich flavors of these spices give harissa powder its unique taste and aroma.
🔪 How To Make This Recipe
- Remove the stems from your dried hot chili peppers.
- Add them to a cast iron pan and lightly toast for 3-5 minutes on low heat.
- Set them aside.
- Toast the seeds over low heat in the same cast iron pan.
- Place the seeds and chile peppers in a spice grinder and grind them up.
- Mix with all the other ingredients.
- Store in an airtight container.
This recipe makes about 10 tablespoons of harissa powder, and a serving size is one tablespoon.
🥫 Storage
Homemade harissa powder is best kept in a cool dark place like a kitchen cabinet or pantry in a mason jar with a secure lid. On average, dried herbs can last up to three years, but ground spices may only last one to two.
💭 Tips and Variations
- If you want a more mild powder, remove the seeds from the chilies before grinding them up.
- You can add more chili peppers or red pepper flakes if you want a spicier powder.
- For a more authentic harissa powder, use a combination of different chili peppers. For example, African Baklouti peppers work well with this recipe.
- If you do not have smoked paprika, you can substitute it with regular paprika.
- You can also substitute chili powder for the ground chilies in this recipe.
🔪 Convert harissa powder to paste form
If you want to turn your homemade harissa spice blend from powder form to a hot chile paste, it's easy to do. All you need to do is mix your harissa spice mix in a food processor with some extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar.
Just combine all of the ingredients adding in a bit at a time, and blend until you have a smooth, thick paste. If you want a thinner harissa paste, add some water, about a tablespoon at a time, until you reach the desired consistency. And that's it! This will quickly become your favorite condiment.
This delicious African paste can be used in all your favorite recipes. Store any leftover paste in a jar or container with a tight-fitting lid and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
🍽️ What can I eat this recipe with?
You can use this harissa seasoning as a dry rub for many different meat and fish dishes. For example, try adding the spice rub to these recipes:
👩🍳 Frequently asked questions
If you need a harissa powder substitute, try chili paste, berbere spice, or tabil (Tunisian spice paste). The red chile seasoning from North Africa is pretty hot. If you find that it is too spicy for you, you can always just use hot sauce for a bit less spiciness.
Tunisian harissa is frequently produced with mild chilis from the Nabeul and Gabès region, with a Scoville score of 4,000–5,000.
📚 Related Recipes
Enjoy these other delicious spices and condiments!
📖 Recipe
Harissa Powder (Spice Blend)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 guadillo dried chiles
- 10 arbol dried chiles
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper optional
Instructions
- Remove the stems from your dried hot chili peppers.
- Add them to a cast iron pan and lightly toast for 3-5 minutes on low heat.
- Set them aside.
- Toast the seeds over low heat in the same cast iron pan.
- Place the seeds and chile peppers in a spice grinder or blender and grind them up.
- Mix with all the other ingredients.
- Store in an airtight container.
Notes
- If you want a more mild powder, remove the seeds from the chilies before grinding them up.
- You can add more chili peppers or red pepper flakes if you want a spicier powder.
- For a more authentic harissa powder, use a combination of different chili peppers. For example, African Baklouti peppers work well with this recipe.
- If you do not have smoked paprika, you can substitute it with regular paprika.
- You can also substitute chili powder for the ground chilies in this recipe
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