Cooking Classes in Morocco: Where to Learn, What to Cook and Tips

Food is one of the best ways to understand a country. In Morocco, meals are slow, shared and full of spices, bread and tea. Taking one of the many cooking classes in Morocco is a simple way to enter a local kitchen, talk with a cook and bring the taste of the trip back home. This guide explains where to take a class, what you will cook, how a class works and how to choose the right one for you.

Our team lives in Khamlia, a small village next to the Merzouga dunes. Many of our guests tell us that cooking with a local family was the moment they remember most. Here is how to plan it.

Why take cooking classes in Morocco?

• You learn real family recipes, not restaurant versions.
• You visit a market with the cook and learn the names of spices, herbs and vegetables.
• You understand the culture of the table: bread, sharing plates, eating with the right hand, the long tea ritual.
• You eat what you cook, so the class is also a great meal.
• You go home with recipes you can cook again with your family.

What you will cook

Tajine

The tajine is both a dish and the clay pot with a cone-shaped lid. Meat or vegetables cook slowly with onions, spices, olives or dried fruit. In a class you learn how to layer the ingredients and how to keep the heat low. Chicken with preserved lemon and olives is a classic first recipe.

Couscous

In many Moroccan families couscous is the Friday lunch. The grains are steamed several times above a pot of meat and vegetables. You learn how to work the grains with your hands so they stay light.

Pastilla and salads

Pastilla is a thin pastry pie, sweet and salty, typical of Fez. Classes also teach the cooked salads served at the start of a meal: zaalouk with aubergine and tomato, carrots with cumin, or beetroot with orange water.

Bread and mint tea

Many classes start with bread dough. Then you learn the mint tea ritual: green tea, fresh mint and sugar, poured from high to make foam. In the desert, families also bake madfouna, a large bread stuffed with meat or vegetables.

Where to take a cooking class

Marrakech

Marrakech is the easiest place to start. A class usually begins with a walk in the souk to buy spices and vegetables, then cooking in a riad kitchen or on a rooftop. In the evening you can continue with a Marrakech food tour around Jemaa el-Fna and taste tanjia, the slow-cooked meat of the city, fresh juices and sweets. Our 7-day Morocco itinerary shows how to fit a class into a short trip.

Fez

Fez has one of the oldest food traditions in the country. Pastilla and many sweets come from here. In the medina, families still bring their bread to the communal oven. A morning class can follow a Fez medina food tour with bissara soup, olives, honey and pastries.

With a Berber family in Merzouga

In our village of Khamlia, near the dunes, a Berber family welcomes you into their house. The kitchen is simple, the oven is made of clay, and you cook madfouna, a tajine and tea together. It is not a show, it is a family meal. This is a good choice if you already plan a night in the Sahara.

You can book a Moroccan cooking class in any of these places as an extra on your trip.

How a typical class works

• Meeting point: the cook or our driver meets you at your riad or hotel.
• Market visit (about 1 hour): you shop with the cook and learn about spices and seasonal vegetables.
• Cooking (2 to 3 hours): each person has a task. The cook explains every step in simple English or another language on request.
• Meal: you sit together and eat the dishes you cooked, with bread and mint tea.
• Recipes: you receive the recipes to cook at home.

Most classes last half a day. A morning class ends with lunch; an afternoon class ends with an early dinner.

Halal, vegetarian and other diets

Meat in Morocco is normally halal, and pork is very rare. This makes Morocco easy for Muslim travellers from Malaysia, Indonesia or Singapore. Vegetarian cooking is also simple: vegetable tajine, couscous with seven vegetables, lentils, chickpeas and many salads. Vegans should tell the cook in advance, because butter (smen) and honey are common. If you have a strict allergy, we can prepare a short note in Arabic and French for the cook.

Tours that include cooking

If food is the main reason for your trip, our Morocco food tour of 7 days includes a cooking class in Fez, Berber cooking in Khamlia, food walks in Fez and Marrakech, an argan oil cooperative and grilled fish in Essaouira. You can also add a class to our compact 7-day Morocco tour or to a luxury Marrakech and Essaouira tour. For more ideas about comfort and special experiences, read our luxury Morocco travel guide.

Tips for a great class

• Book a morning class if you want to visit the market at its busiest and freshest time.
• Wear comfortable clothes and closed shoes; kitchens can be hot.
• Bring a small notebook or take photos of each step.
• Ask questions: cooks like to share family secrets and stories.
• During Ramadan, classes are still possible, but times may change. Ask us when you book.

Cooking classes in Morocco are friendly, relaxed and open to everyone, from beginners to good home cooks. Tell us your dates, city and diet in a tailor-made trip request, and we find the right kitchen for you.