Baharat, which means "spices" in Arabic, is a spice blend used in Greek and Middle Eastern cuisine.
It's an all-purpose seasoning that can flavor just about any dish! You may see it as "7 spice" or "Lebanese 7-spice" as well (not to be confused with Japanese seven spice).
If you haven't tried it before, I recommend using baharat as a spice rub on meat. It's great on steak and chicken, as well as roasted carrots and chickpeas. You'll love the slightly spicy, sweet flavors it brings to your meat dishes and find you'll want to experiment with it more.
And making your own spice blend is simple and delicious. This seasoning can be made way in advance and stored for up to 3 months.
What is Baharat?
Baharat is an all purpose spice blend that's perfect for savory dishes and works very well with chicken, fish, beef, and in soups and stews. It’s also very tasty on top of roasted vegetables.
You can use it as a dry rub or make a marinade for meats. It's also delicious in this Baharat Ramen Snack Mix. It's a versatile Middle Eastern spice blend that can be used in so many ways.
If you're familiar with other spice blends like garam masala, Ras el Hanout, or hawaij, you'll understand the warm flavor with a touch of sweetness this seasoning has. Though all of these seasonings are not the same, I highly recommend trying each of them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Typical baharat seasoning ingredients include allspice, chili peppers, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, nutmeg, and peppercorns.
The mixture is finely ground and is often used on fish, chicken, lamb, vegetables, and in soups and tajines. It's a lovely, all-purpose blend that has a little heat.
You can get similar results for baharat if you use another spice blend like garam masala, Ras el Hanout, or hawaij. You could also just use a mix of cinnamon and cumin.
Baharat is not the same as Ras el Hanout, but they are very similar spice blends. They both typically have some mix of coriander, cloves, cumin, paprika, and cardamom.
Ras el Hanout often has more ingredients and might contain chili, ginger, dried rose petals, red pepper flakes, and allspice as well.
Making Baharat with Whole Spices
If you have whole spices instead of ground, here are a few conversions you can use.
Add these amounts to your spice grinder or coffee grinder, then mix with your ground spices and store as normal:
- Ground black pepper- Use 2 teaspoons of whole peppercorns to make the ground black pepper needed for this recipe.
- Ground nutmeg - If you have whole nutmeg, add one to your grinder for this recipe.
- Ground coriander - Use ¾ teaspoon of whole coriander seeds to yield 1 teaspoon of ground coriander needed for this recipe.
- Ground cloves - Add 1.5 teaspoons of whole cloves to your grinder get the amount needed for this blend.
- Ground cardamom - If you have the green cardamom pods, break one of them open to get the seeds out. You'll only need to grind one of the cardamom seeds that are inside the pods to get the amount needed for this blend.
Storage Tip
You can save homemade baharat for up to 3 months in a cool, dry pantry in an airtight container.
the best seasonings!
More Spice Blends to Try
Check out our favorite homemade seasoning recipes!
Make a batch of this baharat spice blend today, and let me know how you use it. I know you'll love it! Connect with us on Instagram and share your photos, or leave a rating.
Baharat Spice Mix
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients and stir to combine.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 6 weeks.
Lisa says
Thank you Emily! I'm fascinated by "baking" spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and cardamom, used in savory dishes. I bought some baharat at the Middle Eastern market and loved it, except for the cloves (I hate cloves.) Your recipe lets me make clove-free baharat and it's so good. Mostly I use it with sauteed veggies and potatoes. Today, I'm using it to season grilled lamb kabobs.
EW says
So glad you're able to make your own blend! Using it on lamb kabobs sounds fantastic!
Mrs.Francesca says
I had to replace cardamon with allspice! I hope it still works!