Ingredient

Cumin Recipes

56 recipes with cumin for weeknights, meal prep, and quick ingredient searches. Choose by time, cuisine, and what is in your kitchen.

56 recipes

Gyro with pork shoulder, Greek yogurt and cucumber — Greece recipe

🇬🇷GreeceAdvanced

Meat Dishes

Gyro

Thin-sliced seasoned pork roasted until the edges turn crisp and golden, served in warm pita with tzatziki, tomato, and onion. The restaurant gyros is cooked on a vertical rotisserie — meat stacked in layers, spinning slowly, the outer crust shaved off in strips as it crisps. At home, the closest result comes from threading marinated pork pieces onto a vertical skewer propped over an onion half in a roasting pan, then finishing under the grill. The marinade is oregano, paprika, cumin, garlic, vinegar, and olive oil. The tzatziki is made from scratch and is not optional.

90 min480 kcal4 serves

💪High protein

Thai Satay with Peanut Sauce with chicken thighs, lemongrass and turmeric — Thailand recipe

🇹🇭ThailandAdvanced

Meat Dishes

Thai Satay with Peanut Sauce

Satay (สะเต๊ะ) arrived in Thailand from Indonesia via Malay traders and became one of the country's most beloved street foods. Thin strips of chicken or pork are marinated in lemongrass, turmeric, coconut milk, and warm spices, then threaded onto bamboo skewers and grilled over charcoal until caramelized at the edges and fragrant throughout. The essential accompaniment is the satay sauce — a rich, sweet, slightly spicy peanut sauce made with roasted peanuts, red curry paste, and coconut milk — not the peanut butter version common elsewhere. In Thailand it is often served with a quick cucumber pickle to cut the richness and toasted white bread for dipping into the sauce.

45 min480 kcal4 serves

🌾Gluten-free🌶️Spicy💪High protein

Kofta Kebab Skewers with ground lamb, onion and parsley — Lebanon recipe

🇱🇧LebanonMedium

Meat Dishes

Kofta Kebab Skewers

Kofta kebab is a Lebanese dish of seasoned ground lamb — mixed with grated onion, parsley, and warm spices, then pressed onto flat metal skewers. It belongs to the ground-meat branch of the wider kebab family found from Morocco to Central Asia, distinct from shish kebab, which threads whole cubes of marinated meat instead (see the tip below for that version). The kofta is grilled over direct high heat, ideally charcoal, until charred outside and just cooked through. The technique that separates good kofta from crumbly kofta is kneading the mixture until it turns cohesive and paste-like, and squeezing the grated onion completely dry before mixing it in.

60 min380 kcal4 serves

🌾Gluten-free💪High protein

Sheet-Pan Harissa Chicken with Garlic Yogurt with chicken, harissa and yogurt — Mediterranean recipe

🌊MediterraneanMedium

Meat Dishes

Sheet-Pan Harissa Chicken with Garlic Yogurt

One pan, one hour, a lot of flavor. Bone-in chicken thighs marinated in harissa, cumin, and olive oil roast at high heat alongside waxy potatoes and leeks, developing a spiced crust that stays crisp while the interior stays juicy. The garlic yogurt comes together in two minutes while the chicken is in the oven — cold, garlicky, slightly sharp, the exact counterpoint to the hot, smoky chicken. A handful of peppery rocket and fresh dill over the top before serving keeps the whole thing from being heavy. This is mid-week food that tastes like you planned it.

60 min520 kcal4 serves

🌾Gluten-free💪High protein🌶️Spicy

Chermoula with cilantro, parsley and garlic — Morocco recipe

🇲🇦MoroccoMedium

Sauces and Dips

Chermoula

Chermoula is Morocco's answer to chimichurri — a herb sauce built on cilantro and parsley, sharpened with lemon, warmed by cumin and paprika, cut through with raw garlic. It's used three ways in Moroccan cooking: as a marinade before cooking, a sauce spooned over at the end, and a condiment on the side. The fish version, where whole fish are stuffed and grilled with chermoula, is the most famous application. But it works equally well on chicken thighs, roasted cauliflower, fried eggs, grilled bread, or anything else that could use a hit of brightness. Make it in a food processor for speed, or by hand with a knife if you want more texture.

10 min140 kcal6 serves

🌿Vegetarian🌱Vegan🌾Gluten-free

Muhammara with roasted red peppers, walnuts and pomegranate molasses — Lebanon recipe

🇱🇧LebanonMedium

Sauces and Dips

Muhammara

Muhammara comes from Aleppo, Syria, and the name is Arabic for 'reddened'. It's a roasted red pepper and walnut dip with a flavor unlike anything else in the mezze world: sweet from the peppers, tangy from pomegranate molasses, earthy from toasted walnuts, with a slow heat from Aleppo pepper. Breadcrumbs give it body and a slightly grainy texture that holds up on pita. The dip improves overnight — the flavors round out and the texture firms slightly. Unlike hummus, which can be polarising, muhammara tends to win over everyone who tries it.

20 min195 kcal6 serves

🌿Vegetarian🌱Vegan⚡Quick

Zaalouk with eggplant, tomato and garlic — Morocco recipe

🇲🇦MoroccoMedium

Salads

Zaalouk

Zaalouk is a Moroccan cooked salad — eggplant and tomatoes slow-cooked together with garlic, cumin, paprika, and plenty of olive oil until they collapse into a thick, jammy paste. Not quite a dip, not quite a side dish. The Moroccan kitchen serves it alongside tagines, spooned onto bread, or as part of a mezze spread of small salads that open a meal. Charring the eggplant before cooking it is optional but does add a smoky note that the straight-cooked version lacks. It tastes better the next day, and keeps for four days in the fridge.

50 min145 kcal4 serves

🌿Vegetarian🌱Vegan🌾Gluten-free

Chicken Tagine with Chermoula with chicken thighs, cilantro and preserved lemons — Morocco recipe

🇲🇦MoroccoAdvanced

Meat Dishes

Chicken Tagine with Chermoula

Chermoula is a Moroccan marinade — raw herbs, garlic, cumin, lemon, oil — and it does more work here than the tagine itself. The chicken sits in it overnight if you have time, or two hours if you don't. Either way, something changes in the meat. Then it goes into the pot with preserved lemon, olives, and onion, and cooks low and slow until it falls off the bone. No tagine pot required. A wide, heavy pan with a lid does the same job.

90 min455 kcal4 serves

🌾Gluten-free💪High protein🌶️Spicy

Empanadas Mendocinas (Argentine Baked Beef Empanadas) with ground beef, smoked paprika and green olives — Argentina recipe

🇦🇷ArgentinaAdvanced

Meat Dishes

Empanadas Mendocinas (Argentine Baked Beef Empanadas)

Mendocinas are Mendoza's version of the empanada — baked, never fried, and distinguished by a milk dough that bakes softer than the standard. The filling is spiced ground beef with smoked paprika, cumin, green olives, and hard-boiled egg. No raisins. The paprika turns the filling and crust an orange-red that identifies these across Argentina. Made in batches, best eaten warm, and freezable before baking.

100 min310 kcal6 serves

💪High protein🌶️Spicy

Birria Tacos with Consommé (Mexican Quesabirria with Beef and Chile Broth) with beef chuck roast, beef short ribs and guajillo chiles — Mexico recipe

🇲🇽MexicoAdvanced

Meat Dishes

Birria Tacos with Consommé (Mexican Quesabirria with Beef and Chile Broth)

Birria tacos with consommé are crispy red corn tortillas filled with shredded chile-braised beef and melted cheese, served with a small bowl of the rich red braising broth for dipping. The dish originated in the Mexican state of Jalisco as a goat stew (birria de chivo); the modern beef quesabirria taco version exploded from food trucks in Tijuana around 2018 and became the most viral Mexican street food of the early 2020s. Three dried chiles do the heavy lifting: guajillo for fruity tang and red colour, ancho for raisiny earthiness, and a couple of chiles de árbol for heat. Active work is 30 minutes, the braise handles 3 hours of transformation. Serves 6 with 16 tacos and consommé to dip.

210 min750 kcal6 serves

💪High protein🌶️Spicy🌾Gluten-free

Esquites (Mexican Street Corn Salad with Cotija, Lime, and Chili) with corn, cotija cheese and mexican crema — Mexico recipe

🇲🇽MexicoMedium

Salads

Esquites (Mexican Street Corn Salad with Cotija, Lime, and Chili)

Esquites (from Nahuatl ízquitl, "toasted corn"; also sold as elote en vaso, "corn in a cup") is a Mexican street snack of charred corn kernels dressed with mayo, Mexican crema, lime juice, jalapeño, red onion, cilantro and crumbled cotija, then dusted with chili powder or Tajín. It is the off-the-cob version of elote: the same flavours, eaten with a spoon. Street vendors across Mexico sell it in small cups. The method rests on one move: charring the corn until about half the kernels show black spots, which turns boiled corn with mayonnaise into something smoky and layered. Ready in 20 minutes; serves 6 as a snack or 4 as a side for grilled meat and tacos.

20 min220 kcal6 serves

🌿Vegetarian🌾Gluten-free⚡Quick

Shurpa with lamb on the bone, chickpeas and carrots — Uzbekistan recipe

🇺🇿UzbekistanAdvanced

Soups

Shurpa

A slow-simmered Uzbek lamb soup of bone-in lamb, chickpeas, and large chunks of vegetables in a clear, fragrant broth. The chickpeas need soaking in cold water for 6 to 8 hours before you start cooking, so plan ahead. Seasoned with cumin and coriander, it is served with plenty of cilantro and flatbread, the broth often drunk alongside the meat and vegetables.

120 min350 kcal6 serves

🌾Gluten-free

Ingredients

Goes well with

Other ingredients that appear most often alongside cumin across the archive. Pick one to drill deeper.

garlic onion tomato chicken chickpeas beef black beans avocado cilantro paprika lamb lime