How to Make Harissa
Want to learn how to make harissa? This harissa recipe is spicy, smoky, and garlicky, and it tastes so, so good on pretty much everything. With only a few ingredients, learning how to make harissa is a cinch! Make sure you check out my how to make harissa video, too
Yield: cups
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp large red bell pepper
- 4 ounces dried chiles (like guajillo or arbol, often found in the international market or section of a good grocery store)
- 4-6 cloves garlic , peeled
- ¼ cup Carapelli® Organic Unfiltered Extra Virgin Olive Oil plus more to thin and for storage
- 1 ½ teaspoons coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon coarse or kosher salt
Instructions
- Pour boiling water over 4 ounces of dried chiles. I use a mix of guajillo and arbol chiles. Soak for 30 minutes or until softened. Once chiles are softened, drain. Cut off stems and deseed as much as you can.
- Roast a fresh red bell pepper. Preheat your broiler and place pepper under broiler until blackened in all spots, turning carefully with tongs regularly. Ensure that the insides are very soft, not just that the outside is dark. If necessary to totally soften, bake at 350º after blackening until soft. Remove from oven and let cool, then peel skin off and discard.
- Toast your spices. Heat a dry skillet over low heat and add spices, shaking skillet regularly to prevent burning of spices. Toast until surfaces of spices are a richer brown and beginning to smell fragrant. Transfer toasted spices to spice grinder and grind until a fine powder.
- Combine chiles, red pepper, spices, fresh garlic, salt, and Carapelli® Unfiltered Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the bowl of a food processor. Blend until very smooth. Add more Carapelli® Organic Unfiltered Extra Virgin Olive Oil during processing to smooth to desired texture. Transfer to a glass jar. Cover surface with olive oil to store.
Notes
If you don't have a spice grinder, you can substitute the following for the whole spices:
3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground caraway
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground caraway
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Nutrition
Serving Size: 2g | Calories: 444cal | Protein: 7g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Sodium: 1218mg | Potassium: 1121mg | Total Carbs: 44g | Fiber: 17g | Sugar: 24g | Net Carbs: 27g | Vitamin A: 15164IU | Vitamin C: 26mg | Calcium: 63mg | Iron: 5mg