Mujadara: Lentils and Rice Under a Pile of Crispy Onions

Mujadara is lentils and rice cooked together with warm spices and buried under a heap of deeply browned, half-crispy onions. It is one of the oldest dishes in the Middle Eastern kitchen, it is built from pantry staples, and it tastes far better than a list of lentils, rice and onions has any right to. This mujadara recipe makes four generous bowls in about an hour, most of which is the onions doing their thing.

The one rule: do not rush the onions. Pale onions give you a bland pot of beige. Onions cooked to mahogany, with some edges gone crisp, are the whole dish.

Mujadara recipe at a glance

• Serves: 4 (about 1 1/2 cups each)
• Prep: 10 minutes
• Cook: 55 minutes, including a 10-minute rest
• Per serving: 474 calories, 16 g protein, 72 g carbs, 14 g fat, 8 g fiber
• Diet: vegan and dairy free as written; the yogurt sauce is optional

Ingredients

• 1 cup (190 g) dry brown or green lentils, rinsed
• 3/4 cup (140 g) long-grain white rice, such as basmati, rinsed
• 3 large yellow onions (about 600 g), halved and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup (54 g) extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt, divided
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 4 cups water for the lentils, plus 1 3/4 cups (415 ml) water for the rice

Cucumber yogurt sauce (optional):

• 1 cup (225 g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cucumber, grated and squeezed dry
• 1 tbsp lemon juice and a pinch of salt

How to make mujadara

1. Put the lentils and 4 cups of water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, until the lentils are just tender but still hold their shape. Drain and set aside.
2. While the lentils cook, heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and 1/2 tsp of the salt and cook, stirring every few minutes, for 25 to 30 minutes, until they are deep brown and some edges are crisp. Lower the heat to medium if they start to scorch.
3. Lift out about half of the onions, choosing the crispiest ones, and spread them on a paper-towel-lined plate.
4. Add the cumin, allspice, cinnamon and pepper to the onions left in the pot and stir for 30 seconds. Add the rice and stir for 1 minute so every grain is coated in the spiced oil.
5. Add the drained lentils, 1 3/4 cups water and the remaining 1 tsp salt. Bring to a boil, cover, turn the heat to the lowest setting and cook for 18 minutes.
6. Take the pot off the heat and let it rest, still covered, for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
7. Pile the reserved crispy onions on top and serve warm or at room temperature, with the cucumber yogurt sauce on the side if you like.

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The secret to mujadara onions

Most mujadara recipes that taste flat skip this part. Three large onions look like far too much when raw. They cook down to about a cup, and you want every bit of it.

• Use a wide pot. Crowded onions steam instead of browning. A 5-quart Dutch oven or 12-inch skillet gives them room.
• Salt early. The pinch of salt at the start pulls out water so the onions collapse faster, then brown.
• Stir less than you think. Every few minutes is enough at first. Stir more often in the last 10 minutes, when the sugars brown quickly.
• Split the batch. The onions that stay in the pot flavor the rice and lentils from the inside. The ones you set aside stay crisp for the top. You get both soft and crunchy in one bowl.
• Dark brown, not black. Burnt onions taste bitter and that bitterness spreads through the whole pot. If a few edges blacken, pick them out.

Want extra crunch without more oil? Slice one more onion very thin, toss it with a teaspoon of oil and bake it on a sheet pan at 400°F for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring once, while the rice cooks.

Which lentils and rice to use

Lentils: brown or green lentils are the classic choice because they keep their shape through two rounds of cooking. French green (Puy) lentils work too and stay even firmer; give them 18 to 20 minutes in step 1 instead of 15.

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Skip red lentils here. They are split and break down into a purée within about 15 minutes, which is perfect for our silky red lentil soup but turns mujadara into mush.

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Rice: long-grain white rice such as basmati cooks in the same time it takes the par-cooked lentils to finish, and the grains stay separate. Rinse it until the water runs mostly clear so the dish is fluffy, not sticky.

Brown rice: it works, but it needs a head start. Simmer the lentils for only 5 minutes in step 1, then cook the rice and lentils together with 2 1/4 cups of water for 40 minutes before resting.

Bulgur: in parts of Lebanon and Syria the same dish is made with coarse bulgur instead of rice. Swap in 3/4 cup coarse bulgur, use 1 1/2 cups water and cook 12 to 15 minutes. The texture is nuttier and a little chewier.

Is mujadara healthy?

Yes, it is a filling, plant-based meal. Lentils do most of the work: per 100 grams dry, USDA data lists 24.6 grams of protein and 10.7 grams of fiber. In this recipe that adds up to 8 grams of fiber and 16 grams of protein per bowl, from ingredients that cost very little.

The calories come mostly from the rice and the olive oil, which is what makes the onions so good. If you want a lighter bowl, cut the oil to 3 tablespoons and bake the topping onions instead of frying them. For a bigger protein boost, serve it with the cucumber yogurt sauce: a quarter of the sauce adds about 33 calories and 5.7 grams of protein, bringing a bowl to roughly 21 grams. If you are trying to eat more fiber in general, mujadara sits comfortably alongside the dishes in our high fiber meals roundup.

What to serve with lentils and rice

Mujadara is a full meal on its own, but it loves something cool, sharp and fresh next to it:

• Cucumber yogurt sauce from the recipe above, the most common pairing.
• A lemony salad: our parsley-heavy tabbouleh or a simple chopped cucumber and tomato salad with lemon and olive oil.
• Pickles and olives: pickled turnips, cucumbers or a few olives cut through the richness.
• Something to scoop: warm pita and a few baked falafel turn it into a mezze-style spread.

Storing and reheating mujadara

Mujadara keeps well, which makes it a strong make-ahead lunch. Cool it quickly, then refrigerate it in airtight containers for 3 to 4 days, the window FoodSafety.gov’s cold storage chart gives for leftovers like soups, stews and cooked meat. Store the crispy onions separately in a small container at room temperature for a day, or in the fridge after that; they soften but re-crisp in a dry skillet in 2 minutes.

To reheat, sprinkle a tablespoon of water over a portion, cover and microwave until steaming hot all the way through. It also freezes: portion it into freezer containers and use it within 2 to 3 months for best quality. FoodSafety.gov notes that food kept continuously at 0°F stays safe indefinitely, but texture fades over time.

If you batch-cook on Sundays, mujadara is an easy swap into the rotation in our vegetarian meal prep bowls. Pack it with the yogurt sauce in a separate small cup so it stays cold.

Easy variations

• Herby: fold in a big handful of chopped parsley and mint right before serving.
• Spiced up: add 1/2 tsp coriander and a pinch of red pepper flakes with the cumin.
• Greens: stir 2 cups of baby spinach into the hot pot after resting; it wilts in a minute.
• Topped with an egg: a fried or jammy egg on top makes it more of a dinner.
• Nutty: scatter toasted pine nuts or slivered almonds over the onions.

How the nutrition was calculated

Numbers are per serving, one quarter of the pot, calculated from USDA FoodData Central per-100-gram values for raw lentils, raw long-grain white rice, raw onions and olive oil, using the gram weights in the ingredient list. Spices, salt and the optional yogurt sauce are not included in the 474 calories. Values are estimates; brands and exact onion size will shift them a little.

Sources

• USDA FoodData Central via getfoodfacts.com: Lentils, raw (FDC 172420)
• USDA FoodData Central via getfoodfacts.com: Rice, white, long-grain, regular, raw, enriched (FDC 168877)
• USDA FoodData Central via getfoodfacts.com: Onions, raw (FDC 170000)
• USDA FoodData Central via getfoodfacts.com: Oil, olive, salad or cooking (FDC 171413)
• USDA FoodData Central: Yogurt, Greek, plain, nonfat (FDC 170894)
• FoodSafety.gov: Cold Food Storage Charts