Moghrabieh substitute

Best substitute

Pearl couscous (Israeli couscous, ptitim)

Use the same amount by volume, cooked in 8 to 10 minutes rather than 20 to 30 as the moghrabieh you are replacing

Best for moghrabieh stew with chicken and chickpeas

Different texture

Pearl couscous is the usual answer and it swaps 1:1 by volume, but understand what you are giving up: moghrabieh balls are two to three times bigger, so instead of a few soft, dumpling-like pillows per spoonful you get many small beads, and the dish reads like a pilaf rather than dumplings in broth. Large-grade fregola sarda is the closest match in size. If your shop sells something labelled giant couscous, check the packet - in the UK that name is usually applied to ordinary pearl couscous, not true moghrabieh. Moghrabieh's job is structure: it is a starchy, absorbent vehicle that stays in distinct soft lumps under a brothy stew, so any substitute is judged on size and on whether it holds together.

Other moghrabieh substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Fregola sarda, coarse grade
Different taste
Use the same amount by volume
The best size and texture match you can buy in a Western supermarket.
What changes
Coarse fregola is irregular toasted semolina pellets, bigger than pearl couscous and closer to moghrabieh in scale, and crucially it stays firm and separate in liquid instead of collapsing. What changes: fregola is oven-toasted, so it brings a nutty, faintly roasted flavour that plain moghrabieh does not have, and it stays chewier at the centre where moghrabieh goes soft and slightly gummy. In a caraway-and-cinnamon Lebanese stew the toastiness is a pleasant addition rather than a problem.
Best for
moghrabieh stew, brothy dishes where the pellets must not disintegrate, when you want the right size more than the exact flavour
Buy the coarse grade specifically. Fine fregola is barely larger than pearl couscous and defeats the purpose. It takes roughly ten to twelve minutes in simmering broth and does not need pre-toasting.
3Maftoul (Palestinian hand-rolled couscous)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by volume, 15 to 20 minutes cooking
A close relative from the same corner of the world, and a very natural swap if your grocer carries it.
What changes
Maftoul is hand-rolled and irregular like moghrabieh, and it stands up to a brothy stew the same way. What changes: maftoul is built on coarse bulgur rather than pure semolina, so it is browner, tastes clearly of toasted wholewheat, and has a firmer, slightly grainy chew instead of moghrabieh's soft, pillowy give. It is also smaller. The stew works beautifully, it just tastes more rustic and wholegrain.
Best for
moghrabieh stew, cooks shopping at a Middle Eastern grocer, when you prefer a nuttier, wholegrain base
Because maftoul is bulgur-based it absorbs a little more liquid than semolina pellets, so keep extra broth to hand. Toast it in ghee with the onions first, as you would for a maftoul dish.
4Large ditalini, acini di pepe or gnocchetti sardi
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by volume, cooked separately in salted water
Small pasta shapes are the honest supermarket fallback, and gnocchetti sardi in particular is close in size and has a satisfying ridged chew.
What changes
What changes: these are pasta, and they taste and behave like pasta - glossier, springier, more refined, and holding their bite rather than softening into the plush texture that makes moghrabieh distinctive. The stew ladled over them is still excellent; you have simply made a Lebanese stew with pasta rather than moghrabieh. Larger shapes are better than smaller ones here, since bulk is the whole point.
Best for
moghrabieh stew when no couscous product is available, quick versions, feeding a crowd cheaply
Cook and drain separately, then combine at the table. Boiling pasta in the stew clouds and thickens the broth and overcooks the pasta by the time the flavours have come together. Toss the drained pasta with a little of the stew fat so it does not stick.
5Chickpeas and rice - dropping the pellets entirely
Taste and texture differ
Serve the stew over cooked rice and double the chickpeas in the pot
The pragmatic route, and more legitimate than it sounds, because the soul of a moghrabieh dish is the stew rather than the starch: chicken or lamb, whole small onions, plenty of chickpeas, and the unmistakable caraway, cinnamon and allspice perfume.
What changes
Serve that over rice with extra chickpeas and you have a genuinely good dinner. What changes: you lose the dumpling texture completely, and with it the specific pleasure of biting into a soft ball that has soaked up broth. The dish stops being moghrabieh and becomes a spiced chicken and chickpea stew, which nobody will complain about.
Best for
when no suitable pellet or pasta is available, gluten-free versions, using up what is already in the cupboard
Increase the chickpeas noticeably - they supply some of the bulk and roundness the moghrabieh would have. Keep the broth generous so the rice has something to absorb.
6Bulgur or barley, for the chew without the shape
Different taste
Use the same amount by volume for coarse bulgur; barley needs 3 cups liquid per cup and 30 to 40 minutes
Both bring a resilient, satisfying chew that survives a long simmer, which is more than small pasta can claim.
What changes
Barley in particular stays distinct and slightly bouncy for as long as you cook it. What changes: neither is a pellet, so you get a grain bed rather than dumplings, and both have assertive flavours of their own - bulgur toasty and wheaty, barley sweet and faintly malty, thickening the broth into something creamy as its starch releases. A good dish, clearly not moghrabieh.
Best for
long-simmered versions of the stew, cold-weather cooking, cooks who prefer wholegrains
Barley must go in early since it takes far longer than any couscous product. Coarse bulgur is the opposite - add it near the end, cover, and let it steam off the heat rather than boiling it.

What is Moghrabieh?

Moghrabieh is Moghrabieh, also spelled mograbieh or moghrabiyeh and sold as Lebanese or giant couscous, is the largest member of the couscous family - semolina rolled into dried balls the size of a small pea or a peppercorn - and it is also the name of the caraway-scented chicken and chickpea stew served over it.

Cooking tips

Real moghrabieh needs a two-stage cook: a par-boil or a soak, then a proper steam, usually with a little ghee or samneh worked through it. Boiled hard all the way in one go it turns sticky on the outside while the middle stays chalky. If the packet gives instructions, follow them, because rolled sizes vary a lot between brands.
Cook the pellets separately from the stew and bring them together at the end. Moghrabieh and every substitute here release a great deal of surface starch, and cooking them in the pot turns a clear, spiced broth into a thick gravy - which is not what the dish is meant to be.
The signature of a moghrabieh stew is caraway with cinnamon and allspice, and caraway is the one people forget. It is not the same as cumin and it is not optional - that faintly aniseed, savoury note is what makes the dish recognisable, and no amount of good chicken stock replaces it.
Toss the cooked pellets with a spoonful of ghee, samneh or olive oil the moment they come out of the water. They clump aggressively as they cool, and a coating of fat is the difference between separate soft balls and a single block you have to break apart.
Salt the cooking water properly, as you would for pasta. These are large, dense balls of plain semolina, and if they go in unseasoned nothing you do to the stew afterwards will season their centres.

Frequently asked questions

Is moghrabieh the same as pearl couscous?

No, though they are in the same family and swap at 1:1. Moghrabieh balls are considerably larger - roughly the size of a small pea, sometimes bigger - and they cook to a soft, plush, slightly gummy texture closer to a tiny dumpling. Pearl couscous is much smaller and stays springy and bouncy. Confusingly, many products sold as giant couscous, particularly in the UK, are actually pearl couscous rather than true moghrabieh, so check the size of the balls in the packet rather than trusting the name.

Can I just leave the moghrabieh out?

You can, because the flavour of the dish lives in the stew rather than the pellets - the chicken or lamb, the whole small onions, the chickpeas, and the caraway, cinnamon and allspice. Serve that over rice or with plenty of extra chickpeas and it is a very good dinner. What you lose is the texture the dish is named for: soft, substantial balls that have drunk up broth. That is a real loss, but it is a textural one rather than a flavour one.

Is moghrabieh the same as Lebanese couscous?

Yes. Moghrabieh, mograbieh, moghrabiyeh and Lebanese couscous all refer to the same product, and the word itself points to the Maghreb, where couscous originates. In Lebanon the name is used both for the dried semolina balls and for the finished stew served over them, so a recipe titled moghrabieh may be describing either. Palestinian maftoul is a related but distinct thing, being bulgur-based rather than pure semolina.

How long does moghrabieh take to cook?

Considerably longer than pearl couscous - usually twenty to thirty minutes, and sometimes more, depending on the brand and how large the balls are rolled. Many cooks soak it first or par-boil it and then finish it by steaming over the stew. The test is the centre: bite one in half, and if there is a pale chalky core it needs longer, even if the outside already feels soft. This is the opposite problem from pearl couscous, which is done in eight to ten minutes and overcooks easily.

Is moghrabieh gluten free?

No - it is rolled semolina, which is durum wheat, and so are pearl couscous, fregola and every pasta substitute on this page. Maftoul and bulgur are wheat too, and barley contains gluten as well. For a gluten-free version, serve the stew over rice, or use a gluten-free pearl-shaped pasta made from corn and rice, and increase the chickpeas for bulk. Nothing gluten-free replicates the soft, plush bite of moghrabieh.

Related substitutes

More grains & starches substitutes

Moghrabieh substitute

Other moghrabieh substitutes

2Fregola sarda, coarse grade

3Maftoul (Palestinian hand-rolled couscous)

4Large ditalini, acini di pepe or gnocchetti sardi

5Chickpeas and rice - dropping the pellets entirely

6Bulgur or barley, for the chew without the shape