Morocco | Main dish

Kefta Tagine

Name: Kefta Tagine
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 4 plates
Cuisine: Morocco, North Africa
Ingredients: 600 g ground beef or lamb; 1 small onion, grated; ¼ cup parsley and cilantro, chopped; 2 tsp paprika; 1½ tsp ground cumin; 5 medium tomatoes, grated; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 3 tbsp olive oil; 4 whole eggs; salt and pepper, to taste

Moroccan meatball tagine simmered in spiced tomato sauce and finished with eggs.

Country

Morocco

Region

North Africa

Time

70 min

Serves

Level

medium

Explore Morocco recipes Browse AfroKitchen

Recipe overview

What to know before you cook

Kefta tagine is Moroccan comfort in a clay pot: small spiced meatballs simmered in tomato sauce, with eggs cracked in at the end.

What the dish tastes like

Moroccan meatball tagine simmered in spiced tomato sauce and finished with eggs.

When to cook it

Best for Best for family dinner, bread-scooping meals, and quick tagine nights., with a medium cooking level and about 70 minutes total.

What to serve alongside it

Khobz, salad, olives, or roasted vegetables.

Regional lane

Tagines and special mains. Slow-cooked, spiced, sweet-savory, and celebratory dishes that anchor the table.

Chef watch-outs

Rushing the rest or fermentation period.
Rushing the base before the raw edge has cooked out.
Adding all seasoning early and forgetting to adjust at the end.

How you know it is ready

The bread or batter should smell pleasantly fermented, toasted, or nutty rather than floury.
The aroma should smell rounded rather than raw or sharp.
Oil, sauce, broth, or steam should look settled and deliberate.

Pantry lane

preserved lemon, green olives, saffron, ras el hanout, semolina

Chef board

Build the table around Kefta Tagine

Khobz, salad, olives, or roasted vegetables.

Best route from here

Tagines and special mains

Collections to keep cooking

Moroccan Salads, Soups, and Breads

Servings 4

Scale the dish before you shop, then use the checklist while you cook.

Ingredients

For 4 plates

Main dish

How to cook it

Step-by-step method

Keep the rhythm calm, watch the texture, and adjust seasoning at the end.

Back to Morocco

4 steps 70 min total medium

Shape meatballs

Mix meat with onion, herbs, half the spices, salt, and pepper. Shape small meatballs.

shape 15:00

Cook sauce

Simmer tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, remaining spices, salt, and pepper until thick.

sauce 20:00

Simmer kefta

Add meatballs to the sauce, cover, and cook until done.

meatballs 15:00

Set eggs

Crack eggs into the sauce, cover, and cook until whites set and yolks are still soft.

eggs 06:00

Some cooks add preserved lemon or olives, but the meatball, tomato, and egg version is the classic home base.

Kefta Tagine

What to know before you cook

Build the table around Kefta Tagine

Step-by-step method

More AfroKitchen dishes from the same food atlas

Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemons & Olives

Bessara

Chebakia

Chicken Pastilla