Lebanese 7 Spices (Baharat)

Lebanese 7 Spice (sabaa baharat) is a pantry ‘must-have’ spice blend. It is widely used in Lebanese cooking, found in many dishes. It is aromatic with a hint of bitterness and sweetness.

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Jump to:

• 😋Why you’ll love this recipe
• ✔️What You’ll Need
• 🥘Ingredient Notes
• 🔪Step by step guide
• 🍳Variations
• 💡Recipes using Lebanese 7 Spices
• 💭Pro Tips
• ❓FAQ
• 🥘Related recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Community

Baharat is an essential Middle Eastern pantry staple. It’s the most used spice blend in my cooking.

Baharat is pronounced as ‘bah-ha-raht’, which is the English word for ‘spices’.

Lebanese seven spices are also known as ‘sabaa’ baharat’ which translates to 7 spices from Arabic into English.

Lebanese 7 spices really add volumes of flavor to any recipe. It is used in soups, stews, braising, rice, salads, kibbeh, and more.

😋Why you’ll love this recipe

• Homemade - It’s the freshest way to enjoy spices
• Easy to create and store
• Handy to have on hand 

✔️What You’ll Need

🥘Ingredient Notes

I’ve listed the ground spices in alphabetical order, these should be used in equal parts to make Lebanese seven spice. 

You can purchase quality organic spices through Thrive Market* (below links) or via Amazon* (recipe card links).

• Allspice* (بهارحلو - Filful Franjy 7iloo) - also known as Jamaica pepper, pimento, pimento or myrtle pepper. Allspice is a brown berry from the Pimenta dioica. It was given its name ‘allspice’ as it resembled the flavouring of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. 
• Black pepper* (فلفل اسود - Falful aswad) - made from a dried peppercorn fruit of a flowering vine, this is a common spice used across with world.
• Cinnamon* (قرفة -Kirrfeh)- used in both savoury and sweet dishes, cinnamon is made from the bark of various cinnamon trees.
• Clove* (كبشقرنفل - Karinful) - dried flower buds, can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes.
• Coriander* (كزبرة - Kizbra)- Whole dried coriander seeds are ground up to create this spice. Fun fact - in Australia we call the entire cilantro plant coriander.
• Cumin* (كمون - Kamoon) - a dried fruit seed pod, widely used throughout the Middle East and Asia.
• Nutmeg* (جوزةالطيب - Jawzat altayib) - either seed or ground spice of several species of Myristica. Can be used in both savoury and sweet dishes.

🔪Step by step guide

Step 1 - In a bowl, combine all ground spices.

Step 2 - Store in an airtight jar in the pantry, ready for anytime usage. I like to use recycled jars as per the photo below.

🍳Variations

Lebanese seven spices blend can differ between regions of Lebanon or even families. Other used spices are fenugreek, cardamon, ginger to name a few.

There are other Middle Eastern 7 spices (which contain different spices to make the blend) out there such as;

Arabic 7 spice

Egyptian 7 spice

Syrian 7 spice

Iraqi 7 spice

Beirut 7 spice - this is a new one I recently came across in a Lebanese grocer in Sydney, it’s a bright orange-ish color, and tastes fabulous - it contained paprika. 

💡Recipes using Lebanese 7 Spices

• Molokhia - my favourite comfort food of jute mallow leaves
• Bamia - wholesome stewed okra
• Lebanese Kibbeh - the ultimate potato and bulgur on a bed of onion and sultanas.
• Malfouf - stuffed cabbage leaves
• Ejjeh - a vegan herb omelette
• Lebanese rice - the best vegetable and nut rice ever
• Fasoulia - a hearty red kidney bean stew
• Moghrabieh - aromatic pearl couscous with chickpeas
• Batinjan Mahshi - eggplant stuffed with a veggie and pine nut rice
• Air fryer corn ribs - simple rub on each corn riblet a little bit of baharat
• Ghallaba - a Lebanese veggie saute

💭Pro Tips

Use, where possible, whole spices and grind them up yourself using a spice mill*. This will result in a fresher baharat blend which will last longer.

If you can’t obtain whole spices, using ground spices is fine.

If purchasing baharat from the supermarket, be sure to check the ingredients.

I recently came across one which contains so many unnecessary ingredients such as natural flavors, color additives, and acidity regulators.

❓FAQ

🥘Related recipes

Another Middle Eastern spice blend that's always in my pantry is my easy shawarma spice mix.

Did you enjoy learning how to make Lebanese 7 spices? I would love to hear from you, leave me a comment below and give me a rating if you made this spice blend. This will help me sustain Plant Based Folk. 

Alternatively, did you happen to take a photo? Tag me @plantbasedfolk on Instagram to be featured via stories.

Janelle x

📖 Recipe