National dish

What is the national dish of Bahrain?

Bahrain has no national dish fixed by law, but machboos is the one consistently named. It is basmati rice cooked in the spiced broth of chicken, mutton or fish, flavoured with dried black limes (loomi) and a spice blend, then served on one platter with the meat on top. Machboos is the Gulf name for kabsa, regarded as a national dish across the Gulf states.

Updated 2026-10-124 min read

What is machboos?

Machboos (also written majboos or machbus) is a one-pot rice dish. Pieces of chicken, mutton or fish are simmered with onion, tomato and spices, and the rice is then cooked in that broth, so every grain takes on the flavour of the meat. Wikipedia's page on Bahraini cuisine describes it as meat or fish "served over fragrant rice that has been cooked in a well-spiced chicken or mutton broth".

It is the same family of dish as Saudi kabsa. The Arabic root k-b-s means to press or squeeze, a reference to everything being cooked together in a single pot. In Gulf Arabic the name becomes makboos or machboos, the form used in Bahrain.

What is in machboos?

The base is rice, usually basmati, plus one protein: chicken, mutton or fish. The flavour comes from a handful of ingredients that you will find in almost every Bahraini version:

Loomi: whole dried black limes, pierced so their sour, smoky taste escapes into the broth.
Baharat: the Gulf spice blend, which varies from family to family and usually includes black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.
Turmeric, which gives the rice its yellow colour.
Onion, tomato and garlic, cooked down as the base of the broth.
Whole spices such as a cinnamon stick and cardamom pods.
Rose water, sprinkled over the rice just before it rests, as in our recipe.

How machboos is made

Our machboos recipe follows the classic order. The rice is soaked for 30 minutes. Chicken pieces are browned for about 8 minutes and lifted out, then two onions are cooked in the same pot until deep golden, followed by garlic, baharat, turmeric and grated tomato.

The chicken goes back in with the pierced limes, the whole spices and a litre of water, and simmers covered for 45 minutes. The chicken is then taken out, the broth is measured to about 700 ml, and the drained rice cooks in it on the lowest heat for 15 to 20 minutes. Do not stir the rice while it cooks.

While the rice finishes, the chicken is grilled for 10 minutes to crisp the skin. Everything is served on one large platter, rice underneath and meat piled on top.

Meat for the wider kabsa family is not always simmered. Wikipedia lists other methods used around the Gulf: mandi, where the meat cooks in a covered pit oven; mathbi, where it is grilled on flat stones over embers; and madghut, where it is cooked in a pressure cooker. Fish machboos follows the same logic, with the fish cooked separately and laid on the rice.

Where machboos comes from

Kabsa, of which machboos is the Gulf form, is generally traced to the Arabian Peninsula, with Saudi Arabia and Yemen both given as possible origins. Wikipedia notes that it is commonly regarded as a national dish in all the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which is why Bahrain shares it with its neighbours rather than owning it alone.

Bahrain's version reflects its history as a trading port. Its cuisine mixes Arab, Iranian and Indian influences, and the spices in machboos are the clearest sign of that. Compare it with the Qatari machboos, which is almost the same dish, and with Saudi Arabia, which in 2023 chose jareesh, not kabsa, as its official national dish.

Other dishes to know from Bahrain

Harees is the other dish every Bahraini knows, eaten above all during Ramadan. Whole wheat is soaked for at least 12 hours, cooked with bone-in lamb for at least 3 hours, then beaten with a wooden pestle for 15 to 20 minutes until no grain or meat fibre is visible. It is finished with melted ghee and cinnamon.

The samosa is the triangular pastry of the iftar table: a thin dough shortened with ghee, filled with dry, baharat-spiced ground meat and fried until blistered. Other household dishes include muhammar, a sweet rice made with dates or sugar and served with fried fish, and quzi, roast lamb stuffed with rice, meat and eggs.

Rice dominates the Bahraini table well beyond machboos. Masli cooks rice directly in the pot with chicken, meat, fish or shrimp; mumawwash combines rice with green lentils, sometimes topped with dried shrimp; and fi ga'atah is white rice cooked over tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant at the bottom of the pan.

You will find these dishes, with ingredients and step-by-step methods, on our page about the food of Bahrain. For the wider family of rice dishes, see our guide to Middle Eastern food.

The recipes

Questions people ask

Is machboos the same as kabsa?

Essentially yes. Machboos (or majboos) is the Gulf name for kabsa, the spiced rice and meat dish of the Arabian Peninsula. Bahraini versions lean heavily on dried black limes and baharat.

Does Bahrain have an official national dish?

No law or decree names one. Machboos is the dish consistently described as Bahrain's national dish, and Wikipedia lists the kabsa family for Bahrain.

What is served with machboos?

It is a full meal on one platter. Kabsa-style rice can be served hot with daqqus, a homemade tomato sauce, and finished with onions, almonds, pine nuts or sultanas.

What are the black things in machboos?

They are loomi, dried black limes: limes that have lost their water, mostly in the sun. They are pierced and cooked whole in the broth to give it a sour, earthy and slightly smoky taste.

What is the national drink of Bahrain?

Arabic coffee, qahwah, is considered Bahrain's national beverage. Tea, especially karak, is also served to guests.

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