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🇮🇷 Traditional dishes from Iran

3 dishes people actually cook in Iran: what they are, how long they take, and what you need to buy.

What can you cook from Iran? 3 traditional Iran dishes, from Kabab koobideh (195 min, the quickest) to Ghormeh sabzi (955 min, the longest). Each recipe is written step by step with full ingredient lists, free to read.

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Ghormeh sabzi

15 hours and 55 minutes · medium · 12 ingredients

Ghormeh sabzi, a traditional dish from Iran

Persian herb stew whose colour and depth come from frying parsley, cilantro and leek for half an hour before the long simmer with dried limes.

  • 300 g parsley
  • 200 g cilantro
  • 100 g leeks
  • 3 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves
  • 4 dried limes
  • 600 g lamb shoulder
  • 200 g red kidney beans
  • 1 onion
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 100 ml vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper

Kabab koobideh

3 hours and 15 minutes · hard · 8 ingredients

Kabab koobideh, a traditional dish from Iran

Persian ground lamb kebab that only works with 20% fat, onion squeezed bone-dry and wide flat metal skewers the meat can grip.

  • 800 g ground lamb with 20% fat
  • 160 g onion
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 pinch saffron
  • 30 g butter
  • 2 tsp sumac
  • 6 wide flat metal skewers

Tahdig

3 hours and 35 minutes · medium · 7 ingredients

Tahdig, a traditional dish from Iran

Parboiled basmati steamed for an hour under a towel-wrapped lid, so the yogurt-and-saffron layer at the bottom sets into a crust you turn out whole.

  • 400 g basmati rice
  • 100 g plain yogurt
  • 1 pinch saffron
  • 30 g butter
  • 60 ml vegetable oil
  • 2 tbsp salt
  • 3000 ml water

What do people eat in Iran?

Copper documents three dishes from Iran: Ghormeh sabzi, Kabab koobideh and Tahdig. Butter and onion each appear in more than one recipe. Two of the three are steamed. Not one needs an oven — they cook entirely on the hob. Between them they use 20 different ingredients.

What ingredients do you need for cooking from Iran?

The three recipes need 20 ingredients between them, of which 3 are shared by more than one dish. Saffron the hardest to find: of the 586 dishes in Copper's atlas, 9 use saffron. Every ingredient list on this page is complete, with quantities, and free to read.

How long do recipes from Iran take?

Kabab koobideh is the quickest at 195 minutes. Ghormeh sabzi is the longest at 955 minutes, most of it unattended. The median is 215 minutes — a weekend dish rather than a weeknight one.

Which dish from Iran is easiest to make at home?

None of the dishes from Iran here is rated easy, but every one has the full method written out step by step, free to read. Kabab koobideh is the shortest way in.

Explore nearby cuisines

Iran is part of Middle Eastern.

Countries close to Iran on the globe — and close on the plate.

Get the step-by-step recipes