Taktouka With Burrata and Lime-Parsley Oil

By Nargisse Benkabbou

Total Time: 30 minutes
Rating: 4(340)
Notes: Read community notes

Taktouka is a Moroccan cooked salad traditionally made of bell peppers simmered in a tomato sauce that’s seasoned with sweet paprika and cumin. The end result is a lightly fragrant and flavorful dish that is typically served with plenty of bread. Here, it is also served with burrata. Although the addition of the creamy cheese is not traditional, it makes taktouka a complete vegetarian meal. The optional addition of lime-parsley oil adds a touch of acidity and freshness.

or to save this recipe.
Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
Subscribe
Share
Print Options
Include recipe photo

Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

For the Taktouka

3tablespoons olive oil
5San Marzano or Roma tomatoes (about 1 pound), deseeded and chopped into ½-inch pieces
3garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
½packed cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
⅓packed cup cilantro, finely chopped
2teaspoons sweet paprika
1teaspoon ground cumin
½teaspoon fine salt, plus more to taste
½teaspoon granulated sugar
3large green or yellow bell peppers (about 1 pound), deseeded and chopped into ½-inch pieces
8 to 10ounces burrata (1 or 2 balls), drained, at room temperature

For the Lime-parsley Oil (optional)

4tablespoons olive oil
Zest of 2 limes (about 4 teaspoons)
2tablespoons lime juice
½teaspoon granulated garlic (or ¼ teaspoon garlic powder or 1 garlic clove, finely chopped)
½teaspoon dried parsley (or 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley)
Generous pinch of granulated sugar
Pinch of fine salt

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan and add the chopped tomatoes, garlic, parsley, cilantro, paprika, cumin, salt, sugar and 2 tablespoons of water.
Step 2
Stir the ingredients together, cover the pan and cook over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes or until the tomatoes begin to soften. Stir occasionally to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
Step 3
While the tomatoes cook, make the lime-parsley oil, if using: Combine the olive oil, lime zest and juice, granulated garlic, dried parsley, sugar and salt in a small bowl, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside until ready to serve.
Step 4
Uncover the pan and add the chopped peppers, and cover again until the peppers are just cooked, about 10 minutes. (They should hold their shape and have a light crunch). Taste the taktouka and add more salt if necessary.
Step 5
To serve, place the taktouka at the center of a rimmed serving plate. Place the burrata on top and drizzle the burrata with the lime-parsley oil, if using. Enjoy with lots of bread. You can make the taktouka in advance and serve it warm or at room temperature. If you make it in advance, keep it in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Ratings

4 out of 5

340 user ratings

Your rating

Have you cooked this?

Private Notes

Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.

Cooking Notes

Alisa2 years ago

Sauteing the peppers with the spices before adding the tomatoes will help bring out their sweetness. Putting them into the warm tomato sauce results in boiled peppers. Only add cilantro stalks at first, keep the leaves for garnishing: cooked cilantro is not that great. If the fresh tomatoes are not super ripe, it's probably better to used canned ones or it will be watery. Adding burrata to make it a full meal is interesting. If you add eggs, you got yourself a shakshuka.

what are the criteria for “weeknight meals”?2 years ago

Good but not great, especially considering the prep time. I don’t know how they get to 40 mins on these. Weeknight? Really?

Tommyt2 years ago

I expanded this by putting atop some penne pasta that I mixed with some of the sauce. The fam thought it was watery and we added some red pepper flakes at the table. Fair amount of work for a big meh from the diners. Seems canned tomatoes would have been just as good. Fun Sunday afternoon meal tho and no one missed not having animal protein.

Meg2 years ago

So, to cut down on prep time for weeknights, I'd use good canned tomatoes -- Mutti cherry tomatoes are great, and skip the whole lime-olive oil thing. Drizzle with regular oil and it's delicious.

David Baldwin2 years ago

If you are a fan of north African flavors, this dish is an easy weeknight dinner that delivers. That it is vegetarian is a plus. The burrata is a wonderful complement to the stew, with contrasting texture and mellow flavor that works off the vegetables and spices beautifully. I had mine with toasted pita wedges, great for piling on the various ingredients. Give it a try!

Linda1 year ago

This dish is only made special by the lime oil. The Burrata is a help, too. I added the fresh herbs at the end of cooking and reserved some for plating - wanted more flavor. Upped the spices by almost a tsp each. I was short a pepper so used a zucchini which absorbed the flavors nicely. Served with sourdough bread and more lime oil.

Pegoo2 years ago

I can do this in about 30 minutes if I leave out the lime-parsley oil, which I do. I like it more tomato-y so I only add one to one-and-a-half peppers (of various colors) and find the addition of a bit of smoked paprika some really wonderful depth to this. Delicious!

Katherine2 years ago

For once I did not find many of the other comments very helpful, so adding here that I rated this a 5 stars - delicious as written (more or less - I used a half a pint of halved fresh grape tomatoes plus three Romas), not any more onerous to prep than many weeknight dinners, and while it would certainly be fine without the lime oil it was a 3 minutes extremely well spent. My 1 was running late so after stirring in the peppers I turned off the heat and it sat covered - perfect in an hour.

GC2 years ago

Inspired by the red peppers, made them the focus. STEPS: Poured good glug olive oil in a pan, then one can drained and rinsed chickpeas. (Yes this is variation but was good...) Then one onion and the spices, more olive oil, and cooked. After few minutes, added two diced red peppers. Then, just two carrots cut into very small pieces and a spritz of juice from a fresh orange. Cook until soft. At the end, added ripped up green chard leaves and let them wilt. Ate with toasted bread. Recommend!

Kelly2 years ago

From my years of living in Morocco, the version of Tatouka that I know includes red peppers are grilled/roasted first and then diced. There should be no crunch or bite to the peppers. Also, it is to have a consistency closer to pico de gallo vs. large pieces. The tomatoes and peppers (if using only red bell peppers) should almost be indistinguishable from one another in size, texture, presentation. I am looking forward to trying this recipe out and trying a new way.

Katherine2 years ago

Delicious, quick and easy, albeit a lot of chopping. I served over chickpea rotini and with sliced roasted red pepper chicken sausage. I added a can of diced tomatoes because 5 Romas didn’t seem like enough.

Rachel2 years ago

I found this very easy to make and is a good side dish for a protein. I suggest getting a really hearty bread with it because it got a little soupy. Definitely make the oil - it adds a lot of flavor.

Captain Wendy2 years ago

For the tomatoes (added to the peppers after sautéing with the other ingredients), I used the ones I made in Sarah Digregorio’s Slow-Cooker Tomato Compote and served over polenta. Definitely not a quick meal but it was extremely delicious!

Laurie2 years ago

Kind of surprised by the comments below. I found this recipe to be easy and it wasn't time consuming. And quite delicious!

HiImDeb2 years ago

I enjoyed this and think the oil garnish is a must. I used canned tomatoes because I have so many I need to use. I think this has a lot of flavor. We had over farro.

SalD2 years ago

Having followed this recipe to the letter, my opinion is that quality of the dish will depend on the quality of ingredients. So I agree that if your tomatoes are not in season, then good quality tomatoes should be better. Also, do a fare amount of tasting to balance it...perhaps a touch of sherry vinegar. Finally...add the chopped herbs at the very end. They won't get muddled and will retain their vibrancy. Use good quality burrata.

Kira2 years ago

My family and I very much enjoyed this recipe. I sauteed the green peppers with the spices prior to adding the canned tomatoes per the suggestion of Alisa. I doubled the spices and added some red pepper. For protein and to make it a bit more hearty, I added 2 cans of cannellini beans. Definitely make it with the lime oil as I could taste the lime and it added some depth to the flavor. It was delicious and did not take too much time.

Liz M2 years ago

This screams for a runny egg instead of Burrata with just a nice sprinkle of parsely to simplify

Leslye Borden2 years ago

Pretty good recipe. Of course, I see recipes as inspirations, not hard and fast rules to follow. I add turkey meatballs instead of the burrata. We loved it. The recipe reminded me of shakshuka. I love that sauce too and occasionally add meatballs (for dinner) instead of eggs (for breakfast/brunch). My husband suggested I make just the sauce and serve it over pasta. One way or another, I will make it again.

Kate2 years ago

Nice dish. I made ricotta rather than using burrata. Used canned tomatoes since store didn’t have good-looking fresh ones.

Private notes are only visible to you.