Kuwait foods do have their own unique flavors and traditions, even though many people mistakenly think it compares to Mediterranean cuisine. It does not!
As soon as people hear the name Kuwait, they immediately think of oil. But did you know that Kuwait is also famous for delicious food? In fact, there are plenty of scrumptious options to choose from when you’re looking to eat out in Kuwait or bring a taste of Kuwait back home with you after your visit. But why do you love Kuwait cuisine? What makes these meals so special?
One aspect that makes food in Kuwait stand out is that the country has been influenced by both Middle Eastern and Western cultures over time, which have introduced many different ingredients and flavors into their dishes. Additionally, Kuwait region offers its signature dish made from local produce and spices. This means that while you may be able to find familiar items like falafel in other countries, Kuwaitis will always offer something slightly different.
The food in Kuwait is healthy too. It’s full of protein and low on calories, fat, sugar, and salt. Even if you’re not a big fan of spicy foods, plenty of recipes are still available to satisfy all tastes. The best part is that most dishes are easy to make at home. The key is learning how to create a traditional recipe, just like they do for their own Kuwait food.
5 Most Popular Food From Kuwait
1. Machboos
Machboos is the Kuwait food most eaten, made with rice, lamb, mutton, fish, or chicken, a variety of vegetables, and spices, including garlic, turmeric, cumin, and cardamom. When cooking machboos, the rice is always boiled separately and then added to the other ingredients just before serving to retain its fluffy texture. The spices are added just before serving to retain their flavor without becoming overpowering.
2. Muttabaq Samak
This food in Kuwait is made with resilient fish, which gives off little oil and has very firm flesh, making it great for cooking over an open fire. It can be served with rice or plain as part of a larger meal or as a light dinner on its own. This Kuwait food becomes a pure delight when served with Zubaidi (pomfret) fish. Add lime juice, chopped coriander leaves, and tomatoes to make the perfect side dish.
3. Murabyan
Murabyan is a delicious vegetable and rice dish that can be prepared in several ways. It is full of shrimp and flavored with turmeric, dried loomi, sautéed onions, and coriander. The combination results in an aromatic, spicy dish that will warm you up from head to toe.
4. Harees
Harees is a popular dish of thick wheat, and meat porridge with a flavorful sauce usually served during special occasions. Made from mutton or chicken garnished with cardamom and cumin, harees is often prepared in large quantities because it tastes better when reheated.
5. Quozi
This Kuwait food is a tasty, nutritious rice-based combination of lamb, nuts, and vegetables that can be cooked with beef, veal, or even fish if preferred. It can also be dressed with aromatic spices and herbs to suit individual tastes, such as salt, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove, cardamom, and fresh coriander. The most popular way to serve quozi is topped with ghee which melts into the grains while retaining its rich flavor.
5 Most Popular Questions About Food From Kuwait
1. What do people eat for breakfast in Kuwait?
Breakfast in Kuwait can include watermelon jam, tea with milk and chives, unsalted white cheese, and Iranian bread. Others consider taking soda (liver), eggs, beans, or rice.
2. What is the national fruit of Kuwait?
Dates is Kuwait’s national fruit because it’s such a vital part of their culture. The dates are used in many dishes throughout the country and offered as gifts at Ramadan celebrations.
3. How would you describe Kuwait food?
Kuwait food has a unique blend of Middle Eastern spices mixed with Persian flavors, which makes their food delicious.
4. What is a Kuwait favorite dish that you think everyone should try?
Maglooba is one of the popular Kuwait foods that everybody should try. Made from ground beef, rice, tomato sauce, cinnamon, allspice, and other ingredients like cardamom and ginger, this dish will tantalize your taste buds in ways you never thought possible.
5. Where can I find recipes Kuwait food?
You can find many Kuwait food recipes online by searching food from Kuwait recipes on Google. They even have cooking videos if you need more clarification. There are also recipe books available.
13 Delicious Kuwait Foods & Top Recipes
check out our video
1. Kuwaiti Fish Stew from Herbies
On one of their many trips to India Herbie & Liz met a couple from Kuwait, Bader & Sue, who shared this Kuwait food recipe with them. The dried black lime (loomi), has a highly aromatic and piquant flavor that complements slow cooked dishes in it’s whole form, and is not dissimilar to Moroccan preserved lemons. The ground black lime is extremely versatile and is lovely sprinkled on scrambled eggs, salmon and salads.
2. Machboos from Ingmar
The most famous food in Kuwait is called Machboos and consists of three parts; the meat (traditionally made with either lamb or chicken) well cooked and tender, the rice which is cooked with the meat’s stock, and stuffing which is ironically not stuffed into anything and consists of split beans, raisins and onion.
3. Harees (Haleem) from Tasted Recipes
Harees (Haleem) is a delicious chicken recipe served as a side dish. This is popularly relished during Eid in Hyderabad in India. Arabic Hareesa or Arabic Chicken Harees is a Ramadan special dish usually made with meat or chicken and boiled barley. You can also use a combination of wheat and barley.
One of the healthiest Kuwait foods I can think of. This food in Kuwait is also known by the name of Hareesha, Harisa, Jahreesa, etc. Different Arab cultures have different variations of this dish. Omanis like it with chicken, dry fruits, and barista.
4. Jareesh (Crushed Wheat) from The Arabian Cuisine
A food in Kuwait named Jareesh, is a very popular and well-known Kuwait food in the Arabian Gulf region, began to spread from the Saudi region of Qassim, and from there it moved to the rest of the regions and neighboring countries, and its recipe contain crushed wheat, yogurt, and meat.
It’s served by many people at banquets, weddings, and social events, and Jareesh are considered a useful dish that contains many nutrients, such as proteins and minerals, in addition to a lot of vitamins
As its basis is whole wheat grain cooked in meat, chicken, or even yogurt broth.
Jareesh is known in the Levant by the name of the kiosk, but it differs in the way it is prepared.
5. Tashreeb Dajaj from Middle East Monitor
Tashreeb is the name given to any Kuwait food with broth-soaked bread topped with meat or vegetables. This is because the word “tashreeb” in Arabic means “to soak”, making it a very fitting name! It is a very rustic Iraqi concept that started out as a dish made by the poor who were able to put whatever they had to hand in the stew and then serve it over bread in order to make it filling.
Nowadays, it has become a staple in many Iraqi and Middle Eastern households and for good reason; it is absolutely delicious!
This food in Kuwait has many variations and differs from one family to another. This recipe was given to me by my husband’s aunt who was taught it by her Iraqi in-laws. Although the ingredients seem very basic, the combination is incredibly flavorful and comforting you’ll want to eat it over and over again.
6. Shaurabat Adas (Kuwaiti Lentil Soup) from Cookin With Mima
Kuwaiti lentil soup (shaurabat adas) with potatoes, lemon and favored with cumin is a tasty food in Kuwait common to the Arabian Gulf. This easy to make traditional Lentil Soup (Shorbet Adas) Kuwait food recipe is full of flavors, super easy to make, nutritious and very filling. It is made with only 4 simple ingredients you already have in your pantry and only takes 5 minutes of prep.
This food in Kuwait is one of the most comforting soup to have during the month of Ramadan. Loaded with spices (or not!). This is a versatile soup, it’s tasty without spices but it’s also a bowl that welcomes spices with open arms! Cumin and 7 spice add many layers of flavor.
I am a huge fan of spices, I use them with everything. I like my meals to have bold flavors where the spices stand out.
Want more ideas to round-out your Recipe Box?
A lot of great options are in these posts!
- 20 Traditional Emirati Recipes “Simply Delicious”
- 25 Traditional Arabian Recipes With Delicious Flavors
- 25 Fantastic and Authentic Jordanian Recipes
- 25 Best Authentic Israeli Recipes You Have to Try
- 23 Great Traditional Palestine Recipes At Home
7. Fatayer (Savory Hand Pies) from King Arthur Baking
Popular in various versions throughout the Middle East, these savory stuffed pies feature an aromatic spiced filling in a light-textured yeast-based crust. Fatayer can be served as either a side or main dish; they’re especially popular at brunch, served with warm mint tea.
While the Kuwait food recipe below yields 24 fatayer each of the fillings will fill 12 pastries — so it’s simple to satisfy a variety of tastes by mixing and matching.
8. Gers Ogaily from Cultureatz
An exotic Kuwait food for cake from Kuwait is called Gers Ogely; with saffron, cardamom, rose water and toasted sesame seeds flavor notes.
I have tasted a many Middle Eastern sweets but I had never heard of this Gers Ogely cake. I am pretty sure dear reader neither have you, not many have. This food in Kuwait for perfumed cake is very moist and pretty unique in texture. This is a true old-fashioned Kuwaiti cake with strong notes cardamom, saffron, rose water and sesame.
9. Darabeel from I Love Arabic Food
Darabeel – It’s one of the most favorites Kuwait foods especially in winter. The dough is formed into very thin rolled layers stuffed with sugar, cardamom and cinnamon.
10. Murabyan Shrimp and Rice Pilaf from 177 Milk Street
The Kuwait food called murabyan is a shrimp and rice pilaf fragrant with spices, herbs and alliums. Our simplified version gets richness from a good measure of butter and a savory-sweet flavor foundation from onions that are sautéed until golden. To keep the shrimp plump and tender, we briefly sauté them, then set them aside until the rice is done.
We then scatter the shrimp over the rice and allow them to gently finish cooking with the rice’s residual heat. Dried limes called loomi are used to impart a sour, concentrated citrusy flavor to murabyan, but since loomi are difficult to source in the U.S., we finish the dish with fresh lime juice and zest.
11. Kuwaiti Chicken Biriyani from Of Recipes
Behold! An authentic Chicken Biryani recipe with simple, easy-to-follow instructions (no curveballs!) and mouthwatering, traditional Kuwait food flavor. This recipe includes tips on how to get fluffy rice, tender chicken, and the distinct biryani taste. Tested to perfection!
Biryani is a rice dish and intricate Kuwait food made with layers of curried meat and rice. Given its use of adornments and luxurious finishes, it’s no surprise that biryani has roots in Persian cuisine and is a popular food in Kuwait.
12. Quwarmah ala Dajaj (Kuwaiti Curried Chicken) from Just Browsing
My husband spent his teenage years in Saudi Arabia, and missed the exotic tastes of the cuisine there. Of course, it’s near impossible to find Saudi Arabian food in the country, let alone in Utah. So, I began searching in cookbooks for Arabian recipes to try and found this Kuwait food.
13. Marag Alkhadaar (Kuwaiti Vegetable Stew) from The Big Sweet Tooth
If you regularly read my blog, last year, during this time I had gone for a 10 day treatment for my body pains. I have mentioned it in this post. During the stay, I had become pally with a Kuwaiti lady who had also come for her treatments. I hadn’t seen many people and she told me about this Kuwait food for Vegetable stew.
She shared the family recipe of her food in Kuwait from memory and I had to make it from memory. She left one day and I hope she sees this where ever she may be.
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