Crunchy, flavorful, savory… What’s not to love?! This Egyptian-inspired dukkah is a delicious and easy spice mix that adds instant flavor and nutrition to nearly any dish! We love it on roasted vegetables, salads, avocado toast, dips, bowls, and more!
While hazelnuts are most commonly used in dukkah, we found pepitas to be equally delicious, simpler, more affordable, and suitable for nut-free eaters too. Just 6 ingredients and 5 minutes required, friends! Let us show you how it’s done!
What is Dukkah Seasoning?
Dukkah is a spice, herb, and nut-based mixture that originated in Egypt and is also popular in other Middle Eastern countries. The ingredients vary by recipe, but common ingredients include hazelnuts, sesame seeds, coriander, cumin, salt, and pepper.
Unlike typical spice mixes that are finely ground, dukkah has a unique, coarse texture. The following is our inspired, nut-free version made with pepitas for added nutrition.
How to Make Dukkah
It begins with lightly toasting the pepitas and spices to enhance their flavors. Side effect of this step: Your kitchen will smell amazing!
Next, we add the lightly toasted mixture plus salt to a mortar and pestle and begin lightly pounding to break up the spices until a coarse texture is achieved.
It can also be made in a small food processor or in a larger food processor if making a larger batch.
We hope you LOVE this dukkah seasoning. It’s:
Crunchy
Salty
Wholesome
An instant flavor boost
& SO quick & easy!
Dukkah is a simple way to add complex flavor to an otherwise more basic dish. It’s amazing on hummus, grilled chicken, roasted vegetables, salads, and more!
More DIY Spice Blends
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo @minimalistbaker on Instagram. Cheers, friends!
Super Simple Dukkah Seasoning (Egyptian-Inspired)
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp raw pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds // or sub roasted hazelnuts or almonds*)
- 1 Tbsp raw sesame seeds (if using toasted, add directly to mortar and pestle)
- 1 Tbsp whole coriander seeds*
- 2 tsp whole cumin seeds*
- 1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns*
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Heat a small to medium skillet over low-medium heat. Add pepitas and toast, stirring occasionally, until they begin to pop and puff up slightly — about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low.
- Add sesame seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, and black peppercorns and toast, stirring frequently, until fragrant and the sesame seeds begin turning light brown — about 2 minutes. Transfer to a mortar and pestle (or small food processor).
- Add salt and crush (or pulse) the mixture into a coarse meal, making sure to break up any whole peppercorns. Taste and adjust as needed, adding more salt to taste, cumin seeds for smokiness, coriander seeds for brightness, or sesame seeds or pepitas for crunch.
- Perfect for garnishing roasted vegetables, salads, bowls, avocado toast, dips; marinating or seasoning chicken or fish; or adding flavor to just about any dish.
- Let cool fully before transferring to a jar. Will keep in a sealed container for at least 3 months (or longer) at room temperature. Or, refrigerate to keep fresh even longer.
Video
Notes
*We highly recommend using whole spices for the right texture and flavor, but if you want to create something similar with ground spices, use half the amount of ground coriander, cumin, and black pepper.
*Recipe as written makes ~1/4 cup dukkah.
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate.
Kelsey says
My food processor is quite large, so the blades didn’t pick up the smaller ingredients on first try. Easy fix though – the peppercorns, whole coriander seeds & whole cumin seeds went into an emptied out normal pepper grinder. Worked a treat, crushed them up into small bits before re-adding to the barrel. We made a large batch to divide up into little jars as xmas gifts.
Great idea! Thanks so much for sharing, Kelsey. xo
VickyMcD says
This literally takes five minutes…after you find all your ingredients! Had sprouted, dried pepitas already (from Costco), did not have whole coriander but used half the amount of ground as suggested, and used my coffee grinder. Delicious!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Vicky. Thanks so much for the lovely review! xo
Ruba says
Dukkah originated in Gaza, Palestine and though there’s been many countries that tried to replicate the original recipe nothing comes close to the original recipe from Gaza as it requires very specific measurements of spices and hours and hours of roasting.
Thank you for sharing, Ruba! We hadn’t seen that in our search on the origin story. Always love hearing our readers expertise =)