🥣 Chicken harees

Name: Chicken harees
Total time: 240 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Arabian Peninsula · Gulf
Ingredients: 300 g whole wheat (hulled wheat berries), soaked overnight; 600 g chicken on the bone (thighs or half a chicken); 1 cinnamon stick, plus ground cinnamon to serve; About 2 litres water; 1½ tsp salt; 30 g butter, melted, to serve

Origin: Arabian Peninsula · Gulf

476kcal

per serving · 350 g

136kcal

per 100 g

28 gProtein8 g / 100 g

14 gFat4 g / 100 g

60 gCarbs17 g / 100 g

Chicken harees is a variation of the classic Gulf Ramadan porridge made with chicken instead of lamb. Whole wheat and chicken are simmered for hours, then beaten until they merge into a smooth, thick, almost elastic porridge, seasoned simply with salt and cinnamon and finished with melted butter. It is milder and lighter than the lamb version and is eaten with a spoon from a shared bowl.

Diets

✓

No porkfor halal, the meat must be halal-slaughtered

Not vegetarianbecause of: chicken

Not veganbecause of: chicken, butter

Contains glutenbecause of: wheat

Contains dairybecause of: butter

Not keto17 g carbs per 100 g

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Gluten ⚠ Milk

What it is made of

wheatchickenbuttersaltcinnamon

Recipe

6 servings240 min

Ingredients

300 g whole wheat (hulled wheat berries), soaked overnight
600 g chicken on the bone (thighs or half a chicken)
1 cinnamon stick, plus ground cinnamon to serve
About 2 litres water
1½ tsp salt
30 g butter, melted, to serve

Method

Drain the wheat and put it in a large pot with the chicken, cinnamon stick and water.
Bring to the boil, skim, then cover and simmer on very low heat for 3 hours, stirring now and then and adding water if it dries out.
Remove the chicken, discard skin and bones, shred the meat and return it to the pot with the salt.
Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon or blend briefly until smooth and stretchy, cooking 20–30 minutes more.
Serve in bowls with a little melted butter and a pinch of ground cinnamon.

How to make it lighter

Use only a teaspoon of butter per bowl, or skip it — the porridge is already rich in texture.
Choose skinless chicken breast to make it leaner still.
Harees is dense and filling; a small bowl with salad is a full meal at iftar.

History

Harees is one of the oldest dishes of the Arabian Peninsula and is especially associated with Ramadan iftar and Eid in the Gulf. Using chicken instead of lamb is a common modern home variation.

Count it in one photo

Point your camera at the table — Me Nutrition recognises Chicken harees and every other dish, with calories and macros for each. Ate only half? Slide it.

Download on the App Store

Similar dishes

Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →