Moroccan Cooking Class with Market Visit

The Moroccan Cooking Class with Market Visit is a 4-hour hands-on experience in Marrakech for food lovers who want to learn to cook a real tagine, starting with a guided walk through a local market. You cook alongside a local chef and eat the full meal you prepare, from €45 per person in a small group, with private classes available.

Start at the market

The class begins with a guided walk through a neighbourhood market or the spice souk, where the chef shows you how Moroccans choose their produce. You will smell and taste ras el hanout, the house spice blend that can contain more than twenty ingredients, learn the difference between sweet and hot paprika, and see how preserved lemons, olives and fresh herbs such as coriander and flat-leaf parsley are sold. It is the best introduction to how Moroccan kitchens actually work.

What you cook

Back in the kitchen, each participant has a workstation and ingredients. The menu changes with the season, but a typical class includes:

• Two or three Moroccan salads, such as zaalouk (smoky aubergine) and taktouka (peppers and tomato)
• A tagine: chicken with preserved lemon and olives, beef with prunes, or a seasonal vegetable tagine
• Moroccan bread kneaded by hand and baked in the oven
• Mint tea, prepared and poured the traditional way

The chef explains the techniques behind each dish, from layering a tagine to balancing spices, and the class is paced so that complete beginners can follow. You then sit down together to eat everything you have cooked. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free menus can be arranged when booking.

Take the recipes home

You receive printed or digital recipes at the end, with ingredient substitutions for cooking back home. Your chef can also recommend where to buy spices in Marrakech at fair prices.

Practical details

Classes run in the morning, ending with lunch, or in the afternoon, ending with an early dinner. The kitchen is in a traditional house or riad in or near the medina, and pickup can be arranged from your accommodation. Groups are kept small so everyone cooks rather than watches. Children are welcome with an adult and enjoy the bread-making most.

Want to know which dishes to order in restaurants once you have learned to cook them? Our list of Moroccan dishes to try in Marrakech covers tanjia, pastilla, harira and more, and our 3 days in Marrakech itinerary shows how to fit a class into a short stay.

Private classes

A private class lets you choose the menu, for example a pastilla or couscous focus, and is ideal for couples, families and food-focused groups.