Ingredients & pantry
What oil do Moroccans cook with?
- Everyday cooking
- Olive oil
- Finishing / raw
- Argan oil
- Deep-frying
- Neutral vegetable oil
- For richness
- Smen or butter, in some dishes
Quick answer
Moroccans cook mainly with olive oil, produced across the country and used for frying, sautéing, dressing salads and enriching tagines. A neutral vegetable oil is common for deep-frying and everyday cooking too. Argan oil, pressed from the nuts of the argan tree in the southwest, is a prized finishing oil — nutty and used raw for drizzling, dipping bread, and making amlou, not for cooking. Smen (fermented butter) and plain butter appear in some dishes but oil is the everyday base.
Olive oil is the backbone
Morocco is a serious olive-growing country, and olive oil is the default fat in the kitchen. It sautés the onions and spices at the base of a tagine, dresses the cooked salads, enriches soups like bissara and harira, and is drizzled over almost everything. Moroccan olive oil tends to be robust and green-fruity, sometimes with a peppery or slightly rustic character depending on the region and press — see what Moroccan olive oil is like. For everyday frying, a cheaper neutral vegetable oil (often called zit generically) is common, especially for deep-frying pastries and breads.
This olive-oil base is a big part of why so much Moroccan food is naturally dairy-free — the richness comes from good oil, not butter or cream.
Argan oil: a finishing oil, not a cooking oil
Morocco's signature oil, argan, is pressed from the kernels of the argan tree that grows almost only in the southwest of the country. Culinary argan oil (made from lightly roasted kernels) is deep gold, intensely nutty, and used raw — drizzled over couscous or salad, poured into a dish for bread to be dipped in alongside honey, and blended with almonds and honey into amlou, the breakfast spread. It's too precious and too delicate to fry with; heat would destroy its flavour and it's far too expensive for everyday cooking.
There's also a cosmetic argan oil (from unroasted kernels) for skin and hair — a different product. If you're buying to cook with, you want the roasted, culinary kind; see how argan oil is made.
Smen and butter
Fat isn't only oil. Smen — a salted, fermented, aged butter with a pungent, cheesy depth — is stirred in small amounts into some couscous, rfissa and festive tagines for a savoury richness that oil can't give. Plain butter appears in breakfast breads (msemen, harcha) and some restaurant dishes. But these are accents, not the everyday base — the workhorse fat of Moroccan cooking remains olive oil.
For the pantry picture, see our ingredients guide, and what is smen? for the fermented butter specifically.
Related questions
Do Moroccans cook with argan oil?
Not for cooking — culinary argan oil is used raw as a finishing oil for drizzling, dipping and making amlou. It's too delicate and expensive to fry with. Olive oil is the cooking fat.
Is Moroccan food cooked in butter?
Mostly no. Olive oil is the everyday base, which is why much Moroccan food is dairy-free. Butter and fermented smen appear in some breads and festive dishes as accents.
What olive oil do Moroccans use?
Locally produced olive oil, often robust and green-fruity. It's used for everything from frying the tagine base to dressing salads and finishing soups.
What's the difference between culinary and cosmetic argan oil?
Culinary argan oil is pressed from roasted kernels and is nutty and edible; cosmetic argan oil comes from unroasted kernels and is for skin and hair. Buy the roasted kind to cook with.