Jordan has some amazing food. It’s a great country to travel to, where you can enjoy a wide variety of Middle Eastern and Jordanian food. Here are the top 8 foods you must try in Jordan.
1. Sajiah
My favourite meal I had in Jordan was Sajiah. This is the first of my top 8 foods you must try in Jordan. Sajiah is lamb cooked with peppers and onions. And served with flatbread as well. It was really flavoursome and warming. I had it at a restaurant called ‘Sajiah Restaurant’ in Wadi Musa, after a long day of hiking through Petra. It was my favourite meal of my trip.
2. Maqluba
The traditional Jordanian dish ‘Maqluba’ literally translates to ‘Upside-Down’. It’s a large bowl of rice, chicken and vegetables, cooked for a long time. It gets its name from how it’s served. To serve, the bowl is literally turned upside down. This means the meat and vegetables sit on top of the rice when it’s served. It’s a really flavoursome dish, and great to eat with a group.
3. Kebab
Kebabs are a common food in Jordan, and across the whole of the Middle East. I went to a kebab restaurant called ‘Kababji’ in Amman for a great meal. I had lamb, cooked with spices and some vegetables. And served with flatbread and olive oil.
4. Harissa cake and Kunafa
Jordan has plenty of delicious deserts as well as the classic meat/rice dishes. Harissa cake (left photo) was one of my favourite deserts. It’s made with semolina flour, and is deliciously crumbly and sticky. Kunafa (right photo) is another desert – it’s a cheese-based desert, with a sticky, crunchy top. You can find both these deserts in restaurants and also in the street markets in Aqaba.
5. Zarb
‘Zarb’ is a traditional Bedouin dinner. It’s a combination of meat (chicken and lamb), rice and vegetables. And it’s cooked on a tiered pan, deep in the ground underneath the sand. I got to try Zarb in the Wadi Rum desert, when I stayed at a desert camp for one night. The local Bedouin people who ran the camp cooked and served the meal, and we got to watch them dig into the sand to reveal the food. You could really taste the earthy, smoky flavours and it was a great experience to eat this in the desert.
6. Flatbread, Falafel and Hummus
Most meals in Jordan are served with flatbread. Even breakfasts will have plenty of flatbread on offer. Hummus is widely available as well – at breakfast buffets, or in restaurants as a starter or a side. Hummus in Jordan was creamier than the Hummus I buy in the supermarket in the UK – it was delicious. And falafels are another great accompaniment to flatbread and hummus, especially in a wrap. Jordan isn’t great at vegetarian food – most vegetarian dishes tend to be just the rice and vegetables, without the meat. But flatbread, hummus and falafel are great vegetarian options when travelling in Jordan.
7. Mansaf
Another traditional Jordanian meal is called Mansaf. Like many other Jordanian meals, it’s based on rice, meat, some vegetables and bread. The meat in Mansaf is usually lamb. But Mansaf is distinctive from other Jordanian dishes because of the fermented yoghurt dressing. This dressing is partly on the food, but it’s also served in a bowl on the side as well so you can add more if you want. I have to admit – Mansaf wasn’t my favourite of all the Jordanian food. But it was still nice.
8. Mint tea
The last of my Top 8 foods you must try in Jordan is mint tea. Technically, it’s a drink and not a food – but it was so good, so it deserves a place on this list! You can get mint tea in lots of places in Jordan, as most restaurants will offer it and also in the Wadi Rum desert you can stop at a tea tent. The normal mint tea is quite sweet, as sugar is added. But you can also get a sweet version of the mint tea, which is even sweeter. It’s a lovely warming and refreshing drink, and I really enjoyed drinking it most days in Jordan.
Hope you enjoyed reading about my top 8 foods you must try in Jordan! If you’re planning a trip to Jordan, make sure you check out my detailed guide to spending a week in Jordan, and also my guide to travelling in Jordan as a solo female traveller. Or if you’re looking for more destinations with delicious food, check out Italy or Croatia – some of my favourite food-y destinations!
