isithalal.food · Recipes

Shakshuka with Halal merguez

Eggs baked in a cumin and paprika tomato sauce with browned Halal lamb or beef merguez, and a feta chosen for its rennet.

Tunisian · Breakfast · Easy · 1 large pan, 4 eggs · 50 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

Print Back to recipe

Why Halal checks matter here

Plain shakshuka is Halal; café versions add merguez or other sausage, whose meat and casing need checking, and feta whose rennet may be animal.

Halal-critical ingredients

• Merguez: Traditional merguez is lamb or beef, but outside North Africa it may not be from Halal slaughter, and the casing may be unspecified. Halal butcher or certified pack; ask about the casing (sheep, collagen or unspecified). See Merguez and Sausage.
• Feta: Feta is set with rennet, which may be animal rennet. A feta naming microbial or vegetable rennet, a Halal mark, or leave it out. See Cheese.

Ingredients

Shakshuka

• 15 ml (1 tbsp) olive oil
• 4 sausages (about 250 g) (4 sausages) Halal lamb or beef merguez, from a Halal butcher or certified pack
• 1 (1) onion, chopped
• 2 (2) garlic cloves, grated
• 1 tsp (1 tsp) smoked paprika
• 1 tsp (1 tsp) ground cumin
• 2 × 400 g tins (2 × 14 oz tins) chopped tomatoes
• 4 (4) eggs
• to taste (to taste) salt

To finish

• 75 g (2½ oz) feta made with microbial or vegetable rennet (optional), crumbled
• a handful, ½ tsp (a handful, ½ tsp) coriander leaves and Aleppo or other chilli flakes
• to serve (to serve) crusty bread

Method

1. Brown the merguez. Heat the oil in a heavy, ovenproof frying pan over medium heat. Fry the Halal merguez, whole or sliced, until they begin to caramelise. Add the onion and cook for about 10 minutes until soft.
2. Spice. Stir in the garlic, smoked paprika and cumin and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
3. Simmer the sauce. Add the tomatoes, season with salt and simmer for about 20 minutes until thick. Meanwhile heat the oven to 180 °C (160 °C fan).
4. Eggs. Make four wells in the sauce and crack an egg into each. Transfer the pan to the oven for about 5 minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks still soft.
5. Finish. Scatter with the feta, coriander and chilli flakes and serve from the pan with crusty bread. In a café, ask where the merguez comes from; see Merguez.

Allergens

egg, milk (if using feta)

How this recipe was researched

Method specified editorially from Great British Chefs' merguez shakshuka (browned merguez, onion, garlic, smoked paprika and cumin, two tins of tomatoes, eggs finished in a 180 °C oven), with the sausage specified as Halal, plus this site's Shakshuka, Merguez, Sausage and Cheese pages. Timings follow published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Photograph from our ingredient library, not the finished dish.