I love a good dip. There is something so satisfying to dip a cracker or veggie into a yummy flavorful dip. The crunch of a cracker, mixed with the flavor kick of a creamy spread. It’s delightful and one of my favorite food indulgences. Plus, there are so many different types of dips out there. Take for instance this muhammara dip recipe. It’s a mouthful! Muhammara is a roasted red pepper and walnut dip. Flavored with garlic, pomegranate molasses, bread crumbs, and spices. Sounds amazing doesn’t it? Muhammara dip is surprisingly umami in flavor, the texture of the walnuts even adds to this. It almost has the consistency of ground hamburger. It is delightfully weird. Often when I make this people can quite put their finger on what is in this delicious dip. They are shocked to find out it is entirely vegetarian.

What is Muhammara Dip

Muhammara is a Syrian dish. Typically served as an appetizer alongside hummus and baba ghanoush, two of my other favorite dips! Mediterranean food really is amazing, with so many delicious flavor combinations. I mean, who would have thought to put roasted red peppers, walnuts, and stale bread together?

All Breads are Not Equal

I make muhammara when I have stale homemade sourdough bread. It’s a great way to use this up and the homemade sourdough is delicious in this recipe. You don’t need homemade bread for this to taste great, but do use something like ciabatta or another hearty bread. Basically, just don’t use white bread.

How to Make Muhammara Dip

This muhammara dip recipe is easy peasy. Wow your family and friends with something new and different. To start, you’ll need to roast the red peppers. I like to roast mine on the grill outside to keep the mess down. I am not fond of the smoke from oils in the oven. You can choose to do these on the grill or in the oven; either cooking method works just fine. For grilling you will need to rotate the red peppers a couple more times to keep from burning.

Oven directions

Preheat the oven, set the temperature to 350°. Brush some olive oil on the outside of the red peppers and poke them with a fork. Put the red bell peppers in a cast-iron pan, or any baking dish works great. Pop them in the oven for 35 minutes. Turn them over once, about halfway through cooking.

Grilling directions

Preheat the grill. Brush some olive oil on the outside of the red peppers and poke them with a fork. Toss the red bell peppers on the grill and turn the heat down to medium. Rotate the bell peppers about every 7 minutes so they don’t burn. They should have a nice char on all sides in about 30 minutes.

Mix it All Together

Once the red bell peppers have finished cooking, put them in a silicone bag and pop it in the refrigerator to cool. If you don’t have a silicone bag, put the bell peppers in a bowl and cover with a towel. This helps to release the skin from the flesh of the bell peppers. The skin will practically fall off. Wait about 20 minutes until they have cooled and peel the skin off the bell peppers. Remove the stem and seeds from the inside. Then toss the “meat” of the bell peppers into a food processor.

Add the other ingredients to the food processor: stale bread chunks, walnuts, pomegranate molasses, garlic, ground Aleppo pepper, tomato paste, sumac, cayenne pepper, and salt. Mix together until incorporated; it should still have a chunky texture. Think chunky peanut butter, not smooth. You can also make this in a blender. Just use a low setting to try to keep some of the texture.

That’s it! Now it’s time to enjoy. This is wonderful with homemade baked crackers, Firehook baked crackers, or pita chips. It also gets even better if it sits for a day or two so the flavors can combine. Good luck with that! I just made some of this about an hour ago, and it has already been devoured.

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