Intermediate
Moroccan
Chicken Tagine with Olives and Lemon
Source: Traditional
90 min4420 kcal
HalalGluten-freeDairy-free
Sfenj (Moroccan Doughnuts)
A wet, sticky yeast dough stretched into rings and fried until chewy inside and lacquer-crisp outside — sold hot from street stalls with sugar or honey, alongside mint tea.
Source
Recipe by Moroccan home kitchens · 🏺 Traditional · Moroccan household cooking
Moroccan street food — Sfenj is a Maghrebi doughnut of light, spongy fried dough eaten across Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, typically sprinkled with sugar or soaked in honey and served plain with mint tea. It is traditionally made and sold fresh at dedicated street stalls in the morning. There is no single author; it is a street and home tradition.
Watch it being made · 3 videos
⏱ 130 min🍽 6 servings🔥 240 kcal🇲🇦 Morocco
VeganVegetarianHalalDairy-freeNut-free
Steps
Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt, then work in the warm water to a very soft, wet, sticky dough. Do not add extra flour to firm it up.
💡 Sfenj dough is meant to be too soft to handle normally — that wetness is what makes the inside light and chewy. Wet hands, not more flour, is how you manage it.
Beat and slap the dough in the bowl for a few minutes until it turns stretchy and elastic, then cover and leave to rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours until doubled and bubbly.
Heat the oil to about 175°C. Wet your hands well, pull off a lump of dough, and poke a hole through the middle with your thumbs, stretching it into a ring.
Lower the ring into the oil and fry 1 1/2–2 minutes a side, turning once, until deep golden and crisp.
💡 Keep the oil at a steady medium heat. Too hot browns the crust before the wet middle cooks; too cool and the rings drink oil and turn greasy and heavy.
Lift out and drain briefly on paper. While still hot, toss in sugar or dip in honey.
Eat immediately — sfenj is at its best minutes out of the oil, with a glass of mint tea.
💡 Tips
- Sfenj has no sugar to speak of in the dough — it is a lightly salted bread dough, and all the sweetness comes from the sugar or honey added after frying. That is why it tastes more like a hot, crisp bread ring than a Western sugared doughnut.
- The wet dough is the beginner's hurdle and the whole secret at once. Resist adding flour; keep a bowl of water beside you for your hands and the dough will behave.
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