Stew
Ghormeh Sabzi
قورمهسبزی
The pattern above is ornament, not a photograph of the dish.
- Hands-on time
- 40 min
- Cooking time
- 3 h
- Makes
- 4 servings
- Plan ahead
- 8 h
- Makes
- 4 servings (Estimated)
- Kind
- Stew
- Where it is eaten
- Popular national dishes of Iran
- Serving
- 300 g
Ingredients
Makes 4 servings
- lamb or beef, cut into 3 cm cubes 500 g
- red kidney beans, soaked overnight 150 g
- onion, finely chopped 1 large
- parsley, finely chopped 300 g
- coriander leaf, finely chopped 150 g
- chives or Persian tareh 150 g
- dried fenugreek leaf 2 tbsp
- dried Persian limes (limu omani) 4 whole
- turmeric 1 tsp
- oil 5 tbsp
- salt 1.5 tsp
- black pepper 0.5 tsp
Plan ahead. Soak dried beans/chickpeas (typically overnight)
Method
Drain the soaked beans, cover with fresh water and bring to the boil for 10 minutes, then drain again. Changing the water two or three times during soaking is what keeps the beans from causing wind.
Fry the onion in the oil over medium heat until golden, about 8 minutes. Add the turmeric and pepper and fry for another minute so the spices open up in the oil rather than sitting raw in the stew.
Add the meat and turn it in the oil until it has changed colour on all sides. You are not cooking it through here, only taking the raw smell off it and letting it take the flavour of the onion.
Add the drained beans and about 1 litre of hot water. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook on low heat for 1.5 hours, until the meat is nearly tender.
Meanwhile fry the herbs. Put them in a wide pan with a little oil over low heat and fry for 20 to 40 minutes. They must lose all their water, shrink right down and darken almost to black. This is the step that decides the colour and the flavour of the whole dish, and it cannot be hurried. Add the dried fenugreek only in the last two minutes; it turns bitter if it fries long.
Add the fried herbs to the pot. Pierce each dried lime two or three times with a fork and add them, or halve them and remove the seeds, which is what makes the stew bitter. Add the salt.
Simmer uncovered on low heat for a further 1 to 1.5 hours until the stew has thickened and a layer of oil has risen to the surface. That risen oil is how Iranian cooks judge a stew is ready — it is what جا افتادن means.
Taste and adjust the salt and the sourness. Serve with steamed rice.
Cook's notes
The herbs are the dish. Under-fried herbs give a pale, grassy stew; properly fried ones give the dark colour and the depth. If you buy frozen chopped herbs, expect to fry them longer, since they carry more water.
Some cooks brown the meat and beans in a pressure cooker to cut the first stage from 90 minutes to about 25. The herbs still have to be fried separately in an open pan — that step cannot be shortened without losing the colour and the flavour.
Dried limes are the usual souring agent, but the amount is a matter of taste and region. Leave them whole and pierced for a gentler sourness; halve them for a sharper one.
We consulted authoritative Persian cooking sources to prepare this recipe. Visit them for more detail and for regional variations of this dish.
Sources consulted:
- Snappfood Blog — خورشت قورمه سبزی 2026-08-13
- Namnak — طرز تهیه قورمه سبزی خانگی و مجلسی 2026-08-13
- Saharkhiz Land — قورمه سبزی، محبوبترین غذای ایرانی 2026-08-13
- Advie Jan — طرز تهیه خورش قورمه سبزی 2026-08-13
Reviewed: 2026-08-13
Background
Ghormeh Sabzi is one of the best-known stews of the Iranian table and is strongly associated with home cooking, family gatherings, and the ideal of a deeply developed, slow-cooked stew. Herb, legume, and dried-lime combinations vary by region.
Nutrition
| Energy | 390 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 29 g |
| Fat | 18 g |
| Carbohydrate | 28 g |
Where this comes from
Official documentation strongly supports the dish or geographic attribution, but all recipe fields are not traceable to one dish-specific official recipe page.
Record: IR0001 · Evidence: B (Officially supported)
Open the source page https://visitiran.ir/fa/type/persian-foods