Molokhia Recipe: Palestinian-Style Chicken Molokhia, Step by Step

This molokhia recipe makes the dish the way many Palestinian families do: finely chopped jute mallow leaves simmered in homemade chicken broth, finished with garlic and coriander fried in olive oil and a good squeeze of lemon. It serves six, takes about an hour and a half, and uses frozen molokhia, so you can make it anywhere with a Middle Eastern grocery nearby.

Below are the ingredients, the method in numbered steps, the mistakes to avoid, and how Lebanese and Egyptian cooks do it differently.

What is molokhia?

Molokhia is both a plant and the dish made from it. The plant is jute mallow, a leafy green. Cooked in broth, the leaves give a deep green soup or stew with a silky, slightly thick texture similar to okra. It is eaten across the Middle East, from Egypt to Palestine and Lebanon, almost always with garlic, coriander, lemon and rice.

The Arabic word is ملوخية, and there is no single English spelling. You will see molokhia, mulukhiyah, mloukhiyeh, mloukhieh, molokheya and molokeya, and searches such as malokia, moulkia and mulkiya are looking for the same dish.

You can buy the leaves three ways: frozen and minced, frozen as whole leaves, or dried. Fresh leaves are seasonal and harder to find outside the Middle East. This recipe uses frozen minced molokhia, which needs no washing or chopping.

Chicken molokhia: ingredients

Serves 6. Preparation: 15 minutes. Cooking: about 1 hour 15 minutes.

• For the broth: 1 whole chicken of about 3 lb (1.4 kg), cut into pieces, or 4 whole chicken legs
• For the broth: 2 tablespoons olive oil
• For the broth: 1 onion, quartered
• For the broth: 2 bay leaves, 5 cardamom pods, 1 cinnamon stick and half a teaspoon of black peppercorns
• For the broth: 1.5 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste
• For the broth: about 8 cups (2 liters) water, enough to cover the chicken
• For the molokhia: 2 packets (400 g / 14 oz each) frozen minced molokhia
• For the molokhia: 4 to 5 cups (1 to 1.2 liters) of the strained chicken broth
• For the garlic: 10 to 12 garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
• For the garlic: 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• For the garlic: 2 tablespoons olive oil, or 1 tablespoon each of olive oil and ghee
• To serve: the juice of 1 lemon plus extra wedges, cooked rice (ideally vermicelli rice) or flatbread

How to make molokhia: step by step

The dish has three parts: the broth, the greens and the fried garlic. Make them in that order.

• 1. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the bay leaves, cardamom, cinnamon and peppercorns and stir for a minute until fragrant.
• 2. Add the chicken pieces and brown them lightly for a few minutes on each side. Season with the salt.
• 3. Add the onion and the water. Bring to a boil, skim off any foam, then cover, lower the heat and simmer for 45 minutes, until the chicken is tender and cooked through.
• 4. Lift out the chicken and set it aside. Strain the broth and discard the onion and whole spices.
• 5. Return 4 cups of broth to the pot and bring it to a gentle simmer. Add the frozen molokhia straight from the packet; there is no need to thaw it. Stir as it melts into the broth.
• 6. Simmer gently, uncovered, for about 10 minutes. Do not let it boil hard. Add more broth if you want it thinner, and taste for salt.
• 7. Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a small pan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and ground coriander and fry for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring, until the garlic is lightly golden. Take it off the heat before it browns.
• 8. Tip the garlic and its oil into the molokhia and stir. Ladle a little molokhia into the garlic pan to pick up what is left, and pour it back.
• 9. Shred the chicken into the pot, or crisp the pieces under a hot broiler for a few minutes and serve them alongside.
• 10. Stir in the lemon juice just before serving. Serve over rice or with bread, with lemon wedges on the table.

Tips for a good molokhia soup

A few details make the difference between a good molokhia and a disappointing one.

• Start with less broth than you think you need. It is easy to thin a thick molokhia and hard to rescue a watery one.
• Keep it at a gentle simmer once the leaves are in, and do not cook them for long. The recipes this one is based on all cook the leaves briefly.
• Do not burn the garlic. Golden garlic is sweet and fragrant; brown garlic turns the whole pot bitter.
• Use real broth. The flavor comes from the chicken and whole spices, so plain water gives a flat result.
• Add heat if you like it. Palestinian cooks often add chili flakes or a fresh hot pepper.
• Leftovers keep in the fridge for a couple of days. Reheat gently and add fresh lemon.

Molokhia, Lebanese style

The Lebanese molokhia recipe uses whole leaves rather than minced ones, so it is closer to a stew of greens than a soup. The leaves are often dried. They are picked over, soaked in warm water with lemon juice, rinsed and squeezed until the water runs clear, then sauteed briefly before the broth goes in.

The seasoning is heavier on fresh herbs: a paste of a lot of garlic, fresh cilantro and chili is fried in olive oil, most of it at the start and the rest stirred in at the end. Shredded chicken goes into the pot and the stew simmers for 20 to 25 minutes. It is served over vermicelli rice with lemon, and often with raw onion and bread on the side.

Palestinian families make both kinds. The whole-leaf version is the same idea, and some cooks add a tomato to the pot.

Molokhia, Egyptian style

Egyptian molokhia is the smoothest of the three. The leaves are minced very finely and cooked quickly in broth, sometimes for only a minute or two after it comes to a boil. The garlic and ground coriander are fried in butter or ghee until deep golden and added at the end. It is served with white rice and the boiled chicken, which is often rubbed with tomato paste and browned in the oven.

A dish for the whole family, and what it means in Gaza

Molokhia is the kind of food made in a big pot for everyone at home. It is inexpensive, it stretches a single chicken across many plates, and it is on the table in a great many homes. Our guide to Palestinian cuisine covers the other dishes on the family table.

In Gaza a pot like this is out of reach for many families at the moment. The IPC food security snapshot published in July 2026 found that more than 1.2 million people there, 59 percent of the population, faced crisis-level food insecurity or worse between mid-April and June 2026, and that rations were not enough for an adequate and varied diet.

Fight for Palestine funds food parcels and hot meals through local partner teams. If this recipe ends up on your table, consider helping to fill someone else's through our food assistance campaign, or read more on the Gaza food aid page.