Ines Zahraoui

Ines Zahraoui is a Tunisian home cook and the co-founder of The Mediterranean Recipe, which she runs with her friend Rachel Mazza in the United States. She was born and raised in Mahdia, a coastal town in Tunisia, where everyday cooking was built on olive oil, seafood, semolina and whatever the market had that morning. She later lived in France, where she studied literature and picked up the French side of her cooking, and her kitchen took on a Moroccan accent after marrying her husband, Abdel Ali, whose family taught her the spice work — ras el hanout, preserved lemon, slow-cooked tagines — that runs through much of the site.She has been cooking and developing recipes since 2020. She is not a professionally trained chef: she teaches French for a living and cooks for her family, which is why the recipes here are written for home kitchens and ordinary home equipment rather than restaurant ones.Ines writes and tests the recipes published under her byline in her own kitchen in Tunisia. Nutrition figures on the site are calculated with the WP Recipe Maker nutrition calculator and are estimates rather than lab-verified values.

October 10, 2026January 30, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

Greek yogurt bloat bowl topped with cucumber, mint, blueberries, honey and pumpkin seeds

Here’s the thing nobody explains properly: this bloat bowl Greek yogurt combination creates a perfect macronutrient storm for digestion. The quick-digesting carbs from rice cereal paired with slow-releasing protein from Greek yogurt prevents that blood sugar rollercoaster. Harold McGee would probably geek out over how the casein proteins bind with the carbohydrates, creating sustained energy without the insulin spike that causes, well, the bloat. The probiotics in full-fat Greek yogurt (we’re talking billions of CFUs here) work overtime on your gut microbiome, reducing gas-producing bacteria.

October 10, 2026January 30, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

Blood orange Greek chicken bowl with grilled chicken, rice, feta, olives and citrus segments

Let me tell you about the time I nearly ruined my sister-in-law’s birthday dinner in February 2023. I’d been bragging for weeks about this amazing Blood Orange Greek Chicken Bowl recipe I’d discovered, and when the moment came to deliver? Total disaster. The chicken was dry, the quinoa was mushy, and my homemade tzatziki tasted like… well, let’s just say it wasn’t winning any awards.

October 10, 2026January 30, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

Mediterranean White Bean Salad with cannellini beans, tomatoes, olives, and fresh herbs in a white bowl

So here’s the thing about last March when my doctor gave me that look. You know the one. The “your cholesterol numbers are concerning” look. I panicked, obviously. Started researching heart-healthy recipes like my life depended on it (because, well, it kind of did?). And somewhere around batch number 8 of sad, boring salads, I … Read more

October 10, 2026January 29, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

Pasta primavera with colorful spring vegetables in white serving bowl

Okay so confession time. March 2022, I made pasta primavera for my book club and it was… bad. Like, really bad. The zucchini had completely disintegrated into this weird green mush, the asparagus was somehow both burnt AND still raw in the middle (how is that even possible??), and the whole thing was swimming in … Read more

October 10, 2026January 25, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

Golden chicken zucchini bake fresh from oven with bubbly melted mozzarella in white ceramic baking dish

Look, I’ll be honest with you—I almost gave up on casseroles entirely after the Great Thanksgiving Disaster of 2019. (Don’t ask my mother-in-law about it, she’s still processing.) But then my neighbor Maria—you know the type, perpetually hosting dinner parties for twelve with zero visible stress—handed me this chicken zucchini bake recipe scribbled on a … Read more

October 10, 2026January 23, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

Pasta alla sorrentina with stretchy mozzarella cheese pull in terracotta baking dish garnished with fresh basil

Let’s get nerdy for a second (stay with me, I promise this matters). Fresh mozzarella is about 50-52% moisture content, and when you heat it too aggressively, those proteins denature and release all that water into your sauce. This is why your cheese disappears. The casein proteins in mozzarella need gentle heat—we’re talking about keeping things under 150°F until the very last moment. Harold McGee explains this brilliantly in On Food and Cooking, and honestly, reading that chapter saved my pasta alla sorrentina game.

October 10, 2026January 22, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

Creamy whipped feta garlic confit dip in ceramic bowl topped with golden confit garlic cloves and olive oil drizzle

The thing is, once you nail the garlic confit (and honestly, it’s embarrassingly simple once you stop overthinking it), the rest just… falls together. My friend Diane—who’s notoriously picky about dips, like she once rejected a caterer’s hummus at her own wedding—asked for the recipe three times. I’m about to share every secret I learned the hard way so you can skip straight to the glory.

October 10, 2026January 22, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

Mediterranean keto ground chicken skillet with kalamata olives and crumbled feta in a ceramic skillet, garnished with fresh parsley

Okay so I ruined this dish approximately four times before I figured this out. Too many olives = tastes like you’re drinking ocean water. Too much feta = becomes a weird creamy blob that loses all texture. The magic ratio is roughly 1.5:1 olives to feta. So if you’re using ½ cup olives, use ⅓ cup feta. I don’t know why this works, I just know it does.

October 10, 2026January 20, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

Golden crispy Greek marinated chicken thighs air fryer style served on rustic ceramic platter with fresh oregano and lemon wedges

So why does this crispy air fryer chicken turn out better than every other recipe you’ve tried? It all comes down to food science, my friends. The acid in the lemon juice—combined with Greek yogurt if you’re using it—literally breaks down the protein structures on the surface of the chicken. Harold McGee calls this “surface protein denaturation,” and it’s the same reason your grandmother’s buttermilk fried chicken was always so tender.

October 10, 2026January 20, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

Whipped feta with hot honey dip in ceramic bowl topped with golden honey served with warm pita bread

But here’s the thing—after fourteen test batches over three months (yes, I counted), I finally cracked the code on making whipped feta with hot honey that’s genuinely life-changing. We’re talking cloud-like, impossibly creamy, with that perfect sweet-spicy drizzle that makes people hover around the appetizer table like it’s their job. This isn’t just a dip—it’s basically edible magic.