Recipes › Parsley › Persian Herb Frittata with Parsley, Dill and Fenugreek
Persian Herb Frittata with Parsley, Dill and Fenugreek
Kuku sabzi is an Iranian herb frittata where the herbs are not a seasoning — they are the filling. The egg is almost incidental, just enough to hold together a dense, dark-green slab of fresh parsley, dill, and spring onions, fragrant with dried fenugreek and warm spice. It is eaten at Persian New Year for good luck, but it deserves a place on your table all summer long.
Parsley is in season now. More parsley recipes, or see what to sow this month where you are.
Ingredients
- 100 g fresh flat-leaf parsley, very finely chopped
- 60 g fresh dill, very finely chopped
- 6 spring onions, trimmed and very finely sliced
- 6 large eggs
- 2 tsp dried fenugreek leavesavailable in South Asian and Middle Eastern grocers — do not skip, it is essential to the flavour
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 pinch black pepper, freshly ground
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 30 g barberries or dried cranberries (optional)traditional with barberries; dried cranberries give a similar tart-sweet note
- 150 Greek yoghurt (optional)to serve alongside
Contains: eggs, milk.
Method
- Wash and thoroughly dry the parsley and dill — any excess water will make the frittata soggy. A salad spinner works well, followed by spreading on a clean tea towel for a few minutes. Finely chop both herbs and the spring onions. You want everything cut very fine so it packs tightly.About 10 min
- Crack the eggs into a large bowl and beat them well. Add the dried fenugreek, turmeric, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and a generous grind of black pepper. Whisk to combine.About 2 min
- Add the chopped parsley, dill, spring onions, and barberries (if using) to the egg mixture. Stir very thoroughly — the mixture should look almost entirely green, with just enough egg to bind it. It will seem like a lot of herbs for the eggs. That is correct.About 2 min
- Heat the olive oil in a 24–26cm ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat. Preheat your oven grill to 200°C. When the oil is hot and shimmering, pour in the herb and egg mixture and spread it out to fill the pan evenly. Press it down firmly with a spatula.About 2 min
- Cook over a medium-low heat, undisturbed, for 12–14 minutes. The bottom should be deeply golden and set — lift the edge gently with a spatula to check. The top will still look slightly wet.About 14 min
- Transfer the pan to the grill and cook for a further 5–6 minutes until the top is set, golden, and pulling away from the edges slightly. Watch it — grill temperatures vary and it can catch.About 6 min
- Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes — this helps it firm up and makes it much easier to cut cleanly. Slide onto a board or plate, cut into wedges, and serve warm or at room temperature with yoghurt alongside if you like.About 5 min
Tips
- Drying the herbs completely before chopping is the single most important step. Wet herbs steam rather than cook and you will end up with a watery, stodgy result.
- Kuku sabzi is actually better at room temperature than hot, which makes it ideal for packed lunches, picnics, or making a few hours ahead for guests.
- A really well-seasoned cast-iron pan or a good non-stick is essential — if the frittata sticks on the bottom it will not flip or cut cleanly.
Ring the changes
- Add 100g of crumbled feta stirred into the mixture before cooking — it will no longer be dairy-free but adds a pleasing saltiness.
- For a more substantial meal, serve with flatbreads, sliced tomatoes, and a handful of radishes in the traditional Persian style.
Keeping it
Keeps well in the fridge, tightly wrapped, for up to 3 days. Eat cold or at room temperature — reheating tends to make it rubbery. It also freezes well: cut into portions, wrap individually, and freeze for up to 2 months.
In the app this recipe finds you
Log what you've picked and GrowMore CookMore matches it to 1,918 more recipes like this one, tells you what's ready before the frost gets it, and keeps the freezer honest. Free to start.
More from the same crop
A bright, intensely green pesto built entirely around a generous heap of fresh parsley, blitzed with toasted walnuts, capers, garlic, and lemon. It coats pasta in minutes and tastes far more sophisticated than the effort involved. This is the dish to make when your parsley is bolting and you need to use the whole plant.
22 min · easy · ParsleyGremolata — the classic Italian combination of parsley, lemon zest and garlic — is here worked into softened butter and pushed under the skin of bone-in chicken thighs before roasting. As the fat renders, it bastes the meat with herby, citrus-sharp butter, leaving you with burnished, crisp-skinned chicken sitting on a bed of creamy white beans that have absorbed all the cooking juices. It is straightforwardly brilliant.
1 h 5 min · medium · ParsleyA vivid, intensely green soup that lets a full bunch of fresh parsley do all the talking. Sharp lemon and a little potato give it body without dulling the herb's grassy brightness. It is the kind of thing you make when your parsley plants are threatening to bolt and you want something genuinely impressive on the table in under an hour.
45 min · easy · Parsley
Allotment keeper in the North East of England, the voice behind the Tony C Smith YouTube channel, and the gardener who built GrowMore CookMore. Club numbers on this page update as members log their plots. Last updated 4 April 2026.