Moroccan Chicken Tagine
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Chicken tagine is a traditional Moroccan dish of chicken pieces braised with spices, garlic, onion, olives, and preserved lemons. It’s company-worthy yet easy to throw together.
Chicken tagine is a traditional Moroccan dish of chicken braised with spices, garlic, onion, olives, and preserved lemons. It’s a company-worthy dish yet easy enough to throw together on a not-too-busy weeknight. The word tagine refers to the shallow clay vessel with a cone-shaped lid in which the dish is traditionally cooked, but you don’t need one to make it. I use a large cast-iron braiser; a wide Dutch oven or heavy covered skillet will work, too. This recipe, tweaked a bit from Cook’s Illustrated, does not call for preserved lemons, a specialty ingredient that can be difficult to find. Instead, lemon zest and fresh lemon juice add tart brightness to the dish. Serve the chicken on a platter or individual plates over a bed of couscous.
What you’ll need To Make Chicken Tagine
While you can use a whole cut-up chicken for chicken tagine, my preference is to use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs only, similar to my coq au vin recipe. The thighs provide a good amount of meat and remain tender even if slightly overcooked, and the bones and skin add depth of flavor and richness to the sauce (though the skin is removed midway through cooking). Sometimes, I pull the meat off the bone before serving — makes it easier and more appealing for the kids to eat — but serving the chicken on the bone is traditional.
How To Make Chicken Tagine
To begin, combine the spices in small bowl.
Mix well and set aside.
Zest the lemon. Combine 1 teaspoon of the lemon zest with 1 minced garlic clove; set aside.
Season both sides of chicken pieces with 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat until beginning to smoke. Brown the chicken pieces skin side down in single layer until deep golden, about 5 minutes.
Using tongs, flip the chicken pieces over and brown the other side, about 4 minutes more. 
Transfer the chicken to a large plate; when cool enough to handle, peel off the skin and discard.
Pour off and discard all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the pan, reduce the heat to medium, and add the onion.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until they have browned at the edges but still retain their shape, 5 to 7 minutes (add a few tablespoons of water if the pan gets too dark).
Add the remaining minced garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the spices and flour.
Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Stir in the broth, honey, remaining lemon zest, and 1/4 teaspoon salt, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits.
Add the chicken (with any accumulated juices) back in, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Scatter the carrots around the chicken, cover, and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the carrots are tender-crisp, about 10 minutes more.
Add the olives, garlic-zest mixture, cilantro, and 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice.
Stir to combine and adjust seasoning with salt, pepper, and more lemon juice, if desired.
Serve with couscous.
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Moroccan Chicken Tagine
Chicken tagine is a traditional Moroccan dish of chicken pieces braised with spices, garlic, onion, olives, and preserved lemons. It’s company-worthy yet easy to throw together.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 lemon
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 4 pounds), trimmed of excess skin and fat (see note)
- Salt and ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, halved and cut into ¼-in-thick slices
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1¾ cups chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 large or 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut crosswise into ½-inch-thick coins
- ½ cup Greek cracked green olives, pitted and halved (see note)
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Instructions
- Combine the spices in a small bowl and set aside. Zest the lemon. Combine 1 teaspoon of the lemon zest with 1 minced garlic clove; set aside.
- Season both sides of chicken pieces with 2 teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Heat the oil in a large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or pan over medium-high heat until beginning to smoke. Brown the chicken pieces skin side down in single layer until deep golden, about 5 minutes; using tongs, flip the chicken pieces over and brown the other side, about 4 minutes more. Transfer the chicken to a large plate; when cool enough to handle, peel off the skin and discard. Pour off and discard all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the pan.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until they have browned at the edges but still retain their shape, 5 to 7 minutes (add a few tablespoons of water now and then if the pan gets too dark). Add the remaining minced garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the spices and flour and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the broth, honey, remaining lemon zest, and ¼ teaspoon salt, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits. Add the chicken (with any accumulated juices) back in, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the carrots, cover, and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the carrots are tender-crisp, about 10 minutes more.
- Stir in the olives, reserved lemon zest-garlic mixture, cilantro, and 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice; taste the sauce and adjust seasoning with salt, pepper, and more lemon juice, if desired. Serve with couscous.
- Note: Don't fret too much over trimming the chicken thighs. The skin gets removed midway through the cooking process and most of the fat will cook off and get drained. I usually just take kitchen shears and quickly snip off any excess skin or fat. Cracked green olives are olives that have been ‘cracked’ or split open before curing, allowing the brine or marinade to penetrate. You can find them in your supermarket’s olive bar, or substitute any green olive that you like.
- Make-Ahead: After you have completed the step of cooking the carrots, the dish can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. To serve, gently warm on the stove until the chicken is heated through, then proceed to the step where the olives and remaining ingredients are added.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 1 chicken thigh
- Calories: 367
- Fat: 13 g
- Saturated fat: 3 g
- Carbohydrates: 14 g
- Sugar: 7 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 47 g
- Sodium: 794 mg
- Cholesterol: 215 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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This is a very different mix of flavors, and I was not sure what I would think. Nobody in my family is particularly fond of sweet undertones in our meals, so I was a little skeptical. I also couldn’t quite reconcile the honey/cinnamon with the cayenne and green olives/cilantro prior to making this. As I always do, I made it (almost) exactly as written, except I doubled the carrots. I made it with Jenn’s Perfect Couscous. This is extremely tasty and my most sweet-intolerant child seemed to love it the most. It is a beautiful dish with complex flavors, and the sauce is really delicious on the couscous. I think it tasted even better the next day as leftovers. I am happy to have something a little different to add to my repertoire. I would recommend having every ingredient measured out ahead of time, except for the honey, as it will really help once you get going. Jenn, I often wonder what we would eat with out you. Thank you for sharing your gifts and talents. I am grateful for you many times a week.
So glad you enjoyed it, Mary! 🙂
Awesome. I have zero cooking skills but I just followed the instructions and voila, delicious flavorful meal.
Absolutely delicious! What a wonderful aromatic meal – in both taste, texture, and smells. My home took on a magical quality of fragrance and smells. Made the dish exactly as suggested – didn’t change a thing. Superb!
Made this last night for dinner and it was fantastic! I adapted the recipe so it would cook in the slow cooker. (Basically browned the chicken and made the gravy, then transferred it and cooked on low. Finished with a splash of lemon juice and garnish of coriander). The house smelled amazing and will make again! Thanks for another great meal!
I thought this was a little too sweet, but I’ve never had chicken tagine before, so maybe that’s just part of the tradition. I’ll try it with half the honey honey next time though. It certainly made the kitchen smell fantastic.
Quite stunning. The broth is so deliciously unctuous that serving in a bowl to maximize flavors is a must. Loved this one, the spice rub has such a deep and floral quality with the coriander.
May I use skinless, boneless chicken thighs? My guess would be it would be okay since it seems several people have used breasts and still loved it!
Sure, Sally. I’d cut down on the searing time though; 1 to 2 minutes on each side should do it.
This recipe is a winner (as Jenn’s usually are). The flavors are wonderful!
I apologize for being a little late to the party; I just discovered your wonderful blog and this recipe!
I’d love to try this recipe; I just wish you’d included instructions for preparing in an actual tagine. I realize tagines fall into the category of “specialized cookware” and you want to ensure your recipes are accessible to the majority of your readers, but perhaps a note at the end of the recipe detailing the changes in technique one would need to make if one has and wants to use the type of equipment (in this case, a clay tagine) would be helpful to those of us who have it, and in which this type of recipe would traditionally be prepared.
The trouble is, I use my tagine so infrequently I tend to forget which steps in a recipe I can and cannot do in it (i.e., can I brown the chicken in it on the stove top, or do I need to do that in a separate skillet & then transfer the chicken to the tagine?)
Providing that information in tagine recipes would encourage me to use my tagine more frequently. She’s sad. And lonely…
I have to admit that I don’t know if a tagine can be used on the stove-top so, to be safe, I’d recommend sticking with the pan for this (sorry that your tagine will remain sad and lonely)… 🙂
I made this in a tangine and it was awesome! My dinner guests were impressed and thought it was a super sophisticated meal. 🙂
It was my first time using a tangine. I bought it because I like trying different cooking techniques and methods from around the world. (If you ever need to borrow something for the kitchen, I probably have it!) As far as how make this recipe using your tangine I suggest you do what I did — educate yourself using Google and YouTube. It won’t take long; you’ll get some great tips; and you’ll learn a little historical context to impress your dinner guests.
Hi jenn I just finished making this and my house smells amazing. I plan to serve it tonight. We are just two people. I made the full recipe to try before making it for a dinner party. Can I freeze half the chicken and sauce for a future meal for just us. Would I reheat it in the oven. Thanks.
Lynn
Hi Lynn, Yes, you can definitely freeze half. You can reheat in the oven or on the stovetop over low heat. Add a little water or chicken broth to thin the sauce if necessary. Enjoy! 🙂