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Tender chicken, briny green olives, and a fragrant, lemony sauce make this Moroccan chicken tagine recipe a comforting, flavor-packed meal that’s perfect for sharing.
Chicken tagine is a traditional Moroccan dish of chicken braised with warm spices, garlic, onions, olives, and preserved lemons. It’s special enough for company but easy enough for a not-too-busy weeknight. Although a tagine is traditionally cooked in a shallow clay pot with a cone-shaped lid, you don’t need one to make this recipe. I use a large cast-iron braiser, but a wide Dutch oven or heavy covered skillet works just as well.
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated, this version skips the preserved lemons, which can be difficult to find, and uses fresh lemon zest and juice for brightness instead. Serve it over a bed of couscous to soak up the flavorful sauce.
“This was a fantastic dish! The flavors were so warm and comforting and all worked so well together.”
What You’ll Need To Make Chicken Tagine
- Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs: My preference for this dish because they stay tender during braising, while the bones and skin add flavor to the sauce. The skin is removed after browning. You can pull the meat off the bones before serving if you prefer.
- Spices: Paprika, cumin, cayenne, ginger, coriander, and cinnamon give the dish its warm, aromatic flavor.
- Garlic and onion: Form the savory base of the sauce.
- Lemon: Both the zest and juice provide the brightness traditionally supplied by preserved lemons.
- Olive oil and flour: The oil is used to brown the chicken, while a little flour thickens the sauce.
- Chicken broth and honey: Create a flavorful braising liquid with a touch of sweetness.
- Carrots: Add color and a little natural sweetness.
- Green olives: Bring a salty, briny contrast. I like Greek cracked green olives, which are “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.
- Fresh cilantro: Adds freshness just before serving.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
How To Make Chicken Tagine
Prepare the seasonings: Combine the spices in a small bowl. In another bowl, mix some of the lemon zest with a little minced garlic and set aside for finishing the dish.
Brown the chicken: Season the chicken and brown it on both sides until golden. Transfer to a plate, then remove and discard the skin once it’s cool enough to handle.
Build the sauce: Cook the onions in the remaining pan drippings until lightly browned around the edges. Stir in the garlic, spices, and flour, then add the chicken broth, honey, and remaining lemon zest, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
Braise the chicken and carrots: Return the chicken to the pan and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Add the carrots and continue cooking until the chicken is cooked through and the carrots are tender-crisp.
Finish and serve: Stir in the olives, reserved lemon-garlic mixture, cilantro, and lemon juice. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then serve.
Make-Ahead, Storage & Freezing
This is a great dish to make ahead, and the flavors only get better as they sit. Prepare the recipe through the step of cooking the carrots, then let cool and refrigerate for up to 2 days. When you’re ready to serve, gently reheat on the stovetop until the chicken is heated through, then stir in the olives, reserved lemon-garlic mixture, cilantro, and lemon juice.
For longer storage, you can freeze the tagine at the same stage, before adding the finishing ingredients. Let it cool completely, then transfer to an airtight, freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat gently on the stovetop, adding a splash of broth or water if the sauce needs loosening.
Moroccan Chicken Tagine
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 lb/1.8 k), trimmed of excess skin and fat (see note)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, halved and cut into ¼-in (6-mm)-thick slices
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1¾ cups chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 large carrots, peeled and cut crosswise into ½-in (13-mm)-thick coins
- ½ cup green olives (preferably Greek cracked green olives), pitted and halved
- 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. 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.
Notes
- 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.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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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What to Serve with Chicken Tagine
For something green alongside the tagine and couscous, try French green beans with shallots. For dessert, serve olive oil cake with fresh berries—a lovely, not-too-heavy way to finish the meal.
More Moroccan-Style Recipes You May Like
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This was a fantastic dish! The flavors were so warm and comforting and all worked so well together.
My wife Nancy took her new tagine for a spin.
Amazing flavour!
Another delicious recipe! Made it for a dinner party and served with a couscous salad and everyone devoured it. Doubled the recipe and made it in a Dutch oven and a braised to fit all the chicken into the pan. Added extra olives (green and kalamata) which added a nice brininess. Everyone wanted the recipe when they left!
This dish was delicious but next time I will use half the amount of honey as it was a little sweet for my taste
Had friends to supper and everyone was delighted. We found the preserved lemons and used them but otherwise the recipes exactly as suggested. Thanks 😊
I have a tagline that was given to me and I would like to try it in that. Would I follow the same instructions? I’m nervous about cooking in clay!
Hi Carol, I don’t own a tagine and have to admit that 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!
My tagine is ceramic and I’ve use it on the stovetop, gas and electric, with no problem! I’m trying this recipe tomorrow – it looks great!
I followed the recipe. I must admit, I added more honey, since the lemon zest and some ingredients such as cumin, would have given a bitter after taste. I’m happy with the result. Keeping the skins on the chicken thighs or not, was not problematic. I found the chicken would brown faster with the skin on. I got the thumb up from my husband who can be very fussy. I used a cast iron tagine too, a cheap one from Lidl, pleasantly surprised, it did a good job. Thanks for the recipe.
We have a clay tagine and use it over a gas stove BUT with a flame diffuser bought at a foodie cooking store. It’s fun to cook in and makes for a great dinner party.
Just made tonight and it was absolutely delicious! I would like to triple the recipe next time and wondered if after browning the chicken, could I put it in the oven to cook?
Glad you liked it! Yes, you can finish cooking it in the oven after you’ve browned the chicken.
Can this be cut in half?
Sure!
If I want to make this for Passover seder, what do you suggest I use in place of the flour?
Maybe cornstarch? ( I think I can get away with that in my family!)
Hi Jane, If you want to use cornstarch, you’ll want to wait until the point at which you add the carrots and then make a “slurry” by combining 2T cornstarch with 2T cold water; mix until completely smooth. Whisk half of the slurry into the pan and simmer along with the carrots. If you want the sauce thicker, add the remaining slurry and repeat.
Looks like you browned the chicken, then in your photos you added raw chicken back to the pan????
Yep, that’s correct. The chicken then gets cooked through on the stove.
It’s partially cooked from the browning and finishes cooking in the liquid-y mixture. Standard braising procedure!
Can’t use cornstarch on Passover….use potato starch, always sold on Passover. I use this as a sub for cornstarch all year round.
The fragrance in the kitchen was intoxicating as this simmered! Delicious, and perfect for company, especially for an exotic touch. I didn’t remember to pick up cilantro, but had an abundance of flat-leaf parsley, so I hope that doesn’t significantly change the outcome of flavors blending.
Hi Jane, matzo meal would work well as a substitute for the flour.
Thanks!
WOW!!! One of the best recipes of all time! I made this with skinless chicken thighs and doubled the carrots. It was mouth-watering FANTASTIC . So delicious that there wasn’t a drop of sauce left after the meal. This is the new addition to our meal rotation and an excellent dish to serve guests. Thank you once again, Jenn, for making me look like an expert cook! 😉