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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.
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I found it pretty bland and tasteless. Perhaps the chicken could have been let to stand after being marinated.
What a success!! THANK YOU! Took us a little longer than the suggested timings but definitely worth the wait! Was ABSOLUTELY delicious and is definitely a ‘do over’ dinner!! Even for fussies!! Used my tagine pot for the first time in years… SUPER excited about that!!
Made this tonight. It’s smells awesome. Waiting to eat it. Used wild rice rather than couscous. I minimized the green olives bc my wife hates olives I screwed up and added the cilantro and lemon juice and zest with the carrots (so they will cook ten minutes. I also threw in a yellow squash i had that was an extra from an earlier recipe. I think it will be great.
Excellent recipe!!! I added mushrooms and juice from 1 lemon, as well as baked/cubed potatoes and sweet potatoes. I baked the potatoes separately and then served the chicken tagine overthe potatoes.
I made this almost exactly by the recipe. Only changes are that I added 1 tsp of turmeric, and one diced jalapeno to kick up the heat a little bit (which could have easily been accomplished by adding more cayenne pepper). Served over cous-cous this was absolutely delicious! Even my wife, who is not the most adventurous of eaters, was delighted, and requested this be added to the regular rotation. My compliments to the (once upon a) chef!
This was delicious! Worked well with lemon juice from a bottle as I didn’t have a lemon. My husband said it was one of the best meals I’ve made from a recipe! Will be making again
I rarely comment on recipes that I try from the internet, but this one is worth it. Seriously delicious dish. The only real thing I did different which is even mentioned as a normal ingredient, is to use the peels of preserved lemons in place of the lemon zest. I realized half way through that I had no carrots and had to sub in some potatoes (which were just awesome soaking up that sauce), but that wouldn’t change the flavor profile overall by much. I think using a bunch of veg would be great additions too. Just make this dish, you won’t regret it.
Wow!!! It was my fist time ever making and eating this dish and all I can say is that this is my new favorite dinner. The flavors are balanced perfectly… Served it with couscous made according to your directions. 10/10
Hi
I’d love to make for pesach, can I use matzah meal flour? Can I make 3 days ahead and leave in fridge
Thx
Hi Debbie, Yes, I think you can get away with using matzo meal in place of the flour. And I think I’m weighing in too late regarding making it 3 days ahead, but I assume you’re serving tonight or tomorrow night and that should be fine. Enjoy!
I’m going to agree with several other comments: This dish is even better the next day, I mean WAY better. Hubby wants it added to the rotation.
If I have preserved lemon paste, how much would I use?
Hi Jesse, I’ve never used preserved lemon paste, so I’m not really sure. I’d suggest adding it to taste it at the end of cooking time.