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Chicken tagine is a Traditional Moroccan cuisine made with spices, garlic, onion, olives, and preserved lemons cooked in a tagine. The chicken tagine recipe may look complicated at the beginning, but if you organize your ingredients, it would go down smoothly.
The aroma from this chicken tagine wafting from your kitchen will have the entire family crowding around.
What is a Tagine (Tajine)?
A tagine, sometimes spelled “tajine,” is a traditional Moroccan cooking vessel made of ceramic or unglazed clay with a round base and low sides. A cone-shaped cover sits on the base during cooking. The tagine functions like a slow cooker in a sense, and the cone shape functions as a way to return moisture to the base of the tagine, creating a moist and flavorful dish.
Is Tagine Cooking Healthy?
The cooking process is great for making healthy, delicious foods. Just like in a slow cooker, the food in a tagine is boiled or steamed instead of being fried.
Is It Easy To Cook In a Tagine?
Like most slow-cooking methods, making a tagine is easy and requires very little work from the cook – the pot does it all!
Methods of Cooking With Tagine
More convenient methods of cooking with a tagine nowadays are in an oven or on a gas or electric stove top. Make sure you use the lowest setting when using the stove, just enough to keep it simmering gently. Resist the urge to increase the heat or you may damage your tagine or scorch the food.
Is a Tagine The Same As a Dutch Oven?
A tagine oven is a cooking dish created from clay, even though you can purchase aluminum and cast iron engines. Foods cooked in tagines are known as tagines. A Dutch oven is generally enamel-covered cast iron and may be used for frying, roasting, boiling, and soups. Both may be used on a stovetop and in the oven.
What is Chicken Tagine Made From?
Chicken tagine is a traditional Moroccan dish of chicken pieces braised with spices, garlic, onion, olives, and preserved lemons.
Where Does Chicken Tagine Originates From?
While this mouthwatering dish is usually associated with Morocco, it is actually a Berber dish. Berbers are an ethnic group native to North Africa, including Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and other countries.
What You’ll Need to Make Chicken Tagine
While you can use a whole cut-up chicken for chicken tagine, many persons prefer to use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs only. This is because they 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).
Can I Prepare Chicken Tagine Without The Tagine?
If you don’t have your tagine yet, you can still cook your chicken tagine dish in a saucepan or deep frying pan. When cooking in your saucepan or frying pan, check regularly and make sure the ingredients don’t stick to the bottom of your pan.
What Do You Serve With a Chicken Tagine?
Moroccan Chicken Tagine
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/4 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
- Salt and ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, halved and cut into 1/4-in-thick slices
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1-3/4 cups chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 large or 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick coins
- 1/2 cup 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 1/2 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 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.
- 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 or French Green Beans with Shallots.
