In this video, Chef John walks you through how to make authentic Moroccan Chicken Tagine, a slow-simmered dish bursting with warm spices, preserved lemons, olives, and tender chicken. With aromatic ingredients and a method that delivers deep, layered flavor, this dish is perfect for a cozy night in or impressing guests.
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00:01Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with Moroccan Chicken Tagine.
00:08That's right, I'm going to show you how to make what I think is the best lemon chicken
00:12recipe of all time, as well as one of the best chicken recipes of all time.
00:17And by the way, it's not really a tagine if you don't cook it in a tagine, but I don't
00:22have one and you probably don't have one.
00:24So I'm going to show you how to make one without it.
00:27And it's still going to be every bit as good.
00:29I'm going to show you how to make one without it.
00:30So with that, let's go ahead and get started by taking a nice big pinch of saffron, which
00:34you will find right next to all the other spices at the store.
00:38And we'll put that in a small bowl and then pour over some boiling chicken broth.
00:42Or if times are tough, you could just use water.
00:45And what we'll do is let that sit and steep for about 20 to 30 minutes, or until it cools
00:49down to room temp.
00:52And by the way, the saffron is optional and not every recipe calls for it, but mine does.
00:57So if you can get it, I hope you use it.
00:59And then the only other semi-exotic ingredient we're going to have to source would be some
01:03preserved lemon, as in preserved in a lot of salt for a long time.
01:09And what we'll do is cut this in quarters after removing that little hard thing where
01:12the stem was attached.
01:13And by the way, this is not an optional ingredient.
01:17All right, this is going to give the dish its signature flavor.
01:19So you really do need to find these.
01:22And you will.
01:23But if you can't, you can definitely make them.
01:25And we can provide you with some info on how to do that.
01:28And once we do have that cut in quarters, we're going to very carefully trim out the flesh
01:33and separate it from the peel.
01:34Since we're going to use the inside for the marinade, and then we'll cut up and add the
01:39outside to the tagine later.
01:41And by the way, you never want to cut towards yourself.
01:44All right, this time it's fine because I'm doing it.
01:46But generally, we want the blade going away from us.
01:49But one way or another, we're going to trim that out.
01:52And then you're probably definitely going to have a few seeds, which we will find and
01:56scrape out and push to the side.
01:57And then once the inside of our preserved lemon has been seeded, we will give it a very
02:02fine chop.
02:04And then we'll transfer that into a small bowl.
02:06Since like I said, we're going to use that for our marinade.
02:09And then as far as the peel goes, we'll cut each of those pieces in half to make eight
02:14strips.
02:15And we'll be adding that to our chicken later.
02:18And that's it.
02:19We'll go ahead and reserve those two things until we need them.
02:22At which point we can move on to prep our chicken, which is going to be very easy if you
02:27use bone-in skin on chicken thighs like I am.
02:30And these are pretty much ready to use, except I do like to make two cuts all the way down
02:34to the bone, about an inch apart at a 90 degree angle to the bone.
02:39And that's really going to help our marinade penetrate and penetrate deep.
02:44And once all six have been slashed as shown, we will transfer those into a zip top bag, which
02:49as you can see, I placed in a bowl because of Murphy's Law.
02:53Oh yeah, if you don't use a bowl, the bag will leak.
02:56And if you use a bowl, the bag never leaks.
02:59So you decide.
03:00And that's it.
03:01Once our chicken is ready to take it, we will make our marinade, which starts with the chopped
03:06up inside of our preserved lemon, to which we will add a whole bunch of finely minced garlic.
03:10And then we'll season this up with some salt, some freshly ground black pepper, a whole bunch
03:16of paprika, some ground cumin, some ground ginger, and then a little touch of chili flake.
03:23I'm using Aleppo, but anything will work.
03:26We will also add in some finely chopped cilantro and Italian parsley.
03:30And some people use one or the other, but I like to use both.
03:33And then we'll finish up with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, plus that saffron
03:38that we steeped in our chicken broth.
03:41And after we dump that in, we'll take a whisk and give this a thorough mixing.
03:45And once we have everything nicely emulsified, we will pour that into our bag of chicken,
03:50at which point we'll give it a little massage to make sure it's getting everywhere,
03:55including and especially in any nooks and crannies.
03:57And that's it.
03:59We'll squeeze out the air and seal this up, and then we'll let it marinate in the fridge
04:03for a minimum of three hours, up to overnight, which I think is best.
04:09And while it's in the fridge, every once in a while, flip it over and give it another
04:12little massage.
04:14So that's exactly what I did.
04:16And the next day, I pulled it out, and we'll remove those thighs to a plate.
04:20And while we do, we'll scrape off any of that marinade back into the bag, and we'll reserve
04:24that until later, since that's going to form the base of our sauce.
04:28And then to begin the actual tagine, I'm going to heat up some olive oil over medium-high
04:33heat in this heavy-duty braising pan.
04:35And once hot, I'm going to place my chicken in, skin-side down, at which point I'm going
04:40to let it cook for about five minutes, in an attempt to render as much of the fat out
04:44of that skin as I can.
04:45And no, we're not doing it for appearance.
04:47This is going to look the same either way.
04:50And we're certainly not doing it to get crispy skin, because that's not going to happen.
04:53But I do think the texture's better, and the flavor's much better, if we do this optional
04:58step.
04:59And after about five minutes or so, we can remove that to a plate, and we can turn off
05:04the heat.
05:05And because we're searing something that came from a wet marinade, do not be surprised
05:09or upset if it sticks to the pan and tears.
05:12That is absolutely not going to be a problem, especially considering that a lot of these
05:17recipes actually have you remove the skin.
05:19But I much prefer to have that extra flavor and richness that the skin provides.
05:24And yes, those last two pieces seared perfectly, but again, it does not matter if that happens,
05:30since once this dish is cooked, you're not really going to see the skin.
05:34And then for the next step, we will add one diced onion to all that goodness in the pan,
05:37and we'll put our heat on to medium-high, and we will toss in a pinch of salt, a pinch of
05:43cinnamon, and a pinch of turmeric.
05:46And then we'll cook these onions stirring for about three or four minutes, or until they've
05:50absorbed all that goodness from the bottom of the pan, and have started to turn translucent.
05:55And once that happens, they're probably going to look something like this.
05:58And once we're happy with those, we will place our chicken back in, with the skin side up if
06:04it's still attached, and then we'll also drizzle over any accumulated juices from the plate.
06:10All right, if there was ever a recipe where you were going to remember to add the accumulated
06:13juices, this is the recipe.
06:16And then just as importantly, we have to add any of the reserved marinade that we've squeezed
06:21and scraped out of the bag, and we'll drizzle that semi-evenly over the top.
06:25And that's it.
06:27Once everything's been transferred into the pan, we will wait until we see things start
06:30bubbling on the bottom.
06:32And once they do, we'll cover this tightly, and reduce our heat to low.
06:37And we will cook this covered for exactly one hour.
06:41All right, no peeking, no stirring, no doing nothing.
06:44Just let it gently cook.
06:46And after one hour of trying not to do anything, we will uncover, and we'll take a spoon and baste
06:52each piece.
06:52And by now, the aromas coming off of this thing are going to smell absolutely incredible, and
06:58borderline intoxicating.
07:00And as you smell them, I want you to keep something in mind.
07:04It is actually somehow going to taste better than it smells, which seems impossible, but
07:08still true.
07:10And then once those sides have gotten a proper basting, we can go ahead and scatter in our
07:13pitted green olives.
07:15And we can also at this time add in our cut-up, preserved lemon peel.
07:20And by the way, depending on what kind of tagine you're making, you can add other things to
07:24this, like peppers and tomatoes, which are popular with fish tagines, or dried fruit, which
07:29is popular with lamb tagines.
07:31But those things are also sometimes used for chicken, so feel free to tweak this as you
07:36see fit.
07:36I mean, you are, after all, the dean of your chicken tagine, but for me, this is perfect
07:42as shown.
07:44And it probably doesn't matter, but at this point I'm going to give everything another
07:47basting, since I want a little bit of that cooking liquid to be touching every olive and
07:52every piece of peel.
07:54And that's it.
07:54We can go ahead and cover that back up, and continue cooking on low, for another 15 or
07:5920 minutes, or until our chicken is very, very tender, as tested with a fork.
08:05And of course, you make the call, but I want this meat pretty much falling off the bone,
08:09so that fork should slide in with almost no effort, which mine did.
08:13And then assuming our meat is perfect, we will raise our heat up to medium-high again,
08:17and we'll let this cook for another 5 minutes or so, just to reduce some of the juices.
08:21And while that's happening, feel free to baste to your heart's content.
08:26And how far you reduce things is going to be based on personal preference, or you can
08:31stop right here and leave this nice and juicy, or we can pretty much reduce it all the way
08:35until most of the liquids are gone.
08:38But I prefer something in between, so I usually go to about this point, where that sauce has
08:43thickened up a little bit, and that olive oil and fat from the chicken skin have sort of
08:48been emulsified into the sauce.
08:49And that's it, I'm going to give it a final baste, and then turn off the heat and serve
08:53it up.
08:54And by the way, a lot of recipes call for squeezing over some fresh lemon juice at this
08:57point, but I don't do that.
08:59I think it takes away from the preserved lemon flavor, which is so delicious and so unique
09:04that I don't want anything getting in the way.
09:07Right, the only thing I'm going to do to garnish this is maybe add a few sprigs of parsley
09:10to the top, just for a little bit of color, before finishing up with one more pinch of Aleppo
09:16pepper.
09:17And that's it, my take on Morocco's famous chicken tagine.
09:20It was ready to enjoy, which I'm going to do right out of the pan with a piece of crusty
09:26bread, which is by far my favorite pairing with this, since as profoundly delicious and
09:31amazing as the chicken is, the sauce and pan drippings are just as good.
09:35And then besides that moist and insanely delicious meat, and that rich, fragrant, incredible sauce,
09:41we have those slightly salty, briny bites of olive that basically reset our palates with
09:46every bite.
09:47And yes, if you're going to serve this to guests, you'll want to make up a nice big
09:50pot of couscous, or a nice rice pilaf to pair with it.
09:54But no matter what you serve this on or next to, it is one of the world's great recipes,
09:59chicken or otherwise.
10:01And I really, really do hope you give this a try soon.
10:05So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much
10:10for info as usual, and as always, enjoy.