Slow Cooker Chicken and Chick Pea Tagine
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This Slow Cooker Chicken and Chick Pea Tagine is packed with those earthy and sweetly spiced Moroccan flavors and it will leave you craving more. It’s amazingly filling and packed with protein. I recommend serving it over basmati rice or couscous to complete the dish.
How to Make Chicken Tagine
Generaly chicken tagine is cooked low and slow in a tagine (a clay, ceramic, or cast iron cone shape vessel) over the stovetop or in an oven. Here I opted for a slow cooker because I imagine it cooks similarly and how many of us own a tagine? A pot on the stovetop would work as well but I love the simplicity of the slow cooker.
So to start you simply saute an onion and carrot in a skillet until tender. Then you add in garlic and plenty of those Moroccan spices and saute those just shortly.
Following that you’ll pour in some tomatoes and chicken broth, then pour that whole mixture into the slow cooker along with chicken and chick peas. Then cover and let the slow cooker work it’s magic. And last you finish the dish with fresh lemon and herbs.
I know that list of ingredients can seem long, daunting and just unnecessary. Much of it is just spices you likely already have then the rest I’ve picked out the optional ingredients so you can trim the list down if you’d like.
If you wanted you could even skip the step of dicing up the chicken (cook about an hour longer than listed) and just shred it at the end and toss it back into the mixture. Well trimmed boneless skinless chicken thighs could also be used here as well.
If you like Moroccan food then this is a must-have recipe. It’s just one of those classics.
Chicken dinners can be boring but this one is anything but. It’s a fun recipe to get a taste of the globe no matter where you live. What I’m saying is it’s definitely no burger and fries but isn’t it fun to try new flavors and recipes??
More Moroccan Recipes to Try
- Moroccan Spiced Salmon with Lemon Yogurt Sauce
- One Pan Moroccan Chicken and Couscous
- Moroccan Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup
- Moroccan Couscous with Roasted Vegetables
- Grilled Moroccan Chicken
Follow Cooking Classy
Slow Cooker Chicken and Chick Pea Tagine
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped (1 1/2 cups)
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and diced (1/3 cup, optional)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced (1 Tbsp)
- 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced into 1 1/4-inch pieces
- 1 (14.5 oz) can chick peas, drained and rinsed
- 1/3 cup diced dried apricots or whole raisins (optional)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (optional)
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in onion and carrot and saute 6 minutes.
- Add in garlic, coriander, cumin, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper and saute 30 seconds longer.
- Stir in chicken broth, tomatoes and apricots and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Pour mixture into a slow cooker, add in chicken and chick peas and toss mixture.
- Cover and cook on low heat 3 1/2 - 4 hours until chicken is cooked through.
- Stir in lemon juice, cilantro and parsley. Serve warm over rice or couscous.
- Recipe source: inspired by NYT and Genius Kitchen