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Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Olives and Preserved Lemons

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Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Olives and Preserved Lemons

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I first started coming across recipes that used preserved lemons like this dish for a Moroccan tagine with preserved lemons and olives, about this time last year. The idea of preserved lemons was very intriguing and I just had to try them. Since I was not able to find any preserved lemons I finally decided to just make some myself and my first batch was ready to try. Olives are a food that I really enjoy but I rarely seem to cook with them so this dish was on the top of my list of recipes to try using the preserved lemons. Besides, it was the perfect excuse to pick up some nice quality olives to snack on at the same time. To top it all off this dish is braised so the chickens juices drip into the sauce and all of the flavours have a good chance to mingle and get to know each other including those amazing Moroccan spices.
This dish takes a little bit of time and effort, but not too much, and it is well worth it. The Moroccan chicken tagine with olives and lemon preserves turned out really well! Everything mixed together to form a tasty symphony of flavour in your mouth. Every time I try a dish with a Moroccan spice blend I am liking them more and more. I don’t normally use so many spices in a single dish but the Moroccan spice blends seem to work really well. I really liked the touch of heat that the harissa brought to the table and the sweetness of the honey balanced it out well. The preserved lemon peel had a nice texture and really brought the lemon flavour to the dish. Overall I really enjoyed this dish and I look forward to enjoying the leftovers.
I now have a jar and a half of preserved lemons and I would certainly like to hear how you enjoy your preserved lemons.

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Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Olives and Preserved Lemons

Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Olives and Preserved Lemons

Servings: 4
ingredients
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 pinch saffron
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 whole chicken (cut into 8 pieces, or chicken thighs or breasts)
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 onion (sliced)
  • 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
  • 1 teaspoon ginger (grated)
  • 1/2 cup water (or chicken stock)
  • 1 preserved lemon (pith removed, and peel rinsed and sliced)
  • 1 cup olives
  • 1 tablespoon harissa
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1/4 cup parsley (chopped)
  • 1/4 cup cilantro (chopped)
directions
  1. Mix the paprika, cayenne pepper, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, saffron, salt and pepper and rub it into the chicken.
  2. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high heat add the chicken and brown on all sides and set aside.
  3. Add the onion, and saute for 3 minutes.
  4. Add the garlic and ginger and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
  5. Add the water, chicken, preserved lemon, olives, harissa and honey, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
  6. Remove from heat and mix in the parsley and cilantro.
Option: For One-Pan: Make this a one-pan meal by adding 1 cup couscous and 1 1/2 cups broth after step 5, bringing to a boil and removing from heat to let sit, covered, until the couscous is tender, about 10 minutes.
Slow Cooker: Optionally implement steps 1-4, place everything except the parsley and cilantro in the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-10 hours or high for 2-4 hours before adding the parsley and cilantro and turning off the heat.
Note: You will probably want to go easy on the salt as the lemons are preserved in a lot of salt and the olives are pretty salty as well.
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  5. Preserved lemons is on my list to do since a long time. Your finish dish is beautiful. Love anything with olives but don’t cook with it except in pizzas.

    Reply

  7. I love Moroccan food and can’t find preserved lemons. As luck would have it, I came across a recipe for them just last week. I’ll keep this recipe in mind when my lemons are ready.

    Reply

  10. Looks so tasty.

    I have a question since you are from Canada. What are popular or scenic places to visit in Vancouver? I might be planning a trip there next month.

    Reply

  13. I’m currently on week 2 of making preserved lemons. When they are ready, I think this will be the perfect dish to try.

    Looks great!

    Reply

  14. Lovely dish Kevin! I preserved some lemons myself and they are just sooo good.
    I’ve only ever used them in a chicken Tagine dish though (much the same sort of recipe as yours) I too need to discover what else to do with them!

    Reply

  17. Really impressive, Kevin!! I love a good eh,…an excellent tajine!! I love your beautiful wonderful flavours & your colours too! MMMMMMMMMMM…..

    Reply

  19. Wow really beautiful dish, i have been wanting t make a dish like this, but hubby don’t like preserved lemons in chicken etc…….do you think i can make it without the lemons?
    I know he taste won’t be same but still.

    Reply

  23. I absolutely love Moroccan spice blends…I don’t know how they figured out that all those different flavors work together, but I sure am glad they did! This looks amazing.

    I’ve never had preserved lemons (or seen them in stores) so I may have to do this the Kevin way and make them myself.

    Reply

  25. I had a pain in the butt time finding preserved lemons and was shocked on how easy they were to make. Definitely something I am planning on keeping the fridge stocked with.

    I have added them to couscous with great success. Past that not a whole lot of experimenting with them.

    Reply

  30. I know homemade preserved lemons are probably better than store bought, but I’ve seen them in the St. Lawrence Market, just in case you feel inclined to expand your stash!
    I like them in lamb tagines as well, and in veg stewas with artichokes and eggplants, sort of Greek-y

    Reply

  31. I use preserved lemons in a ridiculous number of things (mostly because I’m obsessed w/ them – I make jar after jar of them any time lemons are on sale). They’re wonderful in soups, in salads, pasta primavera, couscous… Pretty much anywhere you want a little punch added to the food. They’re also an interesting, albeit not traditional addition to hummus or baba ganoush, and they’re even good added to risotto.

    Reply

  36. we had almost that exact meal this evening for supper! it was the Moroccan chicken with green olives and lemon recipe from this month’s BA mag [http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/fasteasyfresh/2009/05/moroccan_chicken_with_green_olives_and_lemon]. We had golden raisin, almond and cilantro couscous as a side dish, and a shiraz cabernet to drink. Yum!

    Cheers,

    *Heather*

    Reply

  37. The lemons and olives drew me in. This is something very tasty and appetizing and I’m not even hungry right now. This looks like a lot of work, but well worth it. I would make enough to eat for 3 days.

    Reply

  38. This dish was my staple when I visited Morocco a few years back, i couldn’t get enough of the salt lemony twang to it, plus the olives there were out of this world!

    I love tagines because you can add anything to the and they will steam away by themselves – I use to add a little pyramid of green beans and potatoes for a side when I cooked this one at home.

    Sadly my tagine fractured whilst moving house though!

    Reply

  39. Oh wow you are making me salivate. I had in fact been meaning to make preserved lemons today. Only thing is I’m low on salt so have to postpone it to tomorrow. I am hoping to try out a chicken tagine once the lemons “mature”. I’m definitely bookmarking this recipe when that day comes.

    Reply

  41. Nice one! I’ve always wanted to make my own preserved lemons. They look so yummy! To answer your questions, if i were to make my own preserved lemons I would make a ton of moroccan dishes and then pick on those preserved lemons whenever I can.

    Reply

  45. Hello,

    I just started my first batch of preserved lemons also and this will have to be a recipe I try. I am also really looking forward to making a lamb tagine because lamb is one of my favorite meats cooked Indian style or Morrocan. Preserved lemons are great in lentils, rice dishes, and different bean dishes.

    Here is a recipe for white gazpacho which will be perfect for this summer:

    http://events.nytimes.com/recipes/7193/1995/07/09/White-Gazpacho-With-Preserved-Lemon/recipe.html

    with quinoa:
    http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/quinoa-with-asparagus-and-preserved-lemon-dressing

    recipe from chef zen:
    http://chefsgonewild.blogspot.com/2009/03/grilled-octopus-salad-with-chickpeas.html

    Salmon dish:
    http://www.kitchencaravan.com/recipe/memes-moroccan-salmon-preserved-lemon-and-parsley

    Reply

  49. Kylie: This is an amalgamation of various recipes that I found on the web. I will have to pick up a Moroccan cookbook so that I can explore more Moroccan cuisine.

    Debbie: Sorry, I have not had the chance to visit Vancouver yet though I hear that it is a very beautiful place and I would like to go some day. I hope you have a great time!

    Happy cook: You could probably make it without the lemons as there are a lot of other nice flavours in there.

    Paula Pereira: Thanks for all of the great links!

    Reply

  50. Hi, Kevin 🙂 Thanks for dropping a line on my blog.

    I was surfing your site and this recipe caught my eye. I love mediterranean food and will have to try this one out. I’ve also never tried preserved lemons so will have to try that too. Did they come out bitter?

    Reply

  51. Mai Mai: You generally just use the rind of the preserved lemons with the membrane removed and it is not bitter at all. All of the lemon flavour without the bitterness! The liquid that they are in is of course really salty and tart.

    Reply

  52. Thanks for the recipe. I lucked into some preserved lemons at the farmer's market and knew I wanted to make chicken tagine with it. Took a chance on your recipe from all the others I found on the internet, and wow! Amazing taste and easy to make. My lemons were really really salty, even rinsed and with the flesh removed, so with the olives, any more salt added would have been baaaad. But their lemony flavour was amazing. Maybe I'll preserve my own lemons next time …

    Thanks again from a newbie to your site.

    Reply

  53. Hello Kevin,
    I've made some preserved lemons lately and used it for your dish. It was delicious. Your's version of Moroccan Chicken is one of simplest to make. Thank you for sharing. Please continue to post exciting wonderful recipes.

    Reply

  55. I made this for my family last night, I was looking for a quick tagine recipe, not one that takes hours to make, and this was just the ticket.
    My family loved did and so did I. Will certainly make this again. Thanks for sharing your recipes!

    Reply

  56. Looks great, I always wanted to make a tajine and preserved lemons some time ago. I just didn't have the actual tajine pot. I will try it now the way you made it. Really nice blog and such great photos – what kind of camera do you use?

    Reply

  59. I made a quick and dirty version of this recipe with flattened boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
    I used the spice base you listed, and subbed garlic powder and ginger powder for the missing vegetables. I used chicken broth, honey and preserved lemons to make a quick sauce.
    I served the chicken with leftover rice to soak up the sauce. So yum.
    Thanks for posting this. I was dying to make something with my lemons (besides eating them right out of the jar!).

    Reply

  60. I just made this dish for dinner. Had some chicken thighs and wanted a quick meal. It's delicious. The honey and harissa added a layer of complexity that I love. Thanks for sharing it.

    Reply

  62. Hey Kevin! This looks really appetizing. As a matter of fact, I had already seasoned the chicken as we speak. I had to put cooking off for a couple of days because I'm missing a couple of ingredients. I condensed the other spices by buying garam masala instead since spices can be very expensive if bought separately. I had to buy the turmeric though since it seems to be the common denominator between tagine recipes I found so I guess it's one of the key ingredients.

    Your recipe has been my main reference for making this moroccan dish. I hope I can make it as good as yours look. Thank you for posting this recipe.

    I hope people don't get intimidated by the hefty list of ingredients. It's really easy.

    Thanks once again.

    Reply

  63. I forgot to ask, are the preserved lemons purely for flavor or they are edible part of the recipe? I know this question sounds silly but I just want to know. I have never tried this recipe before let alone preserved lemons.

    Reply

  64. janislrobles The preserved lemons are completely edible! The lemon rind becomes soft after preserving it and it has an amazing lemon flavour. Generally you remove the pith and rinse the preserved lemon to cut down on the saltiness from preservation. Enjoy the tagine!

    Reply

  65. I like it, although you don't need to remove the flesh of your preserved lemons, just rinse them and make sure you don't add any extra salt – you can always add some at the end… If you love Lamb & Preserved Lemons, here's a recipe that you may love, especially good for a winter evening… http://foodfromourlife.wordpress.com/2011/08/05/i-think-this-is-my-favourite-moroccan-meal/ It's one of the most authentic Moroccan recipes you will ever have. I can say that as Hubby is Moroccan, I hope you don't mind me sharing this with you 😀

    Reply

  66. Thought I would finally leave a comment after cooking this several times. It's such a wonderful recipe–thank you!

    I have been playing with it a little–I use chicken thighs (tried with breasts once and actually prefer the thighs), carton of Pomi tomatoes along with a a little water, and I add the lemon at the last 5 minutes as I found it a little salty otherwise.

    I have been serving with red rice cooked with some curry powder, chicken stock and mixed raisins.

    A little Greek yoghurt on the side is nice too.

    Thanks again!

    Reply

  68. Lovely – making your own preserved lemons is one of the best things ever. I've tried expensive deli lemons and they're not a patch on mine!!! I'm very surprised you recommend RINSING the peels. I would suggest you do not – instead take your time to lick your fingers thoroughly.

    Reply

  70. I have to tell you. This looks like the most amazing chicken dish ever – I can just imagine the flavors. I have pinned this on my "Recipes I want to try" board on pinterest and will be trying it soon. I really love the blog.

    Reply

  71. This chicken dish is truly amazing! I tried it tonight using chicken legs and thighs. The flavours were distinctly Moroccan. I served it with couscous that was made with sundried tomatoes and chopped parsley. Thanks for the inspiration and these great recipes!

    Reply

  73. I made this last night and it was delicious! There was some multi-layered taste awesomeness going on with all the lemon and spice. I will definitely make it again!

    Reply

  75. I want to try making my own Lemon Preserves – have a lemon tree and never know just what to do with all those wonderful lemons! Even after reading all the posts though I am still confused. Do you use just the lemon rind in the recipe – removing the" fruity" part? Or do you use both the rind and fruit? I see mention of removing the "pith" – do you mean the actual pulpy fruit? Also, do you think you could preserve key limes the same way?

    Reply

  78. This looks so good, Kevin! My mouth is watering in anticipation of all these perfectly blended ingredients in this dish. Love it! You really have a talent, my friend…thanks for sharing!

    Reply

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