We absolutely love Mediterranean flavours and I am a big fan of one pot cooking with minimal effort. I love a good flavour packed Tagine in the house and this one you will notice is a slight variation of it called Tangia. This Moroccan style chicken Tangia is made with Chicken thighs braised with cumin , coriander, fresh lemon juice and olives. Me and hubby both work fulltime and dishes like these are a perfect meal and leftovers can be great for packed lunch next day. I used a oval dutch oven for this recipe but if you have a Tagine then that would be even better and I would be highly jealous of you.
This recipe has been adapted from Christopher Kimball's Milk Street Tuesday Nights which recently won James Beard Award in General Cookbook category. This is not sponsored by them but I love that there are more 200+ recipes to inspire our weeknight and/or weekend cooking. Also it managed to beat other amazing books like Dorie Greenspan's "Everyday Dorie" and Ottolenghi's "Simple" to the finish line so that says something about the book ! I already love the other two books and have cooked from them few times so I had to try this book. I have to admit this was my best buy as the recipes are so approachable for all level of cooks. It was fun and quick to make this with active cooking time of just 25 mins. There was hardly any chopping involved as compared to most of the other dishes we usually cook in our household.
I was so excited that this book was chosen for this month's cookbook club ran by Deborah Balint of RainyDayBites on Instagram otherwise I might have missed out on such a delicious & easy-peasy recipe. I have ended up discovering great recipes and amazing authors thanks to this cookbook club and glad to be cooking along others this month.

Moroccan Chicken Tagine
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: Serves 2
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Braising
- Cuisine: Moroccan
Description
Quick and no-fuss Moroccan style chicken Tangia is made with Chicken thighs braised with cumin , coriander, fresh lemon juice and olives
Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs (Approx 630 grams)
¼ cup lemon juice
2 tbsp lemon zest (Approx 2 big lemons)
⅓ cup pimento stuffed olives, chopped
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
3 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp ground ginger or fresh ginger chopped
1 tsp black pepper powder
3 tbsp salted butter (I used Yeo Valley salted butter)
handful of parsley to garnish
handful of pomegranate to garnish
Instructions
- Prep the chicken thighs to remove any sinew or fat and set aside. I have kept the thighs whole and the big ones were cut into half. But you can chop them smaller if you prefer. In a small bowl mix 1.5 tsp cumin powder, salt and black pepper powder, season the chicken thighs with the mix and set aside for later.
- Take a large dutch oven and heat 1.5 tbsp of butter. Saute onions and garlic over medium high heat until slightly brown. Add remaining 1.5 tsp cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, ground ginger and saute for another 30 seconds. Add ¾ cup water and place marinated chicken thighs in the mix. Cook chicken on one side for 20 minutes and then turn them with help of tongs and cook for another 20 minutes or until they are tender
- Once chicken is cooked to your preference, remove them onto a plate and set aside. Increase the heat and cook down the liquid to your preferred consistency, I reduced by 10 % only so that we have enough gravy to serve with any kind of flatbread or pita bread. Once gravy is reduced then turn off the heat and add lemon juice, lemon zest and chopped olives. Lastly add butter , let it melt and then stir and add chicken thigs back into the dutch oven.
- Garnish with pomegranate seeds and finely chopped parsley. Serve hot with flatbread or herby couscous or even mint & peas pilau rice.
Notes
Try to use the specified amount of lemon zest and lemon juice as mentioned in this recipe to fully appreciate the bold flavours of this tangia.
Keywords: moroccan chicken tangia, chicken tagine
CTShore
I was so happy to see that kosher SALT was omitted here. The Tuesday Night version is so overloaded with salt I found it inedible. Thank you for making a very smart adaptation from a salt block of an original recipe. Much appreciated. To all reading this - skip the Milk Street recipe and use this one 🙂
★★★★★