March 28, 2024

Slow Cooker Moroccan Chicken

Moroccan chicken, my favorite! Chicken thighs, rubbed in more spices than you would ever think you could use at once, cooked until tender with olives and lemons.

This is a slow cooker riff offour popular tagine recipe. Boneless skinless chicken thighs are sprinkled with paprika, ginger, cumin, turmeric, coriander, and more, placed on a bed of chopped onions, and slow cooked with green olives, lemon slices, and raisinsuntil fork tender.

The spice list is long, if you are missing one or two, don’t stress about it. Feel free to experiment with the amounts and find what works for you.

I do love the subtle addition of crushed fennel seeds, and I recommend not going overboard with cinnamon, which can be bitter in large amounts.

If you don’t want raisins or dried fruit, add a cup of sliced carrots the last hour of cooking.

We are using boneless (and skinless) chicken thighs for this recipe only because they’re easier to deal with. Feel free to use bone-in thighs (you’ll need 2 1/2 pounds) if you prefer.

You can substitutes dates orprunes for the raisins.

Ingredients
  • 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs,trimmed of excess fat (don’t trim all the fat, just large pieces)
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 red onion, roughly chopped, about 2 cups
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 Tbsp)
  • 1 cup pitted green olives
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1/2 fresh lemon, thinly sliced
  • Fresh cilantro or parsley for garnish
Method

1 Salt the chicken thighs: Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of salt over the chicken thighs. Let sit while you prep the other ingredients.

2 Whisk the spices together: Whisk together the spices in a small bowl – the paprika, ground ginger, ground cumin, ground coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, allspice, crushedfennel seeds, and nutmeg.

3 Layer onions, chicken, spices, garlic, olives, raisins, lemon slicesin slow cooker: Place chopped onions at the bottom of a slow cooker bowl. Layer the chicken thighs on top of the onions. As you layer the chicken thighs, sprinkle them all over with the spice mix. (Use all of the spice mix. )

Add the garlic, green olives, raisins, and lemon slices.

4 Cook in slow cooker:Cook on the high setting of the slow cooker for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or 4 to 5hours on the low setting (depending on your slow cooker brand). Towards the end of cooking, stir so that the lemons olives and raisinsget mixed into the liquid. The chicken is done when it is fall apart tender.

Serve with couscous or rice (use rice if cooking gluten-free). Garnish with fresh cilantro and/or parsley.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *