🥧 Chicken Pastilla (Bastilla)

Name: Chicken Pastilla (Bastilla)
Total time: 150 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Morocco
Ingredients: 1 kg chicken thighs on the bone; 2 onions, grated; 1 tsp ground ginger, pinch of saffron; 1½ tsp ground cinnamon; 5 eggs, beaten; 200 g almonds, toasted and chopped; 4 tbsp sugar, plus icing sugar to dust; 10 sheets warqa pastry; 4 tbsp oil for brushing

Origin: Morocco

580kcal

per serving · 200 g

290kcal

per 100 g

28 gProtein14 g / 100 g

28 gFat14 g / 100 g

54 gCarbs27 g / 100 g

Chicken pastilla is the most common version of Morocco's famous sweet-savoury pie. Paper-thin warqa pastry encloses spiced shredded chicken, softly set eggs cooked in the onion sauce and a layer of toasted almonds with sugar and cinnamon. Baked until crisp and dusted with cinnamon and sugar, it is cut into wedges and served as a festive starter.

Diets

✓

No porkfor halal, the meat must be halal-slaughtered

Not vegetarianbecause of: chicken

Not veganbecause of: chicken, egg

Contains glutenbecause of: warqa pastry

Contains dairyno milk, cheese, butter or yogurt in a typical recipe

Not keto27 g carbs per 100 g

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Gluten ⚠ Eggs ⚠ Milk ⚠ Tree nuts

What it is made of

chickenwarqa pastryalmondeggcinnamonsugar

Recipe

6 servings150 min

Ingredients

1 kg chicken thighs on the bone
2 onions, grated
1 tsp ground ginger, pinch of saffron
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
5 eggs, beaten
200 g almonds, toasted and chopped
4 tbsp sugar, plus icing sugar to dust
10 sheets warqa pastry
4 tbsp oil for brushing

Method

Simmer the chicken with onion, ginger, saffron, 1 tsp cinnamon, a little oil and water for 45 minutes.
Shred the chicken and discard skin and bones.
Reduce the sauce and stir in the eggs over low heat until softly set; drain any excess liquid.
Mix the almonds with sugar and the remaining cinnamon.
Line an oiled round tin with overlapping warqa sheets, layer egg, chicken and almonds, fold in and cover with more sheets.
Brush with oil, bake at 190 °C for 25–30 minutes and dust with icing sugar and cinnamon.

How to make it lighter

Use skinless chicken and remove visible fat after simmering.
Brush the pastry with a thin coat of oil: 1 tbsp oil ≈ 120 kcal.
Cut 8 wedges instead of 6 and serve with a salad to fill the plate.

History

Pastilla (bastilla or bstilla) is a festive dish of Moroccan cuisine, traditionally served at weddings and celebrations, especially in Fez. Its blend of sweet and savoury is often linked to Andalusian influences brought to Morocco by people who left Iberia, though the exact origins are not documented. Chicken is today the everyday substitute for the original pigeon.

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Similar dishes

Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →