🍲 Chicken tagine with lemon and olives

Name: Chicken tagine with lemon and olives
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Morocco · Fez and Marrakesh
Ingredients: 1.2 kg chicken pieces; 2 onions, grated; 3 garlic cloves, crushed; 1 pinch saffron in 3 tbsp warm water; 1 tsp turmeric, salt, pepper; 2 tbsp olive oil; 1 preserved lemon, peel cut into strips; 120 g green or violet olives; Chopped cilantro and parsley

Origin: Morocco · Fez and Marrakesh

612kcal

per serving · 350 g

175kcal

per 100 g

60 gProtein17 g / 100 g

33 gFat9.5 g / 100 g

14 gCarbs4 g / 100 g

Chicken tagine with lemon and olives is a Moroccan classic: chicken pieces braised with onion and saffron in a covered pot until tender, with preserved lemon peel and green olives stirred in at the end. The sauce is silky, golden and aromatic, balancing salty olives with sharp citrus. It is placed in the centre of the table and shared by everyone.

Diets

✓

No porkfor halal, the meat must be halal-slaughtered

✓

Gluten-freeno wheat, barley or rye in a typical recipe

✓

Dairy-freeno milk, cheese, butter or yogurt in a typical recipe

✓

Keto-friendly4 g carbs per 100 g

✓

High protein17 g protein per 100 g — 39% of the calories

Not vegetarianbecause of: chicken

Not veganbecause of: chicken

Allergens

None of the 14 major allergens in a typical recipe.

What it is made of

chickenpreserved lemonoliveonionsaffron

Recipe

4 servings90 min

Ingredients

1.2 kg chicken pieces
2 onions, grated
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 pinch saffron in 3 tbsp warm water
1 tsp turmeric, salt, pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 preserved lemon, peel cut into strips
120 g green or violet olives
Chopped cilantro and parsley

Method

Mix the onion, garlic, saffron and turmeric, saffron water, salt, pepper and oil with the chicken and leave for 30 minutes.
Put everything in a tagine or heavy pot with 250 ml water, cover and cook over low heat for about 50 minutes, turning the chicken occasionally.
Add the preserved lemon and olives and cook uncovered for 10–15 minutes until the sauce thickens.
Sprinkle with cilantro and parsley and serve hot from the pot.

How to make it lighter

Remove the chicken skin before cooking — most of the fat sits there.
Use 1–2 tbsp of oil for the whole pot; 1 tbsp oil ≈ 120 kcal.
Olives are salty and fairly rich: a small handful is enough for flavour.

History

Chicken with preserved lemon and olives is one of the best-known tagines of Moroccan cooking, which developed in cities such as Fez and Marrakesh. The tagine itself is the conical earthenware pot in which the dish is traditionally cooked. Today it is a standard dish at Moroccan family meals and celebrations.

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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 →