Chicken tagine with preserved lemons and olives

This chicken tagine with preserved lemons and olives is a Moroccan classic. You'll find a few variations, with this being one of my favorites since it adds lots of wonderful herb flavors into the chicken along with the bright lemon and olives. Comforting and delicious.

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One of the things I have always loved about Moroccan cooking is the many soups and stews that have such depth of flavor. Many use a broad range of herbs and spices which can seem intimidating, but it's actually easy cooking. Once the base ingredients and spices are in, the cooking is generally hands-off. But the result is a delicious, complex mix of flavors.

What is a tagine?

A tagine (or tajine) is technically a pot rather than a food. Though that said, the dishes cooked in it tend to go by the same name. The tagine dish is a ceramic pot of Berber origins. The pot is round and typically relatively shallow on the bottom with a conical lid. The idea is that the space in the lid creates steam that circulates round as the food cooks slowly in the embers of the fire. 

Tagine dishes are mostly (if not always) stews, often with various aromatic spices to flavor the meat and/or vegetables in the dish. A number use dried fruits in the mix, too. These days the dishes are most associated with Morocco but also neighboring countries. 

This chicken version comes in a few variations. Some keep the flavorings more simple while others make a version of chermoula sauce to use as a marinade for the chicken that then also adds flavor as it cooks. It's this latter style which I have gone for here. I've drawn on a few recipes, particularly this Cooking with Alia recipe and SBS food recipe.

The marinade here is packed with a mix of herbs, aromatic spices along with lemon and oil that work their way into the chicken both during marinading and cooking. There's a little bit of preserved lemon in the mixture but the main time you add this is at the end, before serving. 

What are preserved lemons?

In case you haven't come across them before, preserved lemons are simply lemons preserved in salt and lemon juice, sometimes with a couple other aromatics in there. Over time, the lemons break down a little and the flavor takes on an extra dimension. 

They are a popular ingredient in Moroccan cooking, adding a level of complexity to various dishes. Think of lemon but turned up a notch with that added salinity. You can buy them in many stores these days, but they are also easy to make at home (see the recipe linked above).

Here, they are a big part of the flavors in this comforting dish. When combined with the olives as well, you get a great punch of flavor that works well with the tender chicken.

This chicken tagine with preserved lemons and olives is packed with bright flavors, but is also a wonderfully comforting dish as well. You would typically serve it over couscous which pairs perfectly, but you could also serve it with bread to dip in the sauce or over rice instead. Either way, be sure to mop up all the tasty flavors in the sauce.

Try these other delicious chicken recipes:

• Aji de gallina (Peruvian chicken stew, with a creamy chili-nut sauce)
• Chicken Provençal (an easy French dish with herbs, olives and tomatoes)
• Musakhan (Palestinian sumac chicken)
• Plus get more North African recipes and main dishes in the archives.

See some of my favorite cooking tools and ingredients in the Caroline's Cooking Amazon store. 

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