Moroccan Chicken Thighs are the bomb and pretty quick and easy to make. I stood over the stove shoveling this in my mouth for a solid 5 minutes in complete silence after I made it. You can say I liked it.
So for this recipe I read a bunch of recipes and made it with what I had and substituted things where I needed to. Whether this is traditional or not is up for debate but it was really tasty. I used capers because I didn’t have preserved lemon in addition to fresh lemon juice. This gave it a little of the salt you would normally get from preserved lemon. I also used sweet bell pepper instead of carrots because again I had none, but feel free to make that swap. Some recipes called for saffron, but guess what?? I didn’t have any! It ended up delicious anyway.
I highly recommend you give this Moroccan Chicken Thigh recipe a try. If you are looking for a great side to make with it, check out my Spicy Roasted Cauliflower.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs, I like skin on and bone in.
- 1 ½ tbsp. olive oil
- 28oz. can of San Marzano tomatoes, peeled tomatoes
- Small can of black olives sliced (you can use whole too)
- ½ lemon juiced about 2 tbsp. and the zest or 1 tbsp. chopped preserve lemon
- ½ onion chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic
- ½ tsp. saffron threads
- Big spoonful of capers and a splash of brine
- 1 Bell pepper sliced, yellow or red will be sweeter
- 1/3 cup Basmati rice cooked
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro chopped
- ¼ cup fresh parsley chopped
Spice Blend for Sauce
1 tsp. of all of these
Za’atar, hot Hungarian paprika, turmeric, garlic powder, onion powder, ground ginger, cilantro, parsley, sea salt, pepper
1 ½ tsp. cumin
Chicken Seasoning
I seasoned the chicken with umami seasoning from Trader Joe’s but you can just use a sprinkle of salt, onion powder and garlic powder on both sides.
Directions
- Heat oven to 350°
- Heat skillet with olive oil over medium, season chicken with just salt and brown. Take off heat and set aside when done cooking. Turn skillet to low.
- Cook onions till soft and then add garlic. Cook for an additional two minutes then transfer to a food processor and add tomatoes. Pulse it a few times and add mixture back to the pan (caution pan is hot and it may splatter). Add dry ingredients and stir well. Add juice and zest from lemon, olives, capers and bell peppers and a pinch of saffron if you have some. Cook for a few minutes. Add rice, stir, and add chicken back to pan and bake covered with tin foil for 40 minutes. Then remove cover and cook for additional 10 minutes.
- Sprinkle with cilantro and parsley.