Easy Moroccan chicken tagine with butternut squash is a perfect, flavoursome, family meal taking just one hour to make. It's delicious served over couscous!
Folks, I've made this easy Moroccan chicken tagine with butternut squash recipe for several reasons.
Firstly it's absolutely delicious.
Secondly I really want you to experience the flavours of Morocco. Flavours that I'm lucky enough to have had first hand experience of.
I've briefly told the story before in my other Moroccan tagine recipes, the spicy Moroccan chickpea tagine and Moroccan Beef tagine of my travels in Morocco.
I talked about my love of the fusion of Moroccan flavours and in particular those that come from a tagine recipe.
This easy Moroccan chicken tagine will let you experience all those flavours yourself. Without too much effort!
Before I go any further let me just say that you do not need a tagine dish to make this recipe.
You can make this easy Moroccan chicken tagine in a stove top proof casserole dish or large pot.
That's one of the reasons why I've called this an "easy" recipe.
The other reason is that it only takes an hour to make.
Otherwise if we were making this Moroccan chicken tagine in the traditional way we would be heating a tagine over lumps of charcoal and cooking it slowly for several hours!
No, we are using a stove to cook this one!
However, rest assured you will experience a delicious combination of traditional Moroccan flavours from this chicken and butternut squash recipe.
As well as some amazing sweet smells of honey and cinnamon permeating your kitchen whilst it's cooking.
This Moroccan tagine recipe is made with tender and succulent chicken. The spices, apricots and honey provide the contrasting sweet and savory flavour combinations.
Butternut squash absorbs all of the flavours of the dish and is an excellent source of vitamin A.
Soon you and your family will be feasting on this delicious, fragrant and healthy Moroccan chicken tagine.
Moroccan food is generally healthy. Moroccans are healthy people because they eat a lot more vegetables than meat. A typical Mediterranean diet.
Not only does Moroccan food like this Moroccan chicken tagine incorporate lot's of vegetables but it also often contains dried fruits.
Just like how this chicken tagine recipe has dried apricots added to it.
The sweetness of the dried apricots compliment the spices. They also add important vitamins and minerals to the Moroccan diet.
Moroccans use a lot of spices in their cooking.
This doesn't just make their food burst with flavour. Spices have many health benefits too. For example cumin is excellent for digestion.
I think you're going to absolutely love this Moroccan chicken dish. It'll make your taste buds sing!
This authentic tagine is such a flavorful dish. It's an excellent dish for a dinner party or to serve to the entire family.
The best way to serve it is on a bed of couscous or for another good idea of what to serve it with check out my suggested list below!
Jump to:
Ingredients
- Olive Oil
- Onion
- Butternut Squash
- Garlic Cloves
- Ground Cumin
- Paprika
- Cinnamon Stick
- Ground Ginger
- Tinned Chopped Tomatoes
- Tomato Puree
- Chicken Stock
- Honey
- Chicken Breasts
- Dried Apricots
- Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- Fresh Coriander (fresh cilantro)
See recipe card for quantities.
Substitutions
- Olive Oil - you can use vegetable oil but olive oil is more authentic and plentiful in Morocco.
- Onion - use a good cooking onion / yellow onion
- Butternut Squash - you can swap the butternut squash for sweet potatoes instead.
- Garlic Cloves
- Ground Cumin
- Paprika
- Cinnamon Stick
- Ground Ginger
- Tinned Chopped Tomatoes
- Tomato Puree - or tomato paste.
- Chicken Stock - use a good quality chicken stock / chicken broth.
- Honey - any kind of runny honey is fine to use.
- Chicken Breasts - you can use boneless skinless chicken thighs instead.
- Dried Apricots - you need sweet apricots to add the authenticity to this Moroccan dish so please don't leave them out!
- Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- Fresh Coriander (fresh cilantro)
What Spices Are Used In a Moroccan Chicken Tagine?
Moroccan cuisine is an amazing fusion of flavours and dishes from the regions that it traded with over the centuries.
The main regions of influence include the Arabic, Andalusian and Meditarranean regions with some European influence too.
Spices are used extensively in Moroccan food. Particularly in tagines.
Many of the spices that are used in Moroccan tagine dishes are home grown but again many of the regions that influenced Moroccan culture also contributed their own spices to Moroccan cooking.
Some of the main spices that are used in Tagine cooking I've used in this easy Moroccan chicken tagine recipe :-
- cumin
- paprika
- cinnamon
- ginger
However, there are an amazing twenty seven spices combined to make one of the most famous Moroccan spice mixtures, ras el hanout!
How To Make Easy Moroccan Chicken Tagine
Detailed instructions are the recipe card below. But here is a quick step by step guide of how to make this easy chicken butternut squash tagine:
- Place a large casserole dish / large skillet or hob proof tagine over a low heat.
- Heat oil and sauté the onion and butternut squash together over a medium-low heat for 5 to 6 minutes until soft.
- Add the garlic and spices, stir and cook for 30 seconds before adding the tomatoes, tomato puree, chicken stock and honey. Bring to the boil, then turn down to a medium-high heat to simmer for 15 minutes until thickened.
- Add the chicken pieces and apricots and cook for a further 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked.
- Season to taste, remove the cinnamon stick, scatter the chopped fresh coriander over. Serve over couscous.
What To Serve With Butternut Squash Tagine
- Plain Couscous
- Moroccan bread
- Basmati rice
- Brown rice
- Quinoa
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Other Popular Moroccan Recipes You Might Also Like
- Easy Moroccan chicken soup is a delicious hearty and full bodied soup made from the popular spices of Morocco. Thick and comforting this is an easy to make all in one quick healthy meal.
- Moroccan lentil soup is a delicious and easy red lentil vegan soup recipe. This hearty healthy soup is flavoured with the popular spices of Morocco.
- Oven baked Moroccan spiced chicken is an easy 30 minutes foil baked chicken recipe which takes very little effort to make. There’s just 5 ingredients and 5 steps to having this quick healthy meal on the dinner table.
Easy Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Butternut Squash Recipe
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion roughly chopped
- 250 g butternut squash roughly chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic crushed
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 400 g tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon tomato puree
- 250 ml chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 300 g chicken breasts cut into bite size chunks
- 8 dried apricots
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander
Instructions
- Place a large casserole dish or hob proof tagine over a low heat.
- Heat the olive oil and sauté the onion and butternut squash together for 5 to 6 minutes until soft.
- Add the garlic and spices, stir and cook for 30 seconds before adding the tomatoes, tomato puree, chicken stock and honey. Bring to the boil, then turn down to simmer for 15 minutes until thickened.
- Add the chicken and apricots and cook for a further 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked.
- Season to taste, remove the cinnamon stick, scatter the chopped fresh coriander over. Serve over couscous.
Notes
You can freeze any leftovers of this chicken tagine too.
Nutrition
Nutrition Label
Nutritional information provided below is calculated using paid for online tools and the exact ingredients and quantities used above.
Rate The Recipe
If you’ve made this Moroccan chicken recipe, or any other recipes on Neil's Healthy Meals, then please let me know.
I’d love to hear what you think of my recipe in the comments below and please do rate my recipe 5* if you like it! 🙂
David @ Spiced
I'm really glad you mentioned that we don't need a tagine for this one! I almost bought a tagine a couple of years back, but I didn't end up getting it. But I've got plenty of pots! I love the flavors going on in this tagine...we were both channeling Moroccan flavors lately! 🙂 And the dried apricots? That's a fun twist! I'll have to put this one on the menu soon.
Neil
I remember when we lived in Gibraltar David, my mum actually had a HUGE tagine which she'd got from the market in Tangier when we'd visited. It was so colourful and well decorated. I wish she still had it because I would make good use of it. But yeah David, you don't need an actual tagine for this recipe. And those dried aprocots add a beautiful sweetness to the recipe. They're delicious when you bite into them and all that sweetness explodes into your mouth. 😀
Mimi
This is just beautiful. I love the cinnamon almond sugar combo that's used to often as well. We were supposed to go to Morocco this year but the trip/tour got cancelled. I still need to go. I had a tagine, but the bottom broke - fortunately not with hot food in it!
Neil
Thanks Mimi. Sorry to hear your tagine got broke. And I really hope that you do get your trip to Morocco rearranged. I mean you've an even better excuse to go now. You need to get a NEW tagine! 🙂
Ashika | Gardening Foodie
Flavours of Morocco are always so delicious, bold and full of bright colour. I am absolutely loving this recipe as well, the combination of chicken and butternut must be amazing. I would love to try it out as well, thank you for sharing Neil 🙂
Neil
I'm glad you like this recipe Ashika. It's such a pleasure to share it with you. And thanks for the rating. 🙂
Susie @ Suzlyfe
I'm making this for Alex's lunches this week! I'll let you know how it goes!
Neil
That's fantastic Susie! I'm looking forward to what Alex thinks! 🙂
Shashi at SavorySpin
Neil, there's a Moroccan restaurant near me that I have always been wanting to try but never got around to doing so , however, looking over your delicious and comforting chicken tagine, I am thinking this doesn't sound too different from fusion-ish India/ South Asian flavors - just in slightly different quantities. Besides, I think I'd prefer a homemade intro to Moroccan food than a restaurant one so thanks so much for sharing this one!
Neil
I'm jealous that you've got a Moroccan restaurant near you Shashi. If there were one near me I'd be a frequent visitor!
I hope you get a chance to make this and enjoy your introduction to all those delicious Moroccan flavours. 🙂
Warda
This was absolutely amazing! Tasted very authentic. I added one chopped green chilli pepper to add a bit of a kick to it.
Had it with couscous
Neil
Glad you enjoyed it Warda! Love how you added a chopped green chilli pepper to add a bit more spice to it! Thanks for taking the time to make and rate my recipe. 🙂