Golden chicken marylands simmered with green olives, sweet apricots and preserved lemon, finished with a punchy lemon and herb sauce. This is my go-to preserved lemon chicken tagine, and it’s a proper dinner party dish.
My Chicken Tagine At A Glance
- ⏱ Ready In: 1 hr 20 minutes
- 🍽 Serves: 6
- 🌱 Diet: Gluten-free and dairy-free (tagine itself; swap couscous for rice or potatoes to keep the whole meal gluten-free)
- 💪 Nutrition Highlights: High in protein from the chicken, with extra fiber from the artichokes and apricots
- 🥕 Main Ingredients: Chicken marylands, preserved lemon, green olives, dried apricots, carrots, artichoke hearts, spices, lemons
- 🔥 Flavor Profile: Savory and tangy with pops of sweetness, briny olives and a bright, punchy lemon garlic finish
- 🧊 Meal-Prep Friendly: Keeps well in the fridge for 3-4 days, and the flavor only gets better the next day
- Best Served With: Couscous, rice or potatoes, plus steamed green beans
I love a good chicken tagine, and since I had a jar of preserved lemons in the fridge, I wanted to play around with the classic recipe. I added dried apricots as I wanted something sweet to balance out the bitterness of the preserved lemon, and a can of artichoke hearts because I love those with chicken and lemon, AND they add extra fiber to the dish.
The chicken stew itself is fairly restrained with the preserved lemon so it doesn’t turn bitter, but then I made a separate preserved lemon and garlic sauce to spoon over everything at the table, a bit like a gremolata or salsa verde, and that’s really where the lemon flavor shines through.
I made this for a dinner with friends and family recently, and the feedback was so good I knew straight away it had earned its Cooked & Loved stamp of approval, and I am happy to finally share it on the blog.
👩🍳 You might also like these big flavor chicken dinners:
→ Moroccan chicken stew with spinach & sun-dried tomatoes
→ Soy sauce chicken with ginger scallion sauce
→ Chicken shawarma with baked rice
→ Coconut chicken & cauliflower rice
→ Gochujang chicken
→ Chicken paprikash
What You’ll Need
Here is what you’ll need for this preserved lemon chicken tagine recipe. Find the full measurements in the recipe card below.
For the tagine:
- Chicken marylands (thigh and leg attached) — bone-in and skin-on gives you the most flavor and that golden crust, but you could use just thighs or drumsticks if that’s what you have
- Salt, pepper and turmeric — for rubbing into the chicken before searing
- Onion, garlic and carrots — the aromatic base of the tagine
- Tomato paste, cumin, smoked paprika and coriander seed powder — the warm spice backbone
- Preserved lemon — just a small amount goes into the tagine itself so it doesn’t turn bitter.
- Chicken stock — forms the braising liquid
- Dried apricots — the sweetness here is what makes this version different, and I think it really offsets the tang and bitterness of the preserved lemon.
- Green olives — briny and salty, use a good quality pitted variety
- Lemon juice — for brightness in the broth
- Marinated artichoke hearts — completely optional, but I like adding them for extra fiber and a different texture
For the preserved lemon and garlic sauce:
- Preserved lemon, finely chopped — almost like a purée
- Garlic, parsley, lemon zest and juice, salt and olive oil — this comes together like a gremolata or salsa verde and gets spooned over the tagine at the table for a fresh, punchy hit
To serve:
- Couscous, rice or potatoes
- Steamed green beans
- Extra lemon wedges and parsley
How To Make Preserved Lemon Chicken Tagine
Find the full recipe and nutritional information below. Here’s the general method.
- Pat the chicken dry and rub each piece with salt, pepper, and turmeric.
- Sear the chicken skin side down first in hot olive oil for about 5 minutes, then flip and cook the other side for another 5 minutes until golden and crisp. Remove from the pan.
- Cook the onion and carrots in the same pan for a minute or two, then stir through the lemon zest, garlic, tomato paste, preserved lemon and spices until fragrant.
- Pour in the chicken stock, add the apricots and most of the olives, then nestle the chicken back into the pot. Scatter over the remaining olives and the artichoke hearts.
- Once it’s bubbling, reduce the heat right down, cover and simmer gently for 45 minutes.
- Let it rest for 5 minutes before serving with lemon wedges, fresh parsley and the preserved lemon and garlic sauce.
- For the sauce, finely chop the preserved lemon until it’s almost a purée, then whisk it with garlic, parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil and salt.
Watch The Video
Recipe Tips
- Go easy on the preserved lemon inside the tagine itself. It’s tempting to add more, but too much and the dish turns bitter rather than tangy. The sauce is where you get the big preserved lemon flavor.
- Chop the preserved lemon for the sauce very finely, almost to a purée, so it distributes evenly rather than turning up in bitter chunks.
- No artichokes on hand? Leave them out entirely, they’re optional and won’t change the dish much. Feel free to add other veggies like cauliflower or peas.
- Swap the dried apricots for pitted dates or a handful of raisins if that’s what you have.
- I like to cook my couscous with a bit of Vegeta stock powder and boiling water, it gives it a really good savory depth.
- Leftovers keep in the fridge for 3-4 days and honestly taste even better the next day once the flavors have had time to settle.
- This also freezes well without the couscous. Freeze the tagine on its own for up to 3 months and thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating gently on the stove.
Serving Suggestions
I nearly always serve this with couscous, since it soaks up the broth so well, but rice or potatoes work just as nicely if that’s what you’ve got. Add some steamed green beans on the side for a bit of green, and don’t skip the preserved lemon and garlic sauce, it’s what pulls the whole dish together and cuts through the richness of the chicken. A few lemon wedges and a scattering of fresh parsley at the table finishes it off.
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A classic preserved lemon chicken tagine with green olives and dried apricots for a touch of sweetness, finished with a punchy preserved lemon and garlic sauce spooned over at the table. Find step-by-step photos below and more recipe tips above.
Video
Ingredients
For the chicken tagine:
- 3 lbs chicken marylands, thigh and leg attached, 6 pieces 1.4 kilograms
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ⅔ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 tablespoon olive oil 15 ml
- 1 medium onion quartered and sliced
- 2 medium-large carrots sliced into thick rounds
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest about ⅓ of a lemon
- 3 large cloves garlic sliced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander seed
- ⅓ preserved lemon about 40 grams (1.4 oz), finely diced
- 2 cups chicken stock or broth 500 ml
- ¼ teaspoon salt only if using unsalted stock
- 6-8 dried apricots about 90 grams (3.2 oz)
- 3.2 oz green pitted olives, briny, about 20 olives 90 grams
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 3.5 oz marinated artichoke hearts, excess oil drained, optional 100 grams
For the preserved lemon and garlic sauce:
- ¼ preserved lemon about 25 grams (0.9 oz), very finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced or grated
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- Zest of ¼ lemon
- Juice of 1 lemon
- ⅓ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil 30 ml
To serve:
- Couscous about 1 cup cooked per person
- Lemon wedges and fresh parsley
- Steamed green beans
Instructions
To make the chicken tagine:
- Pat the chicken marylands dry and sprinkle each side with salt, pepper and turmeric. Rub it in and set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot or tagine over high heat. Once sizzling, place the chicken pieces skin side down. Cook for 5 minutes on medium-high, then flip and cook for another 5 minutes, until golden and crisp.
- Remove the chicken from the pot. Add the onion and carrots to the leftover oil and cook for 1-2 minutes until they start to pick up some color.
- Add the lemon zest, garlic, tomato paste, preserved lemon, cumin, smoked paprika and coriander. Stir through with the onion and carrots for a minute or so, letting the spices release their aroma.
- Pour in the chicken stock, add the dried apricots and most of the olives, and stir through. Nestle the chicken pieces back into the broth, moving the vegetables and olives around to make space. Pour back in any chicken juices from the plate, then scatter the remaining olives and the artichoke hearts over the top.
- Once the broth is bubbling again, reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 45 minutes.
- Let it sit for 5 minutes before serving with lemon wedges and the preserved lemon and garlic sauce on the side. I like to drizzle a little sauce over the chicken in the pot, then finish with fresh parsley.
To make the preserved lemon and garlic sauce:
- Chop the preserved lemon, both rind and flesh, very finely until it’s almost a purée.
- Combine the lemon purée in a bowl with the minced garlic, chopped parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Whisk well. It should taste lemony, salty and a little garlicky, with a gentle bitterness from the preserved lemon.
- Prepare couscous. I like to prepare mine with Vegeta stock powder and boiling water, it gives the couscous a lovely savoury depth.
Notes
Important Ingredient Tips: Use a good quality briny green olive rather than a bland canned variety, it makes a real difference to the final flavor. If you can’t find preserved lemon, most delis and larger supermarkets stock it, or you can make your own ahead of time (it just takes a few weeks to cure).
Key Recipe Tips: Keep the preserved lemon light-handed inside the tagine itself and let the sauce carry the punchy lemon flavor. The artichokes are optional and can be left out with no real loss to the dish.
Storage Tips: Keeps in the fridge for 3-4 days in an airtight container. The flavor improves after a day or two.
Make-Ahead Tips: The tagine can be made a day ahead and reheated gently on the stove, which is what I often do before having people over. The sauce is best made fresh, or at least on the day of serving, so the parsley and garlic stay bright.
FAQs:
Can I use fresh lemon instead of preserved lemon? Not really, they taste quite different. Preserved lemon has a fermented, salty, slightly bitter flavor that fresh lemon can’t replicate. If you’re in a pinch, add a little extra lemon zest and a pinch of extra salt, but the flavor won’t be the same.
Is this tagine spicy? No, it’s warmly spiced rather than hot. There’s no chilli in this recipe, it’s more about the cumin, smoked paprika and coriander.
Can I make this with chicken breast instead? You can, but bone-in, skin-on marylands hold up much better to the long simmer and stay juicier. If using breast, reduce the simmering time to avoid drying it out.
Can I freeze it? Yes, the tagine freezes well for up to 3 months. Freeze without the couscous and thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
Nutrition
Calories: 585kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 43g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 21g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 191mg | Sodium: 1212mg | Potassium: 742mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 4165IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 54mg | Iron: 2mg
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