Moroccan Chicken Smothered in Olives Recipe (2024)

Two suggestions. First, cooking the olives separately needlessly complicates the recipe. I have cooked many a chicken recipe, some from the NYT, using olives and this is the first I've seen using this technique. Just throw the olives in on top of the Chicken and let them cook with the dish. Second, pour the chicken broth in FIRST. Then sprinkle the spices over the chicken.

i make this dish i fry the chiken then remove it add the spices to the oil and fry till fragrant i also us e some ground cinamon then i add the onions and cook till soft the add chicken broth i use kalammata olive and a preserved lemon bjej bis milah

It was good, but it could have been better. A little flat-tasting. All my spices are relatively fresh, so I don't think that was the issue. Very easy though, and I will probably make it again. I'm interested to see if anyone has any adjustments that brighten it up a little.

I read that is was flat tasting I also ended jup sauteing the onions in olive oil and added chicken. I doubled spices, added hot red ground pepper and more garlic - did not soak olives and it is delicious. All mouths in family loved. EASY

I would fry the spices in a little oil before adding chicken. This will bring out their full flavor.
Would also hold off on adding cilantro until the last 10 minutes when olives and lemon juice are added.

I thought this was really delicious, though I changed the prep a little. I started by sauteing the onions in olive oil to soften for a few minutes. I then threw the garlic in and stirred for about 30 seconds and followed with the spices and a tablespoon of tomato paste to deepen the flavor... I then followed the rest of the recipe as written. I served over basmati rice, but I think a good chunk of bread would have been more appropriate/Moroccan.

This recipe looks interesting but personally, I think the amounts of spices used is aimed at the American palate. I haven't made this yet...I'm saving it for future reference but I will definitely amp up the amounts of spices. Chicken thighs are dark meat and benefit with a heavier hand in spicing of any kind.

preseason 3-4 hours before cooking, or better the night before, and use fresh ginger. Artichoke hearts and chick peas are a nice addition.

I sauted the onions first in a bit of olive oil, then added about half the spice mixture and sauted until fragrant, then poured in the stock, arranged the chicken on top, and sprinkled the rest of the spice mixture over all. I omitted boiling the olives (what was the point?) and gave them a rough chop before adding them with extra lemon juice. A huge hit, the entire family loved it!

I really like tangines because they are simple, and you don't generally brown the meat first because all the spices provide the necessary flavors. This recipe seems over-simplified and far too soupy (why dilute all those nice flavors?). If you want a really nice chicken tagine recipe with bright, layered flavors, I highly recommend Mark Bittman's Chicken Tagine with Chickpeas, found on this site. It has been my go-to tagine for a long while now.

How about contraction instead of conjunction?
Shall definitely make this dish anyway.

This is delicious with some Kalmata olives and diced up preserved lemons (Trader Joe's has a good substitute if you don't want to bother doing your own) mixed in as well. I have also prepared this by mixing spices with some flour and coating pieces of the thighs cut into 1" cubes and browning first in olive oil and that has been very well received by everyone eating it.

I was expecting more flavor. There was also too much liquid. Not sure how to boost the flavor but would definitely use less broth. Not sure if I will make again.

Have you tried "Oven-Roasted Chicken Shawarma?" The seasonings are similar, except it omits ginger and has a pinch of cinnamon.

Made with half of the sugar in brine, but still too sweet for me; was tender though. as per other reviews, I doubled the spices and added grated ginger in addition to powdered and bloomed them in pan with oil and onions before adding chicken. next time I may add cumin seeds. would have been way too moist with 2 c broth, so decreased that to 3/4 c, less than half of what recipe called for. also added a can of chickpeas & the olives last 10 min for overall a lovely meal.

This has been a hit whenever I make it. I add the olives at the beginning - Castelvetrano and saute the onions, garlic and spices before adding chicken. Add cilantro midway through. It never fails to wow.

Cooked this last night, without brining. I followed recipe closely, but had no ground ginger and substituted a TBSP grated fresh ginger. The result was acceptable, but lacked the sparkle and power of the herbs and fresh cilantro that I expected. I may try again and DOUBLE all the spice quantities!

Before making this dish, I was of the opinion that I didn't need to rinse the olives, so didn't. Missing this step made for a saltier dish than I usually like. The dish though, was delicious and we ate half one night, I froze the remainder and we had the last of it last night with some roasted butternut squash - Even better the second time (still a bit too salty).

I ran out of chicken broth and only had a 1 1/2 cup of chic but luckily had some "better than bouillon" chicken flavor. I used 1/4 tablespoon and 1/2 cup of water and it was delish!

Too much broth. Next time I would reduce that to one cup. Also too many olives. I know it’s “smothered,” but this was more like olives smothered in chicken. I will use one jar instead of two next time. And there will be a next time because it was so good. I served it with couscous

I often find that I lose the texture and all round possibilities of a chicken when I boil it. With that I have two suggestions:1) If you follow the recipe as-is try fork-shredding the chicken as the last step and serve it with couscous or rice for some added interest, or;2) Make it in a cast iron dutch oven and start by frying the chicken for a good 7-8 minutes before adding onion for a few minutes and then the rest (combined and brought to a boil ahead of time). Cut cook time by a third.

This was very good. I did follow others' comments and sautéed the spices (measured by eye, definitely more than the recipe called for) and onions in the oil first, and then added the chicken and broth. Simmered for about 30 minutes, then added the olives and lemon juice and let it simmer uncovered for another 10 minutes. It is quite brothy.

I modified this: I used a yogurt mixture for the "brining" with the spices in it. The chicken thighs were boneless and skinless. I just added the olives to the chicken.It was very good.

This recipe is like the recipe -chicken with olives and preserved lemons.the technique in that recipe is simpler and is delicious.i suggest forgetting this recipe and use the other recipe and omit the preserved lemon

I reduced the time by shredding and removing the skin of a store-bought rotisserie chicken. Since it was not going to pick up the braisiing flavors, I increased the spices a bit, and used hot paprika instead. Okay, okay, it’s a different dish than the recipe, but a keeper. Lots of leftovers for two. I like the fact that it is low-fat by removing the skin, which reduces sodium content as well.

Was really great but borderline almost too salty even for us. Chicken would need to be MEGA rinsed next time, or maybe dont even brine it and see how it is. Also you didn’t do the cooking step properly with the olives because you bought ones with pits so had to pit them all individually so maybe they were too salty because of that.

PERFECT RECIPE! It captures the true flavor of Moroccan cooking.

Cut recipe in half for two of us. Kept spices close to what is called for in full recipe. Used one cup and one tbls for broth. Layered onions, added broth then chicken and all spices. Added olives for full cooking time. Lemon was added after lid came off. Cooked another 20 minutes to concentrate sauce. Excellent flavors, tender chicken. Just a really good meal. A real winner of a recipe. Thanks

Like others I first sautéed the onions and garlic in a bit of olive oil. I added a tablespoon of tomato paste with the chicken stock and then layered the chicken and spices on top. When I flipped the chicken I added about half a cup of slivered dried apricots since I had some on hand. I added the chopped cilantro with the olives and lemon. In the last couple minutes I threw in a couple fist fulls of baby spinach to wilt since I wanted more of an “all in one” dish. Served over couscous. Yum!