Chickpea Tagine With Chicken and Apricots

By Mark Bittman

Updated February 28, 2024

  • Evan Sung for The New York Times
Media 1 of 2
Total Time
45 minutes
Rating
5(999)
Comments
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Tagines, the slow-cooked, deeply aromatic stews of North Africa, are traditionally made and served in distinctive clay pots, often with lamb, and usually over couscous. This isn’t a traditional version: It’s fairly quick, and it relies on a heavy-bottomed saucepan rather than a tagine. With chicken thighs, bulgur, chickpeas and dried apricots, it comes together to produce an Americanized version that is a super one-pot dinner, fast enough for a weeknight despite the long ingredient list, and infinitely variable.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

  • 4 skinless chicken thighs

  • 1 large onion, chopped

  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic

  • 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander

  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin

  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

  • ½ cup chopped dried apricots

  • 1 cup chopped tomato (fresh or canned or boxed, with juice)

  • 2 cups cooked or canned chickpeas, drained, with the liquid reserved

  • 1 to 2 cups chicken stock, bean liquid or water, or more as needed

  • ½ cup bulgur

  • Salt

  • freshly ground black pepper

  • ½ cup chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

50 grams carbs; 134 milligrams cholesterol; 478 calories; 8 grams monosaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 16 grams fat; 11 grams fiber; 1018 milligrams sodium; 38 grams protein; 15 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Put oil in a large, deep pot over medium-high heat. When oil is shimmering, add chicken and brown well on both sides; remove from pan and set aside. Reduce heat to medium, add onion to the pan and cook until soft, about 5 minutes; add garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, dried apricots and tomato. Cook and stir just long enough to loosen any brown bits from bottom of pan.

  2. Step 2

    Add chickpeas and 1 cup of stock or bean liquid to the pan and turn heat back to medium-high. When mixture reaches a gentle bubble, return chicken to the pan. Cover pot, turn heat to low and cook, checking occasionally to make sure the mixture is bubbling gently, for about 15 minutes or until tomatoes break down and flavors begin to meld. Stir in bulgur, adding more stock if necessary so that the mixture is covered with about an inch of liquid. Season with salt and pepper.

  3. Step 3

    Cover and cook until the chicken and bulgur are both done, about 10 to 15 minutes. Taste, adjust the seasonings and serve in bowls garnished with parsley.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
999 user ratings
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Comments

Jane

Two very nice additions (separately or together) are butternut squash and eggplant. For the eggplant: quarter a medium eggplant lengthwise. After browning chicken, brown the cut sides of the eggplant, then remove it from pan and cut into cubes. Add the eggplant to the pot with the chicken in Step 2. For the butternut squash: add @2 c. cubed squash to the onions after browning, along with the ginger and garlic. Brown for a few minutes, then continue with the spices and proceed with the recipe.

Sheila

Had some cut up chicken that needed to be cooked so I tried this recipe. Left out bulgur and found it didn't need it to thicken. Next time I would add a tablespoon or so of tomato paste to up the color. As it was, I used 2 tablespoons of turmeric and that did the trick.

Genny

Made 5 Jan, 2015 with following changes: I used 1 and 1/2 cups fresh tomatoes and only 1 cup chicken broth; I removed the fat from the pan after browning the thighs; I omitted the bulgur but mashed up some of the chickpeas as the thighs cooked to thicken the sauce and cooked the thighs for a total time of 40 minutes to increase their tenderness. Made with couscous. Very delish! Next time I will use boneless thighs.

Mister Christian

FYI one serving is 5 WW points.

Chef Egon

Tasty and easy. I added toasted tomato as well as preserved lemon. Swapped in cilantro in lieu of parsley

Andy C

Loved the recos- I added a tablespoon of tomato paste and a teaspoon of turmeric. In addition I added a heaped teaspoon of Moroccan seasoning ras el hanout (easily available at Whole Foods or wegmans etc). I shallow fried an eggplant medium sized, cut into quarters and added it after the chicken had simmered for about 10 mins. Added slivered almonds for garnish

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