Tagine is usually cooked slowly for hours but in this Chicken Tagine Recipe we make everything quickly using the instant pot but don’t compromise on flavors.
Apricot Chicken Tagine | Instant Pot Moroccan Recipe
I love Moroccan food. I love the blend of exotic spices with dried fruit, sliced almonds and melt in your mouth tender morsels of meat. These dishes usually take hours to prepare so imagine my delight when I realized I could make something that tasted really authentic but using the Instant Pot.
Here are a few notes about this recipe.
Notes: I use Quinoa instead of traditional Couscous be- cause it is very similar in texture and flavor but is gluten free and allergy friendly. Feel free to use Couscous in- stead.
I also use Chicken thighs because I prefer their texture and flavor, but chicken breast or even lamb can be substituted.
Ras El Hanut: This is a spice blend found at middle eastern or gourmet markets.
Harissa paste: Hot pepper paste common in Moroccan food. Available at Trader Joe’s and other gourmet markets.
Vegan Option:
Replace chicken with butternut squash and chickpeas. Cook for 3 mins under pressure. Follow all other directions as below.
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Chicken Tagine in the Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs cubed (sub breast)
- 1 Onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 tsp ginger
- 3 TBSP olive oil
- 1 Cup Cilantro leaves
- 2 tbs Ras El Hanut (Moroccan Spice Blend)
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 Cup Crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup water or broth
- 1 cup sliced dried apricots
- 2 tsp Harissa Paste
- I pinch saffron
- Fresh Parsley minced
- Quinoa Ingredients:
- 1 C Quinoa
- 1.5 C Water or broth Sliced Almonds
- 3 Cardamon Pods Pomegranate Seeds 1/2 C Parsley
Instructions
- Turn the instant pot to sauté and add olive oil. Sauté onion and garlic till soft about 5 min. Add Ras El Hanut and cook with onions for about 30 secs. Add crushed tomatoes and water. Scrape bottom on the pan loosen any brown bits or spices that have stuck. Then turn off the sauté feature.
- Add chicken, apricots, saffron, harissa paste and salt. Stir.
- If cooking alone then place lid on the Instant Pot and set cooking time to 7 mins. Release pres- sure immediately and stir in cilantro.
- If cooking Quinoa using the Pot-in-Pot method then skip the the directions below.
- Note: this can either be cooked in the Instant Pot alone, or it can be cooked Pot-in-Pot at the same time as the Tagine. I’ve supplied instruc- tions for both methods below.
- Cooking in the main insert:
- As a first step, it’s a good idea to rinse the Quinoa till the water runs clear. This helps remove any bit- ter or off-flavors which can sometimes be present in the grain.
- Next spray cooking spray in the insert. Add the quinoa, broth or water, salt, and almonds. Please 3 cardamom pods on the top of the grain mixture.
- Cook for 1 minute under pressure and wait 7 minutes before releasing pressure. Waiting to release the pressure is called “natural release”.
- Once it’s done, remove the cardamom pods. Next, stir in the parsley and serve.
- Cooking Pot-in-Pot:
- In tis method the quinoa cooks in a smaller pot inside the Instant Pot while the tagine cooks be- low. You need a special over proof insert for this method.
- First step is to rinse the Quinoa until the water runs clear. Next, add cooking spray to the pot-in- pot insert. Add the quinoa, water, salt, almonds, and cardamom pods. Place a rack on top of the tagine and then set the Pot-in-Pot insert with a lid, on top of the rack.
- Set the manual pressure to cook for 7 mins. (Because things cook slower in the inserts, the timing will work and the quinoa will not be over cooked.) Once the cooking is done release pressure immediately. Remove the Pot-in-Pot insert carefully so as not to burn yourself.
- Open lid on quinoa and remove cardamom pods. Add parsley and stir. Please lid back on insert and let it finish steaming for a few minutes.
- Add Cilantro to the Tagine. Serve after Quinoa has set about 3 mins.
