Our Moroccan-Inspired Chicken with Rice skillet combines perfectly-cooked chicken with traditional Moroccan flavors like green olives and lemon for a simple one-pot meal that’s a great way to add variety to your weeknight dinners!
Table of Contents
- This recipe is…
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Moroccan Chicken Recipe Ingredients
- Recipe Variations and Modifications
- How to Cook Moroccan-Inspired Chicken with Rice
- Recipe Tips
- How to Serve
- How to Store and Reheat
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Favorite One-Pan Recipes
- Moroccan-Inspired Chicken with Rice Recipe Recipe
This recipe is…
Around here, we LOVE a good one-pot meal. Because the only thing better than getting to sit down to a quick, delicious meal is not having to deal with a sink full of dishes afterwards.
After the popularity of our Lemon Chicken & Rice Skillet, we knew that we wanted to create more one-pot skillet meals. This time around, we borrowed inspiration from a traditional Moroccan tagine made with chicken, rice, and a classic pairing of lemons and green olives. But once you cook up this tasty skillet, you may also want to try our Ground Beef Skillet Enchiladas and Cauliflower Gnocchi and Sausage too.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Traditional Moroccan flavors, simplified for busy weeknights
- Just 10 minutes of prep
- Quick homemade spice blend adds tons of complex flavor
Moroccan Chicken Recipe Ingredients
This recipe calls for a good number of ingredients, but it all comes together with just 10 minutes of prep. Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and swaps) below.
For the Moroccan spice blend:
- Paprika – we call for 3 teaspoons of this sweet-spicy spice
- Salt – you’ll need 1 ½ teaspoons of coarse sea salt
- Cumin – 1 teaspoon of this spice is essential to the mix
- Ginger – this recipe calls for ½ teaspoon of ground ginger
- Turmeric – you’ll add 1 teaspoon of this vibrant, distinctive spice
- Garlic powder – lastly, add 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
For the chicken and rice skillet:
- Chicken – boneless, skinless chicken breast is the main ingredient here
- White rice – we used Basmati
- Chicken broth – this will flavor the rice and keep the chicken moist
- Butter or olive oil – 1 tablespoon is all you’ll need
- Thyme – 4 sprigs of this fresh herb flavor this dish
- Lemon – lemon juice adds brightness to the dish
- Olives – 1 cup of green olives lends Moroccan flair
- Cilantro – for garnish, you’ll use fresh chopped cilantro
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Variations and Modifications
Here are a few ways you can customize this recipe:
- Rice – we used basmati, but you can substitute any type of rice you like in this recipe, just make sure you follow the rice to water ratio on the back of the package.
- Preserved lemon – while regular lemons from the grocery store will add a pop of bright flavor to this dish, if you want to get a little fancy, look for a jar of preserved lemons. This traditional Moroccan ingredient lends a more complex citrus flavor that’s more intensely lemony, briny, and complex than the fresh fruit.
How to Cook Moroccan-Inspired Chicken with Rice
It just takes a few steps to get this tasty skillet on the dinner table:
Step 1: First, we are going to whisk together the secret weapon here: our spices. You may be worried that it’s too much for 2 pounds of chicken, but just trust me, it is going to be goooood!
Step 2: Next, you’ll coat the chicken with the spice and sear it in a heavy-bottomed pan until it is a glorious golden brown.
Step 3: Remove the chicken from the pan then add the rice so it can combine with the flavorful browned bits still left in the pan and take on a delicious, toasted flavor.
Step 4: Once the rice starts to give off a nutty fragrance, add in the chicken broth and cook.
Step 5: Add the lemon juice, olives, and the chicken.
Step 6: Cover and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and lemon wedges, and serve!
Recipe Tips
- Olives – you can use any kind of green (AKA unripe) olives you have on hand. But we don’t recommend substituting black (ripe) olives since they have a different flavor profile than the traditional combination of lemons and green olives produce.
- Chicken – if you choose to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs in place of the chicken breast, make sure to drain off the excess fat before adding the rice to the skillet, so you don’t wind up with greasy rice.
How to Serve
Finally, you’ll garnish the dish with cilantro and lemon then serve it up! If you’d like to add a veggie, we’d recommend either serving with a side salad or roasting some veggies in the oven as the chicken and rice cook.
How to Store and Reheat
Store any leftovers in the skillet covered with plastic wrap or foil, or in an airtight container.
To reheat the dish, cook it in the oven until just warmed through.
Frequently Asked Questions
The word “tagine” actually has a double meaning. It refers to both a traditional Moroccan ceramic dish with a conical lid that’s commonly used to cook dishes low and slow in an oven.
But the word is also used to refer to the rice, vegetable, and meat dishes that get cooked inside the cooking vessel. Meaning you can eat a chicken and vegetable tagine…that was cooked inside a tagine.
Moroccan cuisine tends to use a lot of fragrant and flavorful spices…but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s spicy. Many traditional Moroccan dishes combine both sweet and savory spices with salty elem
ents like olives and preserved lemon to create a deep, rich flavor that sets it apart from any other cuisine. Typically these spices are combined with a protein and vegetables then slowly cooked in a tagine. But today, we’re simplifying things a bit for this Moroccan-inspired Chicken & Rice Skillet in the name of getting dinner on the table fast!
You can use either chicken breasts or thighs in this recipe. Some people prefer lean breasts, while others like thighs because they have a higher fat content that helps them stay moist when cooked.
If you choose to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs in place of the chicken breast, make sure to drain off the excess fat before adding the rice to the skillet, so you don’t wind up with greasy rice.
More Favorite One-Pan Recipes
If you tried this recipe for Moroccan-Inspired Chicken with Rice, or any other recipe on the Fed & Fit website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Moroccan-Inspired Chicken with Rice Recipe
Ingredients
For the Moroccan Seasoning:
- 3 teaspoons paprika
- 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
For the Chicken & Rice Skillet
- 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, sliced or pounded to 1-inch thickness
- 1 1/2 cup white rice, we used Basmati
- 2 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 cup green olives, drained
- 1 lemon, quartered, for garnish
- Fresh chopped cilantro, for garnish
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients for the Moroccan seasoning until well-combined.
- Liberally season the chicken breast on both sides with the Moroccan blend until fully coated.
- Melt butter (or olive oil) in a skillet over medium high heat. Once melted, add the chicken. Sear for 3-4 minutes per side, until browned.
- Remove chicken from skillet and set aside. Add the rice to the skillet over medium-high heat and stir. Cook 1-2 minutes until toasted. It will give off a slightly nutty aroma at this point.
- Add the broth to the pan with the rice and whisk to scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil.
- Once rice is boiling, give it a final stir, add the thyme, and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes has passed, remove the lid from the pot and stir the lemon juice into the rice, then place chicken breasts and olives on top of the rice.
- Cover and cook for an additional 10 minutes, then remove from heat, let cool slightly, garnish with cilantro and lemon wedges, and serve!
Recipe Notes
- You can substitute any type of rice you like in this recipe, just make sure you follow the rice to water ratio on the back of the package.
- If you choose to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs in place of the chicken breast, make sure to drain off the excess fat before adding the rice to the skillet, so you don’t wind up with greasy rice.
Nutrition
So good! I had everything on hand, except the cilantro and it was a hit. Definitely on the rotation. The flavors came together so nicely. Would love to incorporate a vegetable with the dish.
Whenever the instructions say to cook 3-4 minutes each side, I tend to cook the chicken close to being done bc most of the time I end up cooking the dish longer to cook the chicken. The rice was perfect.
Such an amazing feeling when you already have everything on hand!! Great tip for cooking the chicken, Leigh! We are so happy you enjoyed it!
Great recipe, I feel like an actual cook and my wife always raves about this dish.
Hahah! You cooked it, right?… you ARE a cook! We are so happy y’all love it, Dave!
WOW. The flavors in this dish are amazing and rich. I was skeptical about the olives, but they were so complementary.
However, the way the dish came together just did not work for me, and I’m wondering if I misunderstood the recipe. I browned my chicken for 4 minutes each side, but they were only about 130 degrees in the center. I placed them on top of the rice after 10 minutes, and they still weren’t close to done after the next 10 minutes (and the rice was still crunchy, and was starting to brown on the bottom.) I ended up cooking the whole dish for another 15-20 minutes to get everything fully cooked. It was delicious, but the rice was a little mushy and had a crispy browned bottom. (Which tasted amazing, but it was a little too close to burnt for me to want to do that again.)
So, is the chicken supposed to cook thoroughly in those first 3-4 minutes per side in the skillet or is it just supposed to brown and then continue cooking fully on top of the rice in that final 10 minutes?