Moroccan spiced skinless chicken thigh slow cooked for 6 hours in a tomato based sauce, infused with garlic, ginger, and chilli. Only 15 minutes of prep, simple ingredients and dinner will cook itself.
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Recipe Highlights
- Minimal prep - only 15 mins
- Its deliciously moorish flavours with simple ingredients
- It practically cooks itself
- Easy to make it less spicy or more spicy depending on who your feeding
- Is amazing on its own, or with mashed potato
- Freezes well, and will last upto 2 months in the freezer
- There's lots of saucy goodness to soak up
- Goes perfectly with this quick and easy homemade 3 ingredient flatbread
- This is dinner for under 500 calories and makes 6 servings
- Great for low calorie meal prepping
- Make it Low Carb with cauliflower rice
Ingredients
I have been making moroccan chicken thighs in the slow cooker for the last four or five years, and it never gets old. It's an old time favourite and its one of those comforting recipes I often pull out when I'm feeling like I need a giant big hug of goodness!
Making dinners under 500 calories is my specialty, with many of my most popular being low calorie chicken recipes, low calorie meal prepping recipes and low calorie slow cooker recipes.
How To Make This Dish
- Place the plain flour and 4 tablespoons of Moroccan seasoning and chicken into a bowl and use tongs to coat the chicken with the flour/spice mix.
- Heat a pan on medium high, add the oil, and brown the chicken thighs in batches. As they brown, place them in the slow cooker.
- Once chicken is browned, use the same pan - adding onion, ginger, garlic, chilli and 1 tablespoon seasoning and cook until onion softens. Add half the chicken stock/broth and bring to the boil
- Add the onion mixture, tomatoes, tomato paste, remaining chicken stock/broth, and 1 tablespoon seasoning
- Gently stir sauce through to cover the chicken. Cook on low in Slow Cooker for 6 hours. Remove lid after 6 hours and stir through.
How To Make Gremolata
- Add parsley, garlic sea salt and smoked paprika to a food processor or blender. Zest in the lemon, and lemon juice (discard rest of lemon). Pulse until combined.
- Pour into a container that has a lid. Spoon over chicken, when about to serve. Store any leftovers in fridge for upto 1 week.
Recipe Tips
- To Thicken sauce once cooked, make a cornflour slurry. Add a tablespoon of cornflour and a tablespoon of water to a jug, mix together and then stir through the chicken and sauce and it should gradually begin to thicken.
- Moroccan Seasoning - this is an all in one seasoning sold in supermarkets in Australia. I use the Masterfoods brand. If its not available where you live, you can make your own:
- 1 tablespoon of Tumeric
- 1 tablespoon Plain Paprika
- 1 tablespoon Smoked Paprika
- 1 tablespoon Garlic Salt
- 1 tablespoon Dried Rosemary
- 1 tablespoon Dried Cumin
- 1 tablespoon Ground Corriander
- Whilst this recipe is delicious on its own, adding a touch of gremolata really takes it to the next level. Gremolata is a condiment where the main flavours are garlic, salt and lemon. Its easy to make and a few small drizzles on the dish at the end is all you need.
Serving Suggestions
- Pearl Cous Cous (lightly boiled for around 10 minutes in a pot of water, then drained)
- Steamed Brown Rice, made fresh, or if you're having leftovers or are pressed for time, packet brown rice prepared in the microwave
- Quinoa, made fresh or the instant variety that you can microwave for 30 seconds
- Sweet Potato, mashed with a little butter and salt
- Spaghetti, boiled in a pot of salted water and drained
- Polenta, rich and creamy made according to packet instructions
- Buckweat noodles for something a little different
FAQ's
No, I wouldn't recommend using chicken breast, as it will dry out too much. Skinless chicken thigh is ideal for this recipe as it has a little bit of fat to keep the meat moist and succulent during the cooking process.
If you make the recipe to the exact specifications, the level of heat could be described as comparable to a medium thai curry. If you're used to eating mild curries, see below for how to adjust.
Less Spicy - leave out the chill flakes. To take it from a medium level of heat to Hot - double the chilli flakes and moroccan spice.
Store in an air tight container in the fridge. Discard after 3 days.
Yes, this recipe freezes well. Store in a suitable freezer container with name of what is is, and label it to be used within 2 months.
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Spicy Chicken Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 2 pounds / 1kg grams Skinless Chicken Thighs
- 3 tablespoons plain flour
- 8 tablespoons Morrocan seasoning - (see note 1)
- 1 medium Brown onion
- 2 teaspoons crushed garlic
- 2 teaspoons Grated Ginger
- 1 teaspoon Dried red chilli flakes
- 1 cup Chicken stock/ - chicken broth
- 400 grams / 14 oz. Tin diced tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons Tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons Oil
Gremolata
- ½ cup firmly packed Big Leaf Parsley
- 2 Cloves Garlic
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 Lemon
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
To Serve
- 2 cups Jasmine Rice, cooked
Instructions
- Place the plain flour and 4 tablespoons of Moroccan seasoning and chicken into a bowl and use tongs to coat the chicken with the flour/spice mix.
- Heat a pan on medium high, add the oil, and brown the chicken thighs in batches. As they brown, place them in the slow cooker.
- Once chicken is browned, use the same pan - adding onion, ginger, garlic, chilli and 1 tablespoon seasoning and cook until onion softens. Add half the chicken stock/broth and bring to the boil
- Add the onion mixture, tomatoes, tomato paste, remaining chicken stock/broth, and 1 tablespoon seasoning
- Gently stir sauce through to cover the chicken. Cook on low in Slow Cooker for 6 hours.
- Remove lid after 6 hours and stir through. If sauce is to thin, refer to note 2 for thickening instructions.
- Serve with jasmine rice, brown rice, or cauliflower rice for a low carb option
Gremolata
- Add parsley, garlic sea salt and smoked paprika to a food processor or blender. Zest in the lemon, and lemon juice (discard rest of lemon). Pulse until combined.
- Pour into a container that has a lid. Spoon over chicken, when about to serve. Store any leftovers in fridge for upto 1 week.
Notes
- Moroccan Seasoning - this is an all in one seasoning sold in supermarkets in Australia. I use the Masterfoods brand. If its not available where you live, you can make your own, by mixing 1 tablespoon of Tumeric, 1 tablespoon Plain Paprika, 1 tablespoon Smoked Paprika, 1 tablespoon Garlic Salt, 1 tablespoon dried rosemary, 1 tablespoon dried cumin, and 1 tablespoon ground Corriander.
- Sauce to thin? To Thicken sauce once cooked, make a cornflour slurry. Add a tablespoon of cornflour and a tablespoon of water to a jug, mix together and then stir through the chicken and sauce and it should gradually begin to thicken.
Nutrition
Note: Sugars contained in this recipe are from naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables or other natural sweeteners. Calories have been calculated for your convenience using My Fitness Pal and are based on the ingredients listed in the recipe card.
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