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Halal-conscious recipe

North African chicken tagine with squash

The Good Food team's North African chicken tagine with Halal chicken: breasts and thighs browned, then baked on golden shallots and butternut squash with ginger, saffron, cinnamon and cumin, Halal or vegetable stock and honey.

  • Cuisine Moroccan
  • Meal Main
  • Difficulty Easy
  • Yield 4 portions
  • Time 1h 40m
  • Last updated

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

Printable view
Green beans, carrots and potatoes layered in a metal tagine base, ready to cook
Photograph from our ingredient library: vegetables layered in a tagine before cooking, not the finished dish from this recipe.

Photo: Ridouan Red · CC BY-SA 4.0

Why Halal checks matter here

The tagine is 2 chicken breasts and 4 thighs, which are Halal only from Halal-slaughtered birds, baked in 500 ml chicken stock, which is a chicken product.

Skin-on chicken breasts and thighs are browned, then baked on a bed of golden shallots and butternut squash with garlic, fresh and ground ginger, cumin and coriander seeds, cinnamon, saffron and a little chilli, in stock sweetened with honey. The source calls it a North African tagine and tags it Moroccan. Two things need a Halal source: the chicken, and the stock, for which a Halal-certified chicken stock or a vegetable stock works (see stock cubes).

It follows the Good Food team's North African chicken tagine for BBC Good Food, which serves four.

Scatter with coriander and serve with couscous, and harissa on the side if you like.

Halal-critical ingredients

  • Chicken breasts and thighs Chicken is a Halal bird, but slaughter decides, and chicken without a Halal mark doesn't say how the bird was slaughtered. Buy the chicken from a Halal butcher or in a certified pack. See Chicken.
  • Chicken stock Bought chicken stock is a chicken product, and the UK's mainstream stock cubes contain uncertified chicken or meat fat. Use a Halal-certified chicken stock or a vegan vegetable stock. See Stock cubes.

Safe substitutes

  • Chicken of unknown slaughter → Halal skin-on chicken breasts and bone-in thighs
  • 500 ml chicken stock → 500 ml Halal-certified chicken stock or vegetable stock

Allergens

gluten (couscous, to serve)

Ingredients

Tagine

  • 2 Halal large skin-on chicken breasts
  • 4 Halal skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 200 g shallots, peeled
  • 2 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 4 cm piece ginger, grated
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds, lightly crushed
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds, lightly crushed
  • 2 small cinnamon sticks
  • large pinch saffron threads
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • pinch crushed dried chilli
  • 375 g peeled butternut squash, in chunks
  • 500 ml Halal-certified chicken stock, or vegetable stock
  • 1 rounded tbsp clear honey
  • 2 tbsp coriander, roughly chopped
  • to serve couscous and harissa (optional)

Method

  1. Brown the chicken. Heat the oven to 180C/160C/gas 4. Cut each chicken breast in half and season all the chicken. Heat the oil in a medium ovenproof casserole, add the chicken skin-side down and brown well all over, in batches if needed. Lift out and set aside.
  2. Cook the shallots and spices. Lower the heat slightly, add the shallots and cook until golden brown all over. Add the garlic and grated ginger for 30 seconds, then all the spices for 1 minute more.
  3. Bake. Stir in the squash to coat it in the spices. Arrange the chicken skin-side up on top of the shallots and squash, pour over the stock and drizzle in the honey. Bring to a gentle simmer, then bake for 40 minutes until tender.
  4. Serve. Scatter with the coriander and serve with couscous, and a bowl of harissa if you like.

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'North African chicken tagine' by the Good Food team, tagged Moroccan (serves 4: oven at 180C/160C/gas 4; 2 large skin-on chicken breasts, each cut in half, and 4 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs seasoned and browned skin-side down in 2 tbsp olive oil in a medium ovenproof casserole, in batches, and set aside; 200 g peeled shallots cooked until golden over a slightly lower heat; 2 sliced garlic cloves and a 4 cm piece of grated ginger 30 seconds; 1 tsp each lightly crushed cumin and coriander seeds, 2 small cinnamon sticks, a large pinch of saffron, 1 tsp ground ginger and a pinch of crushed dried chilli 1 minute; 375 g peeled butternut squash in chunks stirred through; the chicken laid on top skin-side up, 500 ml chicken stock poured over and a rounded tbsp of honey drizzled in; brought to a gentle simmer and baked 40 minutes until tender; 2 tbsp chopped coriander scattered over, served with couscous and a bowl of harissa if you like). We specified Halal chicken and a Halal-certified or vegetable stock; the last step is split at its natural break. Nothing else needed changing. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Technique and ingredient sources

  1. North African chicken tagine — BBC Good Food Retrieved:

    By the Good Food team, tagged Moroccan. Serves 4, prep 15 minutes, cook 1 hour 25 minutes: chicken breasts and thighs browned; shallots, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander seed, cinnamon, saffron, ground ginger and chilli; squash, stock and honey, baked 40 minutes at 180C; coriander, couscous and harissa to serve. We specified Halal chicken and stock.

  2. Tagine analysis — isithalal.food Retrieved:

    What to check in a tagine: the meat and the stock.

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