The Best Moroccan Tagine Recipes I Step-By-Step Videos To Follow Along in 2023!

Moroccan tagine recipes are a delicious and healthy way to spice up your dinner routine. Tagine is a traditional Moroccan dish that is usually slow-cooked in a clay pot. The ingredients and spices vary, but the dish is always packed with flavor.

Here below are the top best Moroccan tagine recipes in 2023 so if you’re looking for a way to add some excitement to your usual dinner rotation, give one of these Moroccan tagine recipes a try. You won’t be disappointed!

What is a tagine in Morocco?

The word tajine or tagine comes from Berber and means “earthen dish”. The Berber territories are located in the north of the Maghreb. The culinary specialty is, therefore, a specialty of Berber origin, which has become a traditional dish of the Maghreb. That’s why Berber tagines have the reputation of being the best!

The earthenware dish gave by extension its name to culinary preparation. The tagine is similar to what we call a stew. All the ingredients are placed in the dish without the need to add fat. The cooking is slow. The tagine can be made of a mixture of meat, poultry, fish, vegetables or fruit, and spices. There is no limit to the imagination, even if there are well-codified recipes. One thing all tajine recipes have in common is that they are easy to prepare and taste delicious.

Before starting this article, it should be remembered that the name “Tajine” can be used to refer to different elements :

• The recipe: The Moroccan meal.
• The serving dish: Looks like a tajine but it is not used for cooking only for decorating or as a serving dish only because it does not withstand high temperatures. (Left picture above).
• The cooking dish: The clay pot tagine used for cooking. It is not necessarily decorated but keeps the same shape as the serving dish. It is brown and can have decorations only on the top. (Right picture above).

Is tagine cooking healthy?

Tagine cooking is a healthy way to prepare meals. Tagine cooking uses mostly vegetables, fruits, and lean meats. There is very little or no fat used. The use of spices also enhances the flavor of the food and makes it healthier.

Which Moroccan tagine recipe is the best?

What’s special about the tagine is that there are hundreds of different types of recipes. It can be made with practically any type of meat, chicken, even different types of fish, so there is not only one recipe as there is no limit to what you can cook in it.

However, there are some famous Moroccan most known recipes that we will share with you in this article. To make it easier for you to find the best recipes on how to make a tagine, we have compiled a list of the 10 best tagine recipes in 2023 so that you’ll be able to cook like a pro and nail these Moroccan recipes from the first attempt.

10 Best Moroccan Tagine Recipes I Step-By-Step Videos To Follow Along in 2023!

1. Chicken Tagine with french fries

In this recipe, we are going to share with you how to cook a chicken tagine with french fries on top. It’s a dish that is delicious and that you will hopefully love when you will try it yourself at home. So let’s start with the ingredients you will need:

Ingredients of the whole recipe:

1. The first thing we do is take pieces of chicken (preferably pieces of chicken thighs) and put them in a bowl. Then we take a spoon and add a little pepper, ginger, turmeric, and salt, depending on how much we want.

Add a little cinnamon, chicken spices (not necessary if you don’t have any), and dried parsley which gives a special taste to the dish.

2. Then add some smen (ghee), just about the tip of a spoon. In the video, the woman does a little more because her smen is not very “strong”. Most of the time, the smell and taste are very strong, so it’s better to put just a little (just the tip of a spoon).

3. Chop some parsley and grate three cloves of garlic, then add it to the bowl with the chicken. To add a lot of flavor to the dish, dilute a little saffron in a glass barely filled with water. Then add olive oil as shown in the video. If you don’t have any, you can use table oil, or better yet, if you do have some, you can mix the two oils together.

4. It’s time to mix everything together and leave the bowl covered with a plastic sheet in the refrigerator, preferably overnight. If you don’t have the time, 2 hours or more can do the trick, although it’s always best to let the chicken absorb the spices overnight for a better taste.

5. Once it’s done, and you’re ready to cook, take your tagine and chop an onion. Tip: The best way to chop the onion is the one shown in the video. It will help you to get a very smooth, delicious, and good sauce.

6. Put the chicken on top of the onions and don’t forget to also take all the sauce that might be left in the bowl. Cut pieces of lemon confit afterward and add them to the tagine. Three slices are enough.

7. Close the tagine for a while (20-30 minutes) and take some sauce from the side to add it on top of the chicken. As you can see in the video, the onions release some “water”, and no actual water was added and is needed. Cover the tagine again and let it cook.

8. Take some potatoes, while you wait for the tagine to cook, and peel them. Cut them into the shape of french fries as shown how in the video.

9. Leave the cut potatoes in the water until you are ready to cook them. When you are ready, wipe them before with a cloth so that it is no longer damp and put them in oil to fry them.

10. Check your tagine from time to time. Try to check it every 20 – 25 minutes, then when you see that it is almost cooked, add olives, let it cook a little in the sauce, and voila!

Your chicken tagine is cooked. You just learned how to cook a chicken tagine. All there is left to do now is to add the french fries on top. Bonne appetite!

2. Vegetable Moroccan tagine with meat

In this recipe, we are going to share with you how to cook a simple and delicious Moroccan tagine with vegetables.

Let’s start by looking at the ingredients below and how to prepare them!

Ingredients of the whole recipe:

1. In a bowl, start by putting a small spoon of turmeric, ginger, and pepper. Add a little of saffron, as shown in the video, and squeeze it in the palm of your hand for more taste.

2. Add a spoon and a half of salt, a little of chopped parsley (leave a little bit for the end as decoration), 3 grated cloves of garlic, and finally water (approximately 6 tablespoons).

3. Mix all these ingredients together and add the meat. In the video, the woman used 1 kilogram of cow meat but you can use any red meat you want.

4. Mix well everything together and leave the bowl covered with a plastic sheet in the refrigerator, preferably overnight. If you don’t have the time, 2 hours or more can do the trick, although it’s always best to let the meat absorb the spices overnight for a better taste.

5. Put a heat diffuser disk on the stove, light the fire, and add the tajine on top of it. Don’t forget to always put your tagine on low heat, never high, no matter what kind of tagine you use!

6. Add about 4 tablespoons of a mixture of olive oil and table oil. Leave to heat just a little (be careful not to burn the oil), and add the meat.

7. Add a large onion cut into pieces on top of the meat. let it cook a little, then turn it over.

8. After 10 minutes, it is time to add the vegetables. Start by adding 1 big grated tomato on top of the meat followed by the rest of the vegetables: green beans, carrots, green squash, peas (200 grams), potatoes. All should be put in a decorative way, as shown in the video.

9. Cover the tagine and let it cook slowly for a while. When the tajine is about to simmer and to prevent the water from overflowing, add a small spoon on the side.

10. Put the sauce on the vegetables so that it takes on the flavor and taste of the tagine. The cooking time varies according to the quality of the meat and vegetables, but it is normally not less than an hour and a half.

When finally cooked, add good quality olive oil (about 2 tablespoons) and decorate the tagine with the rest of the parsley cut at the beginning. Bonne appetite!

 3. Chicken tagine with onions, and raisins

In this recipe, we are going to share with you how to cook a simple and delicious Moroccan tagine with chicken, onions, and raisins.

Ingredients of the whole recipe:

1. Start by taking one white onion and cut it into pieces, the other onions cut them into strips.

2. Put the chopped onion in the tagine and add the chicken on top.

3. Heat the tagine.

4. Add salt and olive oil on top and leave to cook just a little.

5.  After the color of the chicken starts to change, mix, and add pepper, turmeric, ginger, half a spoon of cinnamon, grate three cloves of garlic, and 2 cinnamon sticks. Tip: turn the chicken pieces so that the spices mix together.

6. Add a glass of hot water in the corner (not on the chicken as to not remove the spices), and cover the tagine and leave it for about 15 minutes

7. Take the onions in strips, add a little pepper and salt; mix them, and then add them to the tagine.

8. Try taking the sauce from the sides with a spoon and pour it over the onions so that they take on the taste of the sauce.

9. Cover the tagine again and let it rest for 30 minutes.

10. When the time has elapsed, add the raisins on top. (Try to keep them in the middle of the tagine for a better presentation.) Add brown sugar (or white sugar or honey) on top of the raisins and cook with a spoon on the corner so that the sauce does not overflow.

Your tajine is cooked, all there is left to do is to add some good quality olive oil on top. Bonne appetite!

4. Tagine with meatballs and eggs on top

In this recipe, we will share with you how to prepare a simple and delicious Moroccan tagine with meatballs and eggs on top. This is a recipe that does not take much time to make and is very popular and appreciated by Moroccan as well as foreigners, so let yourself be tempted, and let’s get into it!

Ingredients of the whole recipe:

1. Place the heat diffuser disk on the stove,  light the fire, and add the tajine on top of it. Ps: Don’t forget to always put your tagine on low heat, never high, no matter what kind of tagine you use!

2. Pour a little olive oil and add a small white onion cut in very small pieces (it is important that it is cut in small pieces!).

3. Add 3 grated cloves of garlic and mix everything with a wooden stick.

4. Grate very well 2 tomatoes and add two spoons of tomato paste diluted with a little water.

5. Add some chopped coriander and parsley, as well as a little of the following spices: ginger, pepper, paprika, turmeric, cumin, and salt. stir and let it cook for a while.
 

6. Now for the ground meat, you’re going to add almost the same ingredients that you put in the tagine. So in a bowl, put your ground meat. Add some finely chopped white onions, some parsley, and coriander, some pepper, turmeric, cumin, paprika, dried parsley (not much), a  tip of a spoon of cinnamon (if you want), some olive oil and mix everything with your hands.

7. Roll all your ground meat into balls while waiting for the sauce to prepare and add it to the tagine. Tip: (The shape of the meatballs remains optional however it is recommended to make them small).

8. When the meatballs are added to the tagine to not stir, leave it and cover.

9. when the minced meatballs will cook they will release their “water” add then the eggs but don’t leave it too long it will cook fast and you don’t want all the sauce to evaporate.

10. Add some chopped parsley as decoration on top.

Your tajine is cooked, all there is left to do is to add some good quality olive oil on top. Bonne appetite!

5. Sweet tagine with meat, stewed prunes, and almonds

In this compiled list of the best Moroccan tagines, we had to add this dish known to be cooked with stewed prune or even apricot and fried almond.

In this recipe, we will share with you how to prepare a simple and delicious sweet Moroccan tagine with meat, prunes, and almonds.

Ingredients of the whole recipe:

1. Start by taking a bowl and pour half a small glass of olive oil mixed with table oil.

2. Add the spices, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon of pepper, ginger, salt, and a little of saffron.

3. Coat the pieces of meat with the spices (If possible, leave the meat with the spices overnight for better taste).

4. Heat the tagine, add the other half glass of olive oil mixed with table oil, and the pieces of meat on top.

5. Immediately afterward, add 4 chopped garlic clove and 2 chopped white onions on top.

6. Cover and let it cook for a bit (about five minutes). in the meantime, roast the sesame seeds in a pan by or if you prefer in the oven. Tip1: careful the sesame seeds do not take a lot of time to roast. Tip 2: mix constantly if roasting on a pan.

7. For the stewed prunes, take a saucepan and add a full glass of water. Leave it until it starts boiling. Meanwhile, turn the pieces of meat over so that the other side cook too and leave to cook for about 10 minutes.

8. Back again with the prunes. When the water is boiling, pour in the prunes and leave it for about 5 to 10 minutes. Then remove half of the water and add some cinnamon sticks, a tablespoon of butter and mix everything together.

9. Let the prunes cook a little and open the tagine. You can see in the video that no water has been added and that it is the meat and the onion that should have released some “water”. Add a little water to the bowl that was used to coat the meat with the spices and add it to the tagine.

10. Leave it to cook for about an hour or more depending on the quality of the meat.

When the prunes are cooked removed it from the fire add it to the tagine when cooked too with the fried almond and roasted sesame seeds. Bonne appetite!

6. Tagine of meatballs rolled in fried eggplant slices

In this recipe, we are going to share with you how to cook a simple and delicious Moroccan dish with meatballs rolled in fried eggplant slices. Let’s start by looking at the ingredients.

Ingredients of the whole recipe:

1. Start by boiling one potato cut into pieces.

2. Cut the eggplants lengthwise, not too thick nor too thin, as shown in the video.

3. Add a little salt on the eggplants slices and let it rest a while. This will prevent the eggplants from absorbing too much oil when fried.

4. Take any type of pan and oiled it with some table oil or olive oil depending on your choice. Add the eggplants and a bit of oil on top, turn them from time to time, and let it fry until they are completely cooked and fried.

5. Return to your tagine, grate 3 cloves of garlic, and add a little olive oil, not too much since the eggplants are already oily.

6. Grate 4 tomatoes or if you prefer you can take the skin off and simply cut the tomatoes as shown in the video, and put them in the tagine.

7. Add a little of salt, a teaspoon of paprika, and approximately half a teaspoon of each of these spices: cumin, turmeric, ginger, pepper. You can add “soudania” (a hot red spice; dried and crushed cayenne pepper) or “harissa” (a Tunisian hot chili pepper), or nothing. Add some chopped parsley and let it cook for a while.

8. While you wait, pour the yellow pepper cut to pieces, the ground meat,  and the baked mashed potatoes in a bowl. Add to it a little of chopped parsley and coriander, the tip of a spoon of chilly, one grated clove of garlic, and add a little of the same spices that were poured in the tagine: pepper, turmeric, cumin, ginger, paprika, and salt. Mix all the ingredients well in the bowl, preferable by hand to be more in control and mix better.

9. Take some minced meat and form it into a shaped sausage form. Do that for the rest of the ground meat, then toll them each in a fried eggplant slice.

10. In that stage, if you grated the tomatoes, just stir a little, if you simply cut the tomatoes and you put them in the tagine, plunder them well, as shown in the video, and let everything to cook a little more.

11. Add all your rolled ground meat in the tagine, and if you wish some lemon confit (without its pulp) on top as decoration, then cover your tagine and let it cook.

And voila! All there is left to do is to add some good quality olive oil on top. Bonne appetite!

7. Tagine of fish sardines

In this recipe, we will share with you how to prepare a simple and delicious fish Moroccan tagine with sardines.

Ingredients of the whole recipe:

1. Start by washing well and removing the bones and scales from the sardines.

2. In a bowl, start by preparing a normal, traditional chermoula (Moroccan name referring to the sauce/spice for fish) first, by adding only two different ingredients that are not in the traditional chermoula for more and better taste.

3. Put some chopped coriander and parsley, a little grated garlic, 1 teaspoon of tomato paste, a little of harissa (a Tunisian hot chili pepper used a lot in Morocco), cumin, paprika, dried parsley, Oregano (just a bit), some grated onion, lemon juice, and of course a little olive oil. Mix everything together.

4. Take some of this chermoula, add it to the cleaned and opened sardines, and mix everything together (more preferable by hand for better mixing).

5. Take the tagine and add a few celery stalks to the bottom. On top, add slices of potatoes and tomatoes, as shown in the video.

6. Take again a little of the chermoula (not all of it) and put it on top of the tomato slices.

7. Add the slices of green bell pepper and then the sardine. (You can either take one sardine fold it on itself or take two sardines one on top of the other as shown in the video).

8. Place about five slices of lemon with a little salt on top (don’t forget the salt on top of the lemon slices as it will help not to sour the dish and let the lemon slices give a nice and delicious taste to the tagine).

9. Add the red olives and a whole chilli pepper (if desired).

10. Add a little water to the rest of the chermoula and pour it on top. Tip: put a piece of sulfate paper so as to not add a lot of water and to cook quicker.

In this recipe, we will share with you how to prepare a simple, delicious, and traditional tagine originated from Marrakech, called tajine “mdarbel”. Let’s start by looking at the ingredients below and how to prepare this dish.

9. After having left the eggplants 15minutes into salted water take it out and dry it as shown in the video. Then fry it.

10. When the eggplants are fried and the meat and chickpeas are cooked its time to assemble the dish. Add all the fried eggplants in the tagine and pour some sauce on it for better taste. Then add the chickpeas on top and add also to it some sauce for better taste. Leave the tagine cook for another 10 minutes only.

After 10 minutes, all there is left to do is to add a little of chopped parsley as decoration and some “soudania” on top. Bonne appetite!

Bonus recipe section

The two remaining recipes are not really traditional, but they are nonetheless delicious and original ways to prepare a tagine and are definitely worth trying.

9. Side dish vegetarian potato tagine

This tagine is more of a side dish than a main meal. It can also be considered as an extremely delicious and easy to prepare vegetarian dish.

Ingredients of the whole recipe:

1. Start by cutting one onion.

2. Add the spices; a little of paprika, turmeric, ginger, pepper, the tip of a teaspoon of cumin, and salt.

3. Add a little of grated garlic, olive oil, and heat the tajine.

4. Take a medium-sized bowl and pour some tomato sauce, if you don’t have any, you can replace it with some tomato paste or just a grated tomato.

5. Add to the tomato sauce and the same spices used in the tagine; a little bit of salt, cumin, pepper, ginger, turmeric, and paprika. Some grated garlic, chopped parsley and coriander, and finally a little of water.

6. Add to this sauce two potatoes cut into slices, as shown in the video, and once mixed, take them out, and put them on a plate. Do the same thing with one sliced tomato.

7. Once the onion in the tagine has cooked add a little of water so it won’t burn.

8. Start putting the potatoes and tomato slices in the tagine (two sliced potatoes followed by a slice of tomato, in that order for a better decoration).

9. Now add all the remaining sauce used for the potatoes and tomato slices and pour it in the tajine.

10. Finally, add a little olive oil and a few olives here and there.

There you have a succulent vegetarian tagine.  Bonne appetite!

10. Unique tagine with meatballs and cheese

For this recipe, we are going to share with you a new original and tasty way of making a tagine. This is not a traditional recipe still it is worth trying as it is very delicious.

Ingredients of the whole recipe:

1. Start by putting the tajine on a low fire and pour some olive oil and add 2 grated cloves of garlic.

2. Chop 1 big onion (if you don’t have a big onion you can take instead 2 small-medium sized onions), and cover the tagine for a while.

3. After the onion has cooked a little, add two peeled and cut tomatoes.

4. Add a little of chopped parsley.

5. Now its time to add the spices, the quantities can vary according to your taste; a tablespoon of paprika, a little of turmeric and pepper, a teaspoon of ginger, and a little olive oil.

6. Mix everything together, add some hot water, and let it cook for a while.

7. Add either one big potato peeled and cut or two medium-small potatoes peeled and cut. Pour a little hot water and let the potato cook on low heat (always over low heat when cooking with a tajine!).

8. Add 5 slices of red bell pepper.

9. Take a small quantity of ground meat, make small balls, and disperse them in the tagine.

10. Once the ground meat is cooked, take four egg yolks and place them each in a slice of red pepper. Pour the egg whites on the sides. Take a few slices of cheese and put them as shown in the video.

Add the end, add a little cumin on the eggs, and some chopped parsley as decoration. Bonne appetite!

Advice if it’s the first time you cook a tagine

1. Do not put the tagine directly on the stove, always place a heat diffuser disk on the stove, light the fire, then add the tagine on top.
2. Cook your tagine always on low heat.
3. Don’t open your tagine too often this will harden the meat.
4. You always serve the tagine with bread.
5. Try to always leave the meat, chicken, and fish in the sauce overnight before cooking.
6. If you don’t have a tagine, you can cook it in a pot. The tagine is not necessary, but it does give a special and unique taste to the dish.
7. Do not add cold water to the tagine when cooking.

Can I use a clay tagine on a gas stove?

There is no definitive answer to this question since it first depends on where you bought the tagine from. Was it in a foreign country or in Morocco? It also depends on the fact that they are tagines that are purely decorative and not for cooking while others of course are made specifically for gas stoves.

The best thing to do is to call the manufacturer of your tagine and ask them if it is safe to use on a gas stove. If it is, good. Just remember to always use a diffuser when cooking.

What food goes with Moroccan tagine?

A Moroccan tagine is a slow-cooked, savory dish of meat or vegetables. The best food to serve with a Moroccan tagine is preferably Moroccan salads (like zaalook, Taktouka, etc), french fries, Moroccan bread.

As for drinks, you can serve Moroccan tea, or jus, or even sodas depending on your taste.

The Bottom Line

Moroccan tagine recipes are a popular dish and for good reasons! They are flavorful, healthy, and easy to make. In this article, we shared the best Moroccan tagine recipes with you. We hope you enjoy them!

If you wish to discover other Moroccan meals feel free to check them out here.