Moroccan Spiced Chicken with Roasted Vegetables

I’m very fond of Mediterranean cuisine. There’s such a variety of flavors even though many use the same spices and ingredients. One of my all-time favorites is Moroccan food. I realized I loved it after trying a Moroccan beef stew recipe many years ago, and that love affair is still going strong. Fortunately, my husband is just as in love with Moroccan food as I am, so we are both looking forward to trying today’s Moroccan Spiced Chicken with Roasted Vegetables recipe. We don’t need much of an excuse to try a recipe that involves harissa, a spicy paste used in North African cuisine. This recipe slathers it all over a spatchcocked chicken nestled in a mixture of vegetables and olives. It sounds so yummy!

This easy Moroccan Spiced Chicken with vegetables is bursting with flavor but quick enough to make that you can serve on a weeknight.

Recipe Author: Irvin Lin at Eat the Love
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The Ingredients

The list of ingredients for this Moroccan Spiced Chicken with Roasted Vegetables seems to be on the long side, but it wasn’t so bad after I realized what I had on hand. I had all the spices, some homemade chicken stock, and onion.

That left me to buy the chicken, produce, olives, and some couscous. I was able to find all of them at my regular grocery store.

The only item I couldn’t find was the store-bought harissa, so I decided to give making it a try. That added a few more items to my grocery list (mostly produce). Tip: I used a harissa recipe from Simply Delicious, and it walked me through the whole process. It was easier than I thought it would be, and I made it the day before I planned to make this chicken recipe.

Moroccan Spiced Chicken with Roasted Vegetables Ingredients
Whole chicken, harissa, ground pepper, ground coriander, ground cumin, smoked paprika, kosher salt, chicken stock, couscous, garlic, mint leaves, orange, black olives, fennel, carrots, and yellow onion

The Process

Does this sound complicated to you? It’s not! The author does a nice job of breaking it down into manageable chunks so it doesn’t seem like so much work.

Tip: Things start off with preheating the oven and spatchcocking the chicken. I’ve done this many times before, and all you need is a sharp pair of kitchen scissors. It only takes a couple of minutes to do, and the chicken cooks so much faster than when it’s left whole.

Spatchcocked chicken
Spatchcocked chicken

After that, I mixed up the harissa spice rub and spread half of it onto the newly butterflied chicken. This part was a little messy, and a thorough hand washing after is a must. The rest of the harissa is used to make a sauce to go over the vegetables.

I followed the instructions for almost everything for the sauce except the orange zesting and juicing part. The instructions given are nice and clear, but I had an easier way to do it. Tip: I used my vegetable peeler to remove pith-free strips of orange zest. Once that was done I cut the orange in half and squeezed out the juice.

Zested orange
I zested the orange using a vegetable peeler

This is the home stretch! The last part of the prep work is peeling and slicing the vegetables. Tip: A good chef's knife is essential for this part, and this article with tips on how to peel garlic fast is a huge help.

Tip: By the way, this is a sheet pan dinner, but I used the bottom of my broiler pan. My sheet pans are pretty shallow, and I was concerned the harissa-chicken stock sauce would overflow. My broiler pan is bigger and deeper, and it was just right for this recipe. I didn’t spill a drop!

All that’s left is to let your beautiful dinner roast. It takes about an hour, but this is all inactive time except for stirring the vegetables once and adding a meat thermometer.

The prepped chicken and vegetables
The prepped chicken and vegetables on a deep sheet pan

Timing

So how did my Moroccan Spiced Chicken with Roasted Vegetableswork out? Wonderfully! Here’s how my time was spent from start to finish:

  • 17 minutes to prep
  • 1 hour 4 minutes to cook
  • 10 minutes to stand (I made the couscous at this time)
  • 1 hour 31 minutes total

That was 1 minute longer than the 1 hour and 30 minutes listed, but it’s so close that I’m counting it as spot-on.

So how was it?

Clear & Accurate Directions
Accurate Time(s)
Appearance
Taste
This Moroccan Spiced Chicken with Roasted Vegetables is everything a roast chicken is supposed to be: tender, juicy, and just perfect! It has a bit of spice thanks to the harissa spice rub, and it took a bland chicken to spectacular. Making this dish is pretty easy, and the instructions walk you through everything you need to do. The only problem I had was not finding the harissa paste locally, but I was able to make my own a day before the chicken. My husband and I loved this recipe, and it's going to become a regular on our menu.
The Hungry Pinner
The Hungry Pinnerhttps://www.hungrypinner.com
I'm Candice, and I'm The Hungry Pinner. I created this blog to share my love for cooking and my experiences with the MANY recipes I've found on Pinterest over the years. Join me as I blog my way through those recipes to find out if they are worth trying yourself.

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This Moroccan Spiced Chicken with Roasted Vegetables is everything a roast chicken is supposed to be: tender, juicy, and just perfect! It has a bit of spice thanks to the harissa spice rub, and it took a bland chicken to spectacular. Making this dish is pretty easy, and the instructions walk you through everything you need to do. The only problem I had was not finding the harissa paste locally, but I was able to make my own a day before the chicken. My husband and I loved this recipe, and it's going to become a regular on our menu.Moroccan Spiced Chicken with Roasted Vegetables