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Moroccan-Style Braised Lemon Chicken (Tangia)
This simple chicken braise loaded with high-flavor ingredients is modeled on tangia, a slow-cooked lamb dish from Marrakech. We got a lesson in cooking tangia the traditional way from taxi driver Youssef Boufelja. For our simplified version, we used boneless, skinless chicken thighs, which have a similar richness. In Morocco, preserved lemons lend the dish a gentle acidity, but we got similar flavor from lemon zest and juice—as well as chopped green olives for brininess—added at the end of cooking. Serve with warmed, halved pita bread for scooping up the tender meat and thickened sauce.
4
Servings
Tip
Don't reduce the lemon zest or juice. The zest provides both flavor and fragrance, and the juice adds tang and acidity. You'll need 3 to 4 lemons to get 3 tablespoons grated zest; a wand-style grater works best.
1 hour
25 minutes active
Ingredients
-
5
teaspoons ground cumin, divided
-
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
Directions
-
01In a small bowl, stir together 2 teaspoons of the cumin and 2 teaspoons salt. Set aside. Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper.
Reviews
July 20, 2026
Delicious!
Made for the first time and I really loved it. I tend to love heat in my dishes so I'm thinking of adding some cayenne to the spice mix next time. I actually didn't have preserved lemons so I used the zest / juice substitution. But I really need to get preserved lemons in my pantry. . .
June 2, 2026
Very good
Wonderful flavors. Definitely do not skimp on the lemon zest or juice as it adds the perfect brightness. I served it over rice. My husband loved it. Definitely a keeper. I would keep in mind that the timing in the recipe really depends on the size of the dutch oven. I used a large one and the cook times were shorter because of this.
January 18, 2026
A+
I made this with 1. 9lbs of chicken, it was saucy and very flavorful! I might suggest adding the garlic closer to the end of the onion cooking, as the flavor was a bit on the burnt garlic side.
August 21, 2023
Excellent Dish
Great meal and very easy to make. We served it with brown basmati rice, which was a nice accompaniment. Spice mixture was very flavorful and the lemon and olives really made this dish pop. It will be going into our rotation.
August 10, 2023
But I do have preserved lemons!
I’ve noticed in a lot of recipes, you do substitutions because you assume that your readers don’t have the “original“ item. In the recipe before this one that I read, you assumed that nobody had achiote paste and that’s pretty easy to come by. Anyway, sometimes it would be nice if you would give an either or ingredient amount, i.e., X amount of preserved lemon if you have it; Z amount of lemon juice and zest if you don’t. Just a thought, because I suspect that a lot of your readers are more adventuresome and/or more experienced than you think.
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