Moroccan-Style Chicken & Chickpeas

Published: September 26, 2026

Moroccan-Style Chicken & Chickpeas
Image info
Total: 7 hours 20 min
Prep: 10 min
Cook: 7 hours 10 min
Shopping: Disabled
Cooking Mode: Off
Ingredients
Stew

  • 3 lb Chicken thighs , boneless, skinless

  • 30 oz Chickpeas , canned (two 15 oz cans), drained and rinsed

  • 28 oz Crushed tomatoes , canned

  • 1 large Onion , diced

  • 4 cloves Garlic , minced

  • 2 tsp Ground cumin

  • 2 tsp Sweet paprika

  • 1 tsp Ground cinnamon

  • 1 tsp Ground ginger

  • 0.5 tsp Ground turmeric

  • 0.3 tsp Cayenne pepper

  • 1.5 tsp Kosher salt

  • 1 cups Dried apricots , halved

  • 1.5 cups Chicken broth

Finish

  • 0.8 cups Green olives , pitted and halved

  • 1 count Lemon , juiced

  • 0.5 cups Flat-leaf parsley or cilantro , chopped

Quinoa

  • 2 cups Quinoa , rinsed

  • 4 cups Water or chicken broth

Directions
  1. Prep: Dice the onion, mince the garlic, and halve the apricots and olives. About five minutes of work total.
  2. Load the cooker: Put the chicken thighs in the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the chickpeas, crushed tomatoes, onion, garlic, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, cayenne, salt, apricots, and chicken broth. Stir roughly to coat. Hold the olives back for now — they'd go soft and lose their bite.
  3. Cook: Cover and cook on LOW for 7 hours or HIGH for 4. The apricots will have dissolved into the sauce and the chicken should fall apart under a fork.
  4. Shred and finish: Shred the chicken in the pot with two forks. Stir in the olives, lemon juice, and parsley or cilantro. Taste for salt — the olives bring a lot, so check before adding more. Rest 10 minutes.
  5. Cook the quinoa: Combine the quinoa and water or broth, bring to a boil, cover, simmer low for 15 minutes, then rest covered for 5 more. Fluff and portion.

Warm-spiced chicken and chickpeas with apricots and olives. Sweet-savory, and the sauce is thin enough to soak straight into quinoa.

Notes:

  • The apricots are doing structural work here — they melt down and sweeten the sauce, so don't skip them. Prunes or dates work as substitutes.
  • If you want it richer, stir 2 tablespoons of tomato paste in with the spices.
  • Storage: 4 days in the fridge, 3 months frozen; keep the quinoa in separate containers.
  • Olives can get salty over time in the fridge, so hold back on salt at the end if you're batching for the week.
  • A spoonful of plain yogurt on top when reheating is very good.