Chicken with Olives

Chicken with Olives is such an impressive dish to serve at a dinner party and it is so accessible as most people can get olives without much difficulty.

I once had to inform my friend that she had never tasted 'real olives' if the only ones she got were the pitted ones from the supermarket.

Real olives sourced from the village lady are bitter and quite intense, so you might be surprised if you've only had the other ones before.

If you like things spicy why not try my spicy chicken marinade, and if you like things sour have a go at my pomegranate molasses chicken.

Ingredients

I have used bright green Nocellera olives as they are delicious on their own and also taste good when cooked.

You can use any olive variety, even combining black or green olives of your choice.

So try and use olives that have the stone in - it's ok - people can anticipate there might be a stone inside it's not that hard to slip by.

I also chose to use boneless chicken thighs as they can handle being slow cooked for a long time better than breast.

You can use any cut of chicken, just adjust the cooking time accordingly depending on the size and intensity of the heat.

I wouldn't cook chicken breast more than 30-40 minutes, whereas thighs can be slow cooked for over an hour.

Instructions

The marinade for the chicken is quite basic - 7 spice paprika coriander turmeric - and i've also added some ras el hanout; a North African spice mix for excitement.

Of course olive oil and lemon juice will bring out all the flavours, and the herb of choice is parsley for this one as it is less overpowering than cilantro (fresh coriander)

I quite like this dish to be saucy so I added a cup of homemade chicken stock which I had previously frozen. You could sub this with a cup of boiling water.

You don't have to add potatoes near the end but I love potatoes (nearly as much as my children) and snuck some into the sauce before I put it in the oven.

Marinade the chicken for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

Sear the chicken in some regular olive oil until browned. Remove and brown the onions.

Re-add the chicken, some stock (or water) and the olives along with some parsley

Add some optional potatoes. Place into oven at 180C (350F) for around half an hour.

Variations

Considering North Africans do tagines best then it makes sense that this dish would work just as well using these variations:

• Preserved lemon - chop up a small preserved lemon and add to the marinade or sauce
• Apricots & prunes - add dried fruit 15 minutes from the end
• Carrots & Peppers - top up the veg by adding some carrots or sweet peppers with the olives.
• Saffron - add a small pinch of saffron to the chicken stock for that extra luxury. Don't overdo it.

Equipment

I used a large 28cm pan to fit in the all the chicken, but you could just as well use a tagine dish or a casserole dish to slow cook the chicken in.

It's a good idea to use a pan/pot that can also go in the oven to save fuss.

Top tips

Making this dish requires patience and I wouldn't rush cooking the onions or the searing the chicken as it makes all the difference.

You can check out my section on onions in my e-book if you want to know the secret to good home-cooking.

I would serve this dish with rice although you can also make some couscous if you know how.

Couscous is best made with chicken or vegetable stock to get the full flavour.

You can serve extra lemons at the table for extra zesty freshness.

📖 Recipe

Print

Chicken with Olives

Boneless chicken thighs in a parsley, lemon, garlic sauce with olives

Course Main Course

Cuisine Lebanese, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern

Keyword Dinner Party, Slow cooking, Weeknight Dinner

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Servings 5

Author Zaatar and Zaytoun

Ingredients

For the marinade

• 5-6 boneless chicken thighs approx 600g
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric
• ¼ teaspoon cumin
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon coriander
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon 7 spice
• ½ teaspoon ras el hanout spices
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon sumac
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 lemon juiced
• drizzle mild olive oil

Other ingredients

• 2 onions sliced
• handful of olives ½ cup
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• ½ yellow bell pepper finely chopped
• small handful parsley finely chopped
• 1 cup chicken stock (or boiling water)
• 2 potatoes chopped 1 inch wide
• salt to taste
• 1 lemon juiced

Instructions

1. In a bowl, marinade the chicken by adding all the spices, juice of 1 lemon, drizzle of mild olive oil, good pinch of salt (approx ½ teaspoon) and leave to marinade for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.
2. In a wide pan or casserole dish, sauté the sliced onions in ¼ cup of mild olive oil until golden, remove and set aside

3. Add the chicken thighs and sear the outsides for around five minutes until browned, then add the onions back in along with the chicken stock, juice of a lemon, approx ½ teaspoon of salt, bell pepper, garlic and parsley.

4. Bring to a boil then add the olives and simmer on a low heat for half an hour. Preheat the oven to 180C (around 350F)

5. Add potatoes chopped into 1 inch pieces to the sauce and finish off the chicken another half an hour in the oven until the top is crispy and the potatoes well done.

6. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Garnish with a final sprinkle of parsley and a squeeze of lemon

7. Serve with rice, couscous or flatbreads.

Recipe Notes

You can use any cut of chicken, although if you use breast reduce the cooking time by 15 minutes

Related

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Pairing

These are my favourite dishes to serve afterwards: