Moroccan Chicken Smothered in Olives

To NYT cooking newbies - always read the comments first! Thanks to everyone. Here were my adjustments - used 4 (not 8) boneless skinless chicken thighs, but i kept spice amount the same! - didn't brine chicken. marinated in spices & a few teaspoons oil (for 5 hours) - seared chicken on both sides, removed to side - then sautéed onions and garlic - then added chicken & 1 cup stock - only used 2-3 oz olives - didn't boil before

I used half the amount of chicken broth but this still came out like a soup - not at all like the picture. But it was very tasty and also easy. I used fresh ginger because I was out of dry, and served with rice. Next time I will try adding preserved lemon, as suggested by a couple other commenters, and I like the idea someone suggested of tossing in some Israeli cius cous.

Made with half of the sugar in brine, but still too sweet for me; was tender though. as per other reviews, I doubled the spices and added grated ginger in addition to powdered and bloomed them in pan with oil and onions before adding chicken. next time I may add cumin seeds. would have been way too moist with 2 c broth, so decreased that to 3/4 c, less than half of what recipe called for. also added a can of chickpeas & the olives last 10 min for overall a lovely meal.

This has been a hit whenever I make it. I add the olives at the beginning - Castelvetrano and saute the onions, garlic and spices before adding chicken. Add cilantro midway through. It never fails to wow.

Cooked this last night, without brining. I followed recipe closely, but had no ground ginger and substituted a TBSP grated fresh ginger. The result was acceptable, but lacked the sparkle and power of the herbs and fresh cilantro that I expected. I may try again and DOUBLE all the spice quantities!

Before making this dish, I was of the opinion that I didn't need to rinse the olives, so didn't. Missing this step made for a saltier dish than I usually like. The dish though, was delicious and we ate half one night, I froze the remainder and we had the last of it last night with some roasted butternut squash - Even better the second time (still a bit too salty).

I ran out of chicken broth and only had a 1 1/2 cup of chic but luckily had some "better than bouillon" chicken flavor. I used 1/4 tablespoon and 1/2 cup of water and it was delish!

Too much broth. Next time I would reduce that to one cup. Also too many olives. I know it’s “smothered,” but this was more like olives smothered in chicken. I will use one jar instead of two next time. And there will be a next time because it was so good. I served it with couscous

I often find that I lose the texture and all round possibilities of a chicken when I boil it. With that I have two suggestions: 1) If you follow the recipe as-is try fork-shredding the chicken as the last step and serve it with couscous or rice for some added interest, or; 2) Make it in a cast iron dutch oven and start by frying the chicken for a good 7-8 minutes before adding onion for a few minutes and then the rest (combined and brought to a boil ahead of time). Cut cook time by a third.

This was very good. I did follow others' comments and sautéed the spices (measured by eye, definitely more than the recipe called for) and onions in the oil first, and then added the chicken and broth. Simmered for about 30 minutes, then added the olives and lemon juice and let it simmer uncovered for another 10 minutes. It is quite brothy.

I modified this: I used a yogurt mixture for the "brining" with the spices in it. The chicken thighs were boneless and skinless. I just added the olives to the chicken. It was very good.

This recipe is like the recipe -chicken with olives and preserved lemons.the technique in that recipe is simpler and is delicious.i suggest forgetting this recipe and use the other recipe and omit the preserved lemon

I reduced the time by shredding and removing the skin of a store-bought rotisserie chicken. Since it was not going to pick up the braisiing flavors, I increased the spices a bit, and used hot paprika instead. Okay, okay, it’s a different dish than the recipe, but a keeper. Lots of leftovers for two. I like the fact that it is low-fat by removing the skin, which reduces sodium content as well.

Was really great but borderline almost too salty even for us. Chicken would need to be MEGA rinsed next time, or maybe dont even brine it and see how it is. Also you didn’t do the cooking step properly with the olives because you bought ones with pits so had to pit them all individually so maybe they were too salty because of that.

PERFECT RECIPE! It captures the true flavor of Moroccan cooking.