Chicken simmered with green olives, carrots and mushrooms in a light sauce.
Tajine zitoune puts green olives at the centre of the dish. This boneless-chicken adaptation includes mushrooms and carrots, with a light cinnamon note rather than a tomato-heavy sauce.
- Prep
- 20 minutes
- Cook
- 50 minutes
- Total
- 1 hour 10 minutes
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Cuisine
- Algerian
The recipe
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Before you start
Taste and, if needed, blanch the olives before starting the sauce. Brown the chicken lightly, then simmer with vegetables and finish by reducing the sauce.
Ingredients
Quantities change with servings; cooking times stay the same.
Equipment
- Wide casserole with lid paid link
- Small saucepan paid link
- Food thermometer paid link
- Slotted spoon paid link
Method
Taste one olive. If very salty or bitter, cover the olives with water, simmer for 5–7 minutes, then drain. Repeat once with fresh water if needed. Leave pleasantly seasoned olives unblanched.
Heat the oil in a wide casserole over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken lightly for 5–6 minutes, working in batches if necessary, then transfer to a plate.
Lower the heat. Cook the onion for 7 minutes, then add the garlic and mushrooms and cook for 3 minutes. Return the chicken and its juices. Add the carrots, cinnamon, pepper and 500 ml water.
Cover partly and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the olives and cook for another 10–15 minutes, until the carrots are tender and the chicken reaches 74°C in its thickest pieces.
Remove the cinnamon. If the sauce is too thin, lift out the chicken and vegetables and boil the liquid briefly to reduce it. Return everything to the pot. Add salt only after tasting, then finish with parsley and optional lemon juice.
Chef’s notes
Olive brine varies greatly. Taste before salting the sauce, and reduce the heat once it starts bubbling so the chicken stays tender.
Tips and variations
A heavy casserole works well; a ceramic tagine is not essential. Mushrooms and boneless thighs are choices in this adaptation, rather than a claim that all Algerian versions contain them.
Serve with
Serve with bread or plain couscous to catch the sauce. Remove any stray olive stones before serving.
Storage
Refrigerate in shallow covered containers within 2 hours, or 1 hour above 32°C, at 4°C or below. Use within 2 days or freeze for 1 month. Reheat to 74°C.
Nutrition per serving (estimated)
Nutrition has not been calculated. Values depend on portion size and ingredients used.
Allergens
No major allergens are intentionally added to the stew. Check preserved olives for sulphites and other declared allergens. Bread or couscous contains wheat/gluten.
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Questions
Must the olives be blanched? Only if their saltiness or bitterness would overpower the sauce.
Can I use bone-in chicken? Yes, but allow more cooking time and verify 74°C away from the bone.
Sources and recipe context
This is an editorial adaptation informed by the sources below. Quantities and timings are written for this version; Sixto Carreon has confirmed kitchen testing of all ten recipes in this batch.
University of Virginia International Center: Algerian chicken with olives
Soulef, Amour de Cuisine: tajine zitoune and variations
The featured image is adapted from a licensed photograph with an AI-assisted champagne background. It is a serving example, not a Sixto kitchen-test photograph. The photograph illustrates a chicken, olive, carrot and mushroom serving; it does not document the quantities used here. Photographer, licence and edit details appear in Editorial Standards.
