Years ago I bought a slow cooker and did an experiment.
I cooked two batches of Coq au Vin – one in the oven and the other in my slow cooker. It was fun tasting them side by side. While the slow cooker won on texture. The oven was miles ahead on flavour.
So I concluded that the oven was better. And promptly gave away my slow cooker to a lucky Stonesoup reader.
Fast forward a decade or so and my thoughts about slow cookers have completely reversed. I now LOVE mine and use it at least once a week.
The more I use it. The more I love it. Especially for busy work days when I know I’ll be home later than usual.
The secret is keeping the prep super simple… like under 3 minutes.
So just plonking 3 or 4 ingredients in the slow cooker and turning it on. No chopping. No browning things. Sometimes no defrosting even!
Then in the evening it’s a matter of adding a few more ingredients to heat through and dinner is ready.
This Moroccan-ish Apricot number is a winner on all fronts.
The tomato paste gives a strong flavour foundation with highlights from the spices and sweetness from the apricots. And of course succulent chicken courtesy of our friend the slow cooker.
If you think that slow cooking is just for Winter, think again. I first made this in Summer and was so grateful for getting dinner cooked without heating up the kitchen with the oven.
Chicken drumsticks are the favourite in our family but it’s also excellent with other cuts – see the variations for ideas.
And it looks like a lot of ingredients but 3 of them are spices and one is salt!
Slow Moroccan Apricot Chicken
Ingredients
- 150 g dried apricots
- 3-4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 kg chicken drumsticks see variations
- 1/2 teaspoon salt on the chicken
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 can chickpeas drained
- 1 small bunch flat leaf parsley
Instructions
- Place apricots and tomato paste in the base of the slow cooker. Add chicken and sprinkle over the salt, cumin, coriander and paprika.
- Cover and cook on low for 11-10 hours or high for 5-6 hours.
- When the chicken is cooked through, increase the heat to high. Add the chickpeas and cook for 5 -10 mins or until hot.
- Serve with parsley on top.
Variations & Substitutions
6 ingredients – use just one of the spices or replace with 3 teaspoons of a spice blend like ras el hanout or baharat or even curry powder.
plan-B (pantry) – serve with green olives or roast almonds or other roast nuts instead of the parsley.
short on time – use the oven. Add 1 cup water and cook covered 180C (350F) for an hour or so.
Keto / ultra low carb – skip the apricots. Skip the chickpeas and serve with cauliflower rice, baby spinach, cooked greens or green beans instead. Frozen green beans, broccoli and cauliflower / cauliflower rice can be warmed straight from frozen in the slow cooker – allow 15 minutes or so on high.
vegetarian – these flavours are amazing with eggplant. Increase the chickpeas to get enough protein or serve with a poached or fried egg. Also have been meaning to try it with firm tofu.
different protein – frozen or defrosted chicken thighs bone in, chicken thigh fillets, chicken breast fillets , sausages, meatballs, ground (minced) pork or ground (minced) lamb, salmon fillets, other fish fillets. The following can also be used but these will need defrosting first – whole chicken, pork belly, pork shoulder, lamb shanks, lamb shoulder.
different fruit – dried figs, prunes, raisins, cranberries will all work.
different flavour bombs / alternatives to parsley – roast almonds, green olives, fried shallots, feta, goats cheese.
nightshade-free – use 3 tablespoons soy sauce or oyster sauce instead of the tomato.
more substantial (carb lovers) – serve with flat bread or potatoes.
more substantial (low carb) – avocado, low carb veg (see keto ideas), roast almonds, extra chicken, poached or fried eggs.
different vegetables – serve with cauliflower rice, baby spinach, cooked greens or green beans instead. Frozen green beans, broccoli and cauliflower / cauliflower rice can be warmed straight from frozen in the slow cooker – allow 15 minutes or so on high. Eggplant, red peppers, onion and zucchini can all be added at the beginning if you have time.
more fancy / for entertaining – serve with parsley, almonds AND olives or feta. And a nice green salad on the side.
Waste Avoidance Strategy
dried apricots / salt / ground cumin / ground coriander / smoked paprika / chickpeas – keep them in the pantry.
tomato paste – unopened can stay in the pantry. Once open will keep in the fridge for a few weeks.
chicken drumsticks – freeze them.
flat leaf parsley – tends to be the most long lasting of the leafy herbs. Should keep for a few weeks in the fridge if wrapped in a plastic bag. For longer periods pop it in the freezer – it will wilt but will still be useable in this dish.
Problem Solving Guide
bland – more salt! Or add in a flavour bomb.
too dry – overcooked chicken. Next time set the timer on the slow cooker to switch to warm earlier. For chicken breast fillets 4 hours is generally enough. For now a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil or dollop of mayo will help.
no slow cooker – use the oven. Add 1 cup water and cook covered 180C (350F) for an hour or so. Or simmer everything on the stove top – adding extra water as needed.
Prepare Ahead
Yes! Just cook as per the recipe but keep the parsley separately. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for 1-2 weeks or can be frozen.
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
This was so simple and so tasty! I served it with creamy mashed potatoes. I recently got a slow cooker, but haven’t felt that comfortable using it – this was the perfect ‘gateway’ recipe 🙂
Julie!
You are totally in for a treat with the slow cooker! Enjoy Enjoy!
It worked very nicely, I had enough for two meals. I’ve never had dried apricots before. I used passata as I didn’t have tomato paste. Seemed to work fine. I’m going to add some sliced carrots and maybe green beans to the two slow cookers and use boneless/skinless chicken thighs that I can dice into bite-size pieces. I need to make enough for 15 portions, which I serve with rice in individual containers. Everything has to be eatable with one hand (fork/spoon) because people are eating standing up and out on the street.
Usually I do 1.5 kg x 2 because I use two slow cookers. Jules, do you think that would be enough for 15 portions with the extra veg and chick peas? It’s tricky trying to increase the recipe the right amount, but your portion slider helps a lot with doing the calculations.
Excellent Colleen!
Trust your instincts re quantities – you will know better than me.
I have to try this because if it goes well, I can make a giant batch for my volunteer cooking. I like to find easy but tasty options, so the folks don’t always get spag bol or chilli every time!
Your volunteers are very lucky to have you Colleen 🙂
I would like to try making this with curry powder. Would you suggest I eliminate all the other spices and just use three teaspoons of curry powder? Or combine the curry powder with some of the other spices? If so, what amounts?
I’d just replace everything with 2-3 teaspoons curry powder (depending on how hot you like things) Verona!
Thanks!
Eggplant rather than chicken, and no slow-cooker, so I used a tin of tomatoes rather than the paste. I bulked the result up with walnuts rather than more chickpeas. Weirdly, even though it was in the oven for two hours before the eggplant was properly cooked (and even then some of the skin was still a little tough), the apricots still hadn’t integrated into the rest of the dish. Cutting them up might help. Good.
Eggplant can take a while Mark – excellent work on the adaptations 🙂
I cooked this tonight with dried figs subbed for the apricots and cauliflower for the chickpeas because that’s what we had.
My slow cooker must be powerful, because after 2 hours on high the chicken was more than done.
We liked the flavors OK.
Next time I’ll try curry powder and cook on low.
It would be fab with curry powder Elizabeth!