Chicken Couscous

Name: Chicken Couscous
Prep time: 12 min
Cook time: 21 min
Total time: 33 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Moroccan
Ingredients: 1 tbsp Olive Oil; 1 chopped Onion; 200g Chicken Breast; pinch Ginger; 2 tblsp Harissa Spice; 10 Dried Apricots; 220g Chickpeas; 200g Couscous; 200ml Chicken Stock; Handful Coriander

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Chicken recipe with Moroccan flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 55 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings · 33 min total

1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 chopped Onion
200g Chicken Breast
pinch Ginger
2 tblsp Harissa Spice
10 Dried Apricots
220g Chickpeas
200g Couscous
200ml Chicken Stock
Handful Coriander

Step-by-step instructions

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion for 1-2 mins just until softened.
Add the chicken and fry for 7-10 mins until cooked through and the onions have turned golden.
Grate over the ginger, stir through the harissa to coat everything and cook for 1 min more.
Tip in the apricots, chickpeas and couscous, then pour over the stock and stir once.
Cover with a lid or tightly cover the pan with foil and leave for about 5 mins until the couscous has soaked up all the stock and is soft.
Fluff up the couscous with a fork and scatter over the coriander to serve.
Serve with extra harissa, if you like.

Why this works on a weeknight

Chicken Couscous lands at about 33 minutes total — a little longer than our 30-minute target, but most of that time is hands-off simmering, which is why it earned a spot in our Skillet & One-Pan collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Chicken Couscous actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🥘 Skillet & One-Pan Chicken Moroccan