Pan-Seared Chicken With Harissa, Dates and Citrus Recipe (2024)

Is this dry or wet harissa? I have some of both.

Question with disclaimers: Recognizing 'harissa' is in the title, and is the main ingredient for flavor - I cannot eat peppers. The recipe otherwise looks delicious. Is there any substitute anyone can recommend for the harissa, even though (please be kind - it is sad enough to always have to edit peppers out of recipes or discard the recipe altogether) it is central to the flavors here?

SusanB, as someone with other food allergies, I understand your dilemma. Is it the chili peppers you can't eat or all peppers? I'm wondering if you can tolerate smoked paprika. That with some coriander, cumin, and caraway (toasted first) mixed with garlic, tomato paste, and vinegar would be some approximation (there are various harissa recipes online). If you cannot do paprika, I think those other flavors would still be nice. Would love to hear how your substitutions go.

Thought this was delicious! I made 1/4 c. Harissa paste with two Tbsp harissa powder, 1 tbsp each olive oil and water. Cooked the chix legs longer as they needed about 8-10 more min. in the skillet than the recipe recommends. Otherwise followed it exactly and the flavors were deep, rich and warm but not too spicy. Coucous is the perfect accompaniment as it soaks up all the good juices and flavors. I used 1.8 lbs of skin on, bone in thighs. Excellent!

Just use harissa powder: it is ground SUMAC berries. Not pepper!

I thought I had skin on, bone in chicken, but when I went to use it, I discovered that in fact, it was skinless and boneless, so I didn't have much hope. Also, when I picked up oranges, I reached into the wrong bin and picked up blood oranges. In truth, it would have been better with skin on thighs, but it was amazing, and before we were finished eating, my partner asked when I'd make it again. Total keeper!

Made this for dinner last night and it was a big hit. One issue: although I opted to use two navel oranges for the peel (which add a lot to the dish), I needed FOUR oranges to get a full cup of juice — and it was rather difficult to squeeze the juice out of them. You might want to consider buying a small bottle of orange juice instead of trying to get a full cup of juice from your navel oranges.

THIS was well worth the effort! We had never (knowingly) had harissa. I found the harrissa sauce (wet) at Trader Joes, so sourcing was simple. It added spiciness, but was not overly hot. The shallots made us expect a dominant 'onion' flavor but the cooked down nicely and with the dates really made a very tasty sauce and the chicken turned out great. Served it with jasmine rice and oven roasted red, orange, and yellow bell peppers. I'm on a search for more recipes with harissa sauce & dates!!

Substitutes for Harissa: Tabasco, sriracha, sambal oleck, chilli bean paste or korean Gochujang

Janet replied below that wet makes sense due to 1/4 cup amount needed for recipe. I think you could use either, but 1/4 cup of dry Harissa is a LOT.

2 tbsp dry harissa1 tbsp oil1 tbsp water

In the market I saw tubes of "harissa" in the produce aisle alongside those tubes of crushed garlic, basil, lemongrass, etc. I took a couple, but in the condiments area I saw a jar of harissa. Comparing the ingredients, I found the first ingredient in the tube was beetroot and the second was carrots. Peppers were third. In the jar, the first two ingredients were roasted and other peppers. The tubes went back to the produce aisle. Buyer beware!

So, is wet or dry Harisa used in this recipe?I don't see a response, yet

In this case, harissa spice blend is made with smoked chili peppers among other ingredients including cumin, coriander, peppercorns, paprika, garlic powder, salt, parsley, and oregano. If you cannot eat peppers (including those turned into powdered spices), you could always make your own spice blend while just omitting the chili pepper. Your dish will lack the heat that packs the punch the recipe needs to balance the amount of citrus and fat, though.

I'm guessing that it's the wet one. If dry, it would probably be measured in spoonfuls (lie the cumin), not cups. But it's a guess!

Came together nicely, but when cooked for the specified amount of time, the thighs were still a bit undercooked. I also served roasted asparagus and the oven was still hot enough to restart, so I placed the thighs on a baking sheet at 375˚ for 15-20min. Since the thighs came out of the sauce, then oven-finished, it created a nice glaze over the thighs. Second, the orange peels in the sauce was a bit much. I'd still include, bigger and thinner cut peels, removing larges ones before serving,

This dish is incredible! Mouth O happening. Used jarred mild harissa, sold at my regular grocery market. Served with pearl couscous made with broth and lime juice. Used boneless skinless thighs, less fat and did not detract. Would use less orange rind next time, around 1 orange would be better. Don’t skip adding the lime juice and yogurt. My partner was gushing, pretty sure it was the meal, not me. The dill got a bit lost in the pow. Will definitely make again!

2/27/24 made with larger thighs (4) about 2 #. Peel of one Orange seemed enough just added some on to get to 1 cup. Used 3 TBS dry harissa with 1TBS of olive oil. Marinated overnight. Kept other amounts the same. Cooked in large caste iron skillet. Very tasty not too spicy. Definitely will make again

This has many flavors interacting, and the result is absolutely DELICIOUS. We were completely satisfied. The interesting flavors were new to us. My husband is not keen on spice, but the offsets - lime juice, orange juice, dates, shallots, scallions, honey - all made it come together in a most pleasing way. I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs since that’s what we had.

My chicken thighs did not want to cook through in anything like the timeline in the recipe. In the end I took them out and put them in the oven to finish. Next time might try putting the skillet in the oven after you add the liquids and just letting it cook uncovered in there.

skin does not get crispy, remove skin and crisp separately. cara cara oranges work well

My favorite recipe - it always hits the spot and is incredibly delicious! For the Greek yogurt dip, I add olive oil and some olives.

When peeling the orange is the pith included or just the orange skin on the outside?

My family requested that I never make this again. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good.

This was really good and different! I made the recipe pretty much as written but am doing a Whole30 so left out the honey and skipped the dairy toppings. The dates, shallots, and onions get kind of gooey and cozy, I served it over potatoes but I imagine this would be really nice over rice. Highly recommend, will be making again.

Amazing as is. Soaked up every last drop with rustic bread.

no changes it was quick and delicious/

Love this recipe! I ran into trouble when trying to double the amount of chicken. I cooked it in a crowdxed pan ( bad choice) and had WAY too much liquid to ever reduce.

Followed exactly except for time. Wonderful warm, bright, flavors. Others have made this note, but I'll reiterate: The cooking time given for the bone-in chicken thighs is much too short. Of course, the larger the thighs, the longer they need to cook. The thighs I used were quite large. I cooked them at a steady simmer for nearly an hour, and they were just cooked enough.

Has anyone doubled this recipe? I tried and had too much sauce to brown the chicken. Probably because the chicken was too crowded in a single large fry pan. Lesson learned.