A simple, delicious Tagine Recipe with Eggplant and Chickpeas infused with Moroccan spices served over cinnamon-scented couscous. This flavorful Eggplant Chickpea Stew is vegan and gluten-free! Video included. Check out our 25+ Incredible Chickpea Recipes and our 20+ Best Eggplant Recipes!
This flavorful Moroccan Stew or “Tagine” is made with chickpeas, caramelized eggplant, and a fragrant Moroccan spice blend called Ras El Hanout. It’s luscious and hearty, yet totally plant-based and vegan. It can be made ahead, as leftovers get even more flavorful as the flavors have time to meld. The eggplant is succulent and meaty, a deliciously satisfying way to cook it!
What is a tagine?
A tagine can refer to a traditional clay cooking vessel with a hooded lid, or a slow-cooked stew typically from Morocco and other North African countries like Algeria and Egypt.
how to make Eggplant Tagine | 60-sec video!
Can you make a tagine, without a tagine?
You can make a tagine (a slow-cooked stew) without the clay vessel, using a dutch oven, or another ovenproof, lidded baking dish.
How to make Moroccan Eggplant Tagine
This vegan tagine recipe starts with cutting and salting the eggplant. Eggplant is so meaty and filling here, you really won’t miss the meat at all.
Cut the eggplant into large triangular wedges. Place in a bowl of salted water and place a lid over top to keep them submerged for 20 minutes.
Salting the eggplant will not only help remove bitterness but will also prevent the eggplant from soaking up too much oil.
Pat the eggplant dry.
Working in batches, sear two sides of the eggplant until deeply golden.
No need to cook the eggplant all the way through here as it will cook through in the oven. Set these aside.
To the same pan, saute the onion, garlic, bell pepper, celery for the flavorful base of the stew.
Season with Ras El Hanout. You can buy this flavorful Ras el Hanout, or make this version at home.
Add crushed or diced tomatoes.
Let the tomatoes cook down.
Add fresh parsley.
Stir in raisins, which will give the stew a very subtle but lovely sweetness. Chopped dried apricots will work too.
Stir in the canned chickpeas.
Add the seared eggplant into the stew.
Nestle in the eggplant into the stew and cover.
Place this in the oven until the eggplant is translucent and cooked through, about 25 minutes.
Give a gentle stir, taste and adjust seasonings and salt to your liking. You want the stew generously seasoned as it will be served over couscous, mellowing out the flavors. Sometimes I’ll add a little more Ras El Hanout.
***Keep in mind, Ras El Hanout is a spice blend– so every version is different. Start conservatively and add more to taste.
How to serve Tagine
Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with fresh herbs and serve with couscous!
On the Homefront: We made it safe and sound to our Airbnb in the lovely little town of Encinitas. We brought our cat Bell, my sourdough starter (named Vita), and a flat of microgreens. All survived relatively unscathed.
On the long drive down, I listened to a few podcasts that may resonate. Everyday Wellness Podcast #131 with Dr. Cate Shanahan, Found My Fitness Podcast with Dr. Jed Fahey on Sulforaphane (the inspiration for the microgreens post), and this interview with James Hollis on Insights at the Edge on “finding meaning vs. happiness”.
The days are longer and warmer here and we’ve been hiking and biking and getting our feet in the sand. We watched the big red sun dip into the ocean last night, and felt the magnitude of that endless horizon, so open and spacious, like an invitation…
Hope you enjoy this decadent Moroccan Tagine with Eggplant and Chickpeas! It’s healthy, vegan, and bursting with Moroccan flavors.
xoxo
More recipes you may like:
- Roasted Eggplant Lasagna with Arugula Pesto
- Meltingly Tender Moroccan Eggplant
- Chinese Eggplant with Spicy Szechuan Sauce
- Our 20 Best Chickpea Recipes!
- Chickpea Salad
- Tunisian Chickpea Stew with Carrots and Harissa
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- 20 Healthy Eggplant Recipes
Moroccan Eggplant Chickpea Tagine
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 40
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 6
- Category: vegan dinner, vegan recipes
- Method: tagine, stovetop, oven
- Cuisine: moroccan
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Delicious, healthy Tagine Recipe with Eggplant and Chickpeas- seasoned with Moroccan spices and served over couscous. A simple plant-based dinner recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 extra-large eggplant (or two small)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- Bowl of water
- 2–4 tablespoons olive oil (divided) or coconut oil.
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 6–8 garlic cloves, rough chopped
- 1 cup celery
- 1 red bell pepper (or large carrot)
- 1 tablespoon, ras el hanout, more taste
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 14-ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes
- 1/3 cup raisins (or chopped dried apricots)
- 1 teaspoon salt, more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 14-ounce can chickpeas, drained, rinsed.
- 1 cup veggie broth
Garnishes: Cinnamon scented couscous, flat-leaf parsley, olive oil, optional yogurt, optional Aleppo chili flakes
Cinnamon-Scented Couscous (serves 4)
- 1 3/4 cup veggie stock
- 1–2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small cinnamon stick ( or 1/2 teaspoon)
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic ( or onion)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, more to taste
- 1 1/2 cup dry couscous
Instructions
PREP EGGPLANT: Quarter the eggplant, and cut into large chunks (1 1/2 inches at widest part). Place in a big bowl, cover with cool water just to enough to cover, and stir in the salt. Place a plate over top to keep the eggplant submerged 20 minutes. Drain and pat dry. (Don’t rinse.)
Preheat the oven to 375F
Pan Sear: In a large dutch oven, or ovenproof skillet, over medium-high heat, heat 2 tablespoons oil. Working in 2 batches, brown two sides of the eggplant, until golden, then set these aside. No need to cook through.
Make the stew: Add more oil to the same pan, and the onion and saute 2-3 minutes, stirring. Add the garlic, celery and red pepper and lower heat, cook until tender about 5 minutes. Lower heat to low. Add the spices, canned tomatoes (and juices), raisins, salt, pepper, chickpeas and veggie broth. Bring to simmer, stirring.
Nestle in the eggplant and give the pan a good shake so the stew levels. It should be like a stew-like. If it seems dry, add a little water. Drizzle with a little olive oil, cover tightly and place in the warm oven.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until eggplant is tender and cooked through. While it’s baking make the couscous.
Remove the lid, taste adding more salt to taste, keeping in mind the couscous will soak up some of the salt. If you feel the stew needs more flavor overall, add a little more ras el hanout, a 1/2 teaspoon at a time, tasting as you go. If it seems watery, bake uncovered for a few minutes. If dry, add a little water. To serve, Sprinkle with optional Aleppo chili flakes and fresh Parsley. I like adding an additional drizzle of olive oil, or a dollop of yogurt, up to you.
Serve with the cinnamon-scented couscous.
To make couscous: Place broth, oil, spices and salt in a medium pot, and bring to boil. Stir in couscous. Cover and remove from heat. Let stand 7 minutes. Uncover and fluff with fork. Adjust salt.
Notes
Soaking the eggplant, not only seasons it, it helps remove some bitterness and helps the eggplant absorb less oil. Don’t skip this step.
You can make your own Ras El Hanout here.
If leaving the raisins and apricots out, you will need to add a little sweetness- honey, sugar, something, to taste. 1-3 teaspoons.
Feel free to cook and bake in a tagine – if using a brand new tagine, make doubly sure you soak it first.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 ¼ cup
- Calories: 384
- Sugar: 13.3 g
- Sodium: 823.2 mg
- Fat: 9.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 66.2 g
- Fiber: 10.7 g
- Protein: 12.2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Good and tasty. Not spicy. Add fried zucchini or other vegetables. Works out well every time
Glad you are enjoying this!
Delicious! I added a little maple syrup at the end because my apricots weren’t very sweet. I also served it with pearl couscous which added sone fun texture. I will definitely make this again. Thank you so much for all of your wonderful recipes. I can’t stop cooking from your website!!
So happy to hear this Pam! Appreciate you letting us know.
This was pretty good. I used pearled couscous to stand up to the eggplant. I felt like the baking muted the eggplant sear a bit so it may make sense to take the time to sear on all sides. Definitely don’t skip the apricots or raisins they add a lot.
Thanks for the feedback Heather.
Super flavorful and seems open to other veggies – thinking I’ll add more Eggplant and add in some sweet potatoes or black beans next time! The Ras El Hanout recipe from the blog is great too and now I’ve got leftover seasoning blend for next time! Served over quinoa and it was excellent!
Thanks for the helpful review Julie! So glad you enjoyed.
I made this today and it was wonderful! I have a Dutch oven and live cooking with it. This recipe was perfect. The only difference was that I did not put any garlic or onion powder in the couscous. And I added a bit more ras el hangout for flavor to the stew.
I can’t wait to try it tomorrow for leftovers!
Glad you enjoyed this one Phil!
I had tagine in a restaurant the other night and found this recipe to make it since liked it so much. I have a question: the ingredients are not clear to me as there appears to be double ingredients for the couscous. please clarify. Thank you!
In the recipe card, at the bottom of the post, the tagine ingredients are listed first and the recipe for cinnamon scented couscous is under that. I hope that helps Phil. Love to hear how it turns out for you!
Thank you very much! I look forward to making this in the next few days. I already have purchased some of the ingredients.
Your welcome!
True confessions, thought this was ‘OK’ but probably wouldn’t make again BUT then the next day happened and WOW, it’s delicious. Next time I will plan on making it a day in advance of when I want to eat it. Even the couscous tasted better the next day. It’s very delicious!!
Interesting! Well, great to hear Linda. Glad it worked for you and good to know.
Maybe you weren’t as hungry the first day, lol! Glad it was better on day 2! I just made it this week for the fourth time and we all enjoyed it, ages 7-44!
Love it Elisha!
Hello! I am making this recipe for a birthday party with meat eaters )) what meat recipe can my make to an addition to this one? Thank you!
Here is a few ideas, all on the blog: Moroccan Chicken, Moroccan Meatballs, Moroccan lamb shanks, Grilled lamb kofta wraps.
Im a meat eater. You won’t miss the meat in this one, as the eggplant is “meaty”. Just don’t let them know it’s a vegetarian recipe and they’ll love iy
Thanks Kate!
Can’t remember if I rated the recipe with my last comment. My husband loved this dish even though he’s not a huge fan of eggplant! Even though I increased the quantities of veggies a bit (used 3 small eggplants, a very large red pepper, more celery than 1 cup etc.) and added ground turkey, it barely made 4 servings for us (but we did not add the couscous side dish), I will increase the quantities even more next time!
Glad you enjoyed this Margaret. Thanks for your helpful notes!
My husband took one bite and said wow! This recipe is definitely a keeper and one we will make again. I made one substitution of one small baked sweet potato, cubed instead of adding raisins, and added a half pound of cooked ground turkey. We ate the tagine without the couscous and I see that I should make about 1.5x more of the tagine next time in that case.
Because many of the spices are the same in garam masala, I thought the taste might be sort of similar but it is quite different. No bitterness and such a comforting bowl of stew with marvelous velvety vegetable goodness. Like a previous commenter I also happened to use a pressure cooker for the last step, since I didn’t get started with my solar cooker early enough in the day to finish the last stewing step, and that worked out great.
This is an excellent recipe and could also be customized to what veggies you have on hand. I added a small amount of butternut squash, and 2-3 cups of chopped kale and they worked well! Also, I used the instant pot to cook the dish, rather than the oven and that also worked well. I set the pot for 4 minutes on high pressure and let it release naturally.
Awesome Elisha, thanks for sharing this!
Absolutely wonderful! Loved he spice mix. I did add spinach because it had to be used figuring it would wilt down and not affect the taste. It did not seem out of place when done. The taste and scent is fabulous! I served it over the cinnamon scented couscous. Thank you the recipe!
Great to hear Michelle!
Based on the reviews – can’t wait to make this! Just picked up all my fresh veggies from the market and the garden.
If making ahead for the following day, can I cook all the veggies first and then bake the next day?
That should work!