Harissa Chicken with Roasted Sweet Potatoes- just 15 minutes of hands-on time, before baking on a sheet pan the oven. Smoky, earthy, and fragrantly seasoned with North African Spices. Video included.
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Here’s a quick and flavorful meal that will fill your home with deliciousness – Harissa Chicken. It can be easily made vegan by substituting tofu (or even fish!) for the chicken, which, seriously is just as good, if not better. The best thing is, it only takes 15 minutes of prep before going into the oven to bake. When it comes out, mouths will water!!! Give it a try, I think you will like it.
Earthy, smoky and just a little bit spicy, the chicken pairs deliciously well with the roasted sweet potatoes. Of course, you can add other veggies to this as well – carrots, parsnips, red bell pepper – all would work nicely.
Harissa Chicken | 60-second video
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What is Harissa?
Hailing from North Africa, harissa is a spicy chili paste, often used as a marinade or condiment for meats and vegetables. It varies greatly from region to region across Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, but most variations include chilies, earthy spices and onion and garlic blended up into a flavorful hot paste that can be used in a multitude of ways- as a marinade or chicken or other meats, or a flavorful base for curries, soups and stews.
Mildly spicy, earthy and smoky, harissa paste adds flavor to just about anything- and this version of quick harissa marinade is easy and simple — just stir it up in a bowl, no blender or food processor required!
How to make Harissa Chicken
- Make the Harissa Paste.
- Marinate the chicken.
- Place on a sheet pan and bake with the veggies.
- Serve!
Just place everything on a sheet pan and bake.
Easy, peasy!
Clean-up is simple too!
When your Harissa Chicken comes out it will be oh so flavorful!
There is an optional Green Harissa Yogurt sauce you can add to this- it’s not necessary, I don’t always make it, especially if in a hurry, but if making for a special occasion or when entertaining, I’ll whip up a small batch to serve alongside.
Leftovers make for a tasty lunch.
Give this quick Harissa Chicken with Sweet Potatoes a try this week!
More recipes you may like:
- How to Make Authentic Harissa Paste in Two Easy Ways!
- Sheet-Pan Chicken with Crispy Potatoes, Lemon and Thyme
- 25 Flavorful Sheet Pan Recipes
- Moroccan Eggs with Harissa Yogurt
- Smoky Harissa Red Pepper Dip
- Baked Sweet Potato Fries with harissa!
- Green Harissa Sauce
Harissa Chicken Recipe
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4
- Category: Main, Chicken,
- Method: Roasted, Baked
- Cuisine: North African
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Ingredients
Harissa Chicken
- 2 lbs sweet potatoes (about 2 medium-sized) – diced into 1/2 inch cubes, unpeeled.
- 1 large red onion- sliced into 1/2 inch wedges
- 4 chicken thighs, skin on, bone-in (or substitute 1 lb boneless thighs or chicken breasts)
Garnish: Cilantro sprigs
Harissa Marinade:
- 2 garlic cloves- finely minced or crushed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder ( optional, or sub chili flakes )
- 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds ( optional, but good)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Quick Green Harissa Sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F
- Stir marinade ingredients together in a small bowl.
- Dice the sweet potatoes into ½-¾ inch cubes and place in a medium bowl with half the marinade and toss to coat. Place them in a single layer on one side of a parchment lined sheet pan.
- Cut the onion, and place next to the sweet potatoes, drizzle with a little oil if you want (or not), saving room for the chicken.
- Pat the chicken dry, season with a pinch of salt and pepper and place in the same medium bowl and add the remaining marinade, coating all sides well.
- Line the chicken up next to the onions. If using very small sheet pans, you may need to use two. Do not overlap!
- Place the sheet pan in the oven and bake 30 minutes but check after 20, rotating the pan if necessary. If using boneless thighs or breasts- they will cook faster ( feel free to remove if potatoes need more time)
- While baking, make Green Harissa Sauce, blending all the ingredients in the blender.
- Double-check that the chicken is cooked through before serving, and for extra crispy skin, broil for a few minutes at the end.
- Divide the roasted sweet potatoes among 4 bowls and top with the chicken. Garnish with cilantro and serve with the Green Harissa Yogurt Sauce.
Notes
If using boneless, skinless chicken thigh or breast, it will most likely cook faster, so make sure to check after 20 minutes. If done, take off the sheet pan, and let the sweet potatoes continue cooking until fork tender.
For vegans, sub a tofu filet about 1 inch thick.
If substituting with fish, check after 10-12 minutes, depending on how thick the cut.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 thigh with 1 cup sweet potatoes
- Calories: 464
- Sugar: 5.5 g
- Sodium: 722.7 mg
- Fat: 33.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 7.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 20.9 g
- Fiber: 3.6 g
- Protein: 21.2 g
- Cholesterol: 111.3 mg
Wonderful flavors and so easy to make. The sweet potatoes were a huge hit, especially with kids. I did double the marinade because I had slightly more than 1 lb of boneless thigh meat. I enjoyed the baked onion which offered a nice compliment to the smokiness of the marinade.
Glad you enjoyed this Randy! Appreciate your review, helpful!
Excellent recipe! We’ve made this recipe a bunch of times and it always is a hit. (Also works great with cubed butternut squash instead of sweet potato.)
Thanks Steve, so happy you are enjoying!
My family absolutely adores this meal. We’ve been making it for years! We have a couple vegans in the house so I swap in tofu and swap vegan sour cream for the chicken and yogurt. I usually double or triple the marinade so it generously covers the potatoes and tofu.
This really is a fabulous recipe. Thank you so much for sharing this!
So happy you are enjoying this one Suzi! Really appreciate your review and rating.
This was a delicious meal. I made this last evening and didn’t have the squash, but I had carrots and substituted them along with chickpeas that another comment mentioned. I cut down the amount of carrots to 1 # and used 1 cup of drained and rinsed chickpeas. I followed the recipe with these substitutions. This morning my husband said, “That dinner last night was great! It’s a keeper.”
Perfect Jody, happy you both enjoyed! Thanks for your helpful review and rating.
I cook a lot, and my husband said this is his favorite thing I’ve ever made! The marinade didn’t quite seem like enough for the potatoes and chicken, so I used it on the potatoes then just covered the chicken in a little store bought harissa from a jar. It was so good! I did the potatoes and onions for 20min, and the chicken for 30, with the last 3min on broil. Perfect! We are doing Whole30, so I subbed the yogurt for almond milk yogurt, and it tasted amazing and the green color was so pretty. Definitely a remake!
Awesome Alexis! Really appreciate the review!
I just wanted to suggest that roasted chickpeas might also be a good substitute protein for vegetarians if served over quinoa. I made your recipe with chicken for my family (they enjoyed it!) but if anyone tries the chickpeas i hope they’ll share the results…
I made this for my family, and my son keeps asking for it again and again! Winner winner chicken dinner!!🤩
Wonderful, so glad you all enjoyed!