Moroccan Apricot Lamb Tagine

Apricot Lamb Tagine is a traditional Moroccan dish that gets its vibrant flavor from warm spices, sweet apricots and tender fall apart braised lamb.

The word “tagine” refers to both a Moroccan conical cooking vessel and an aromatic stew. A tagine is a circular cooking pot with a dome shaped cover that sits on the base. Tagine recipes are slow cooked stew type meals that are typically made with meat and combine sweet and savory ingredients for flavor.

The basic recipe for Lamb Tagine with Apricots, that I’ve tweaked here and there from the first time I made it, originally comes from Williams and Sonoma, and is my favorite go-to lamb tagine recipe.

The recipe consists of lamb pieces braised with spices, olives, apricots, chickpeas and raisins.

The end result is a tagine recipe that’s incredible with flavor and most certainly entertainment worthy.

Serve the lamb tagine over a bed of pearl couscous and you’ve got an incredible meal.

What You’ll Need To Make Apricot Lamb Tagine

• Lamb Shoulder: What’s the best cut of lamb for tagine? The shoulder of a lamb gets lots of work, so it tends to be full of flavor but takes a while to become tender. That’s why it’s a great choice for stews or braising, where meat is slow simmered until tender.
• Chickpeas: Preferably dried chickpeas, which will give you better texture and more flavor.
• Apricots: Dried or fresh apricots.
• Raisins: Golden raisins have a sweeter, milder flavor than dark raisins.
• Onion: Yellow or sweet onion. Sauteed onions bring another level of sweetness to the finished tagine.
• Green Olives: I like to use Castelvetrano olives. They’re easy to find.
• Tomato Paste.
• Parsley.
• Tagine Spices: Coriander, cinnamon, paprika, ginger and garlic.

Ingredient Substitutes and Swaps

• Lamb: Use leg of lamb in place of shoulder. The leg of lamb is a leaner cut, and more expensive which seems a bit like a waste of money when a cheaper cut like shoulder is a better choice for a long simmer. And if you’re simply opposed to cooking with lamb choose a beef chuck roast.
• Olives: Substitute any kind of green olives in place of the Castelvetrano olives. I’ve used Spanish olives and they work well.
• Chickpeas: If you don’t want to take the time to soak and cook dried chickpeas substitute one 14.5 ounce can, drained and rinsed.
• Apricots: If you can’t find dried apricots (which I couldn’t) for the making of this recipe use fresh. The benefit of using fresh is that the fruit will melt down and become a part of the gravy. Dried apricots will hold up to the long simmer and will present themselves as a part of the chunks of lamb and onion .
• Cinnamon: To get a more pure cinnamon flavor, substitute a cinnamon stock for the ground cinnamon. Just remove it before serving.

Step by Step Instructions

Once the gathering and chopping is done, this apricot lamb tagine comes together easily.

Step 1: Place cut up lamb shoulder into a large bowl, add olive oil and sprinkle with coriander, cinnamon, ginger, paprika and garlic. Using a spatula mix well to coat the lamb. Refrigerate for three hours, or overnight.

Step 2: Heat the bottom of the tagine over medium high heat. Once the pot is hot, add olive oil. When the olive oil is hot and shimmering, add the onions and lamb pieces.

Step 3: Cook until lamb is starting to brown and onions are becoming soft.

Step 4: In a small bowl, combine vegetable broth, cornstarch and tomato paste until smooth.

Step 5: Add the raisins, parsley, apricots, chickpeas, chopped parsley and olives on top of the lamb and onions. Gently stir the ingredients to combine. Pour in the vegetable broth mixture. Cover with the top of the tagine and simmer on stovetop on medium low until lamb is tender. About an hour and a half.

Tips and FAQ’s

Pro Tip: Cutting Lamb for Tagine Cooking: Be careful not to cut the lamb pieces too small, to avoid it drying out. Cut the lamb into approximately 2″ pieces.

Storage and Freezing

This stew will keep in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 4 – 5 days. It will also keep for up to three months in the freezer.

What Tagine Should I Buy?

I own two tagine pots. One is a traditional clay pot. The draw back to the clay tagine is that it can only be used in the oven. It’s not suited for stove-top cooking unless you purchase a metal diffuser ring that protects the clay against direct heat.

I recently was given an enameled cast iron tagine pot from UnoCasa. The black enamel interior requires minimal seasoning because it absorbs oils creating a non-stick surface over time. Also making cleaning and maintenance a breeze.

I love this tagine because it can be used anywhere. Gas, electric, ceramic stove tops, as well as in the oven. It can even be used over open fire.

It’s heavy duty construction is great for keeping food warm. Which works well if you don’t serve dinner the minute guests arrive. And it’s beautiful enough to use as a centerpiece server on your table.

I can tell, that whenever I’m going to make a tagine, that I’ll reach for the UnoCasa Tagine over the clay. It’s much less finicky and more durable than my clay tagine. And there’s no need to worry about breakage.

The UnoCasa Tagine is larger and holds more, which worked well for the 1 1/2 pounds of lamb called for in this apricot lamb tagine recipe. And the lid is a tighter fit, so I don’t need to worry about leaking and spillage while cooking. I do love this tagine pot.

Click on the links or the photo below to check it out.

This is a sponsored post. I’ve received the tagine at no charge, and if you purchase from this post, I’ll receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.

Recipe for Apricot Lamb Tagine

Tagines are fun to make and full of exotic flavors. I hope you give this much loved Moroccan stew recipe a try, and if you do, please come back and give the recipe a star rating located in the recipe card. And scroll down and leave a comment about your experience with the recipe.

And if you have a favorite traditional Moroccan lamb tagine recipe, let me know, I’d love to give it a try. And if you’re looking to find out more about tagine’s, I like this article about How to Cook The Perfect Lamb Tagine.

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