1
Cook the chicken
Simmer chicken with onion, butter, ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, herbs, salt, pepper, and a little water until tender.
braise chicken
45:00
Morocco | Main dish
Chicken Pastilla
A Moroccan savory-sweet pie of spiced chicken, soft egg sauce, toasted almonds, cinnamon, and crisp pastry.
Country
Morocco
Region
North Africa
Time
125 min
Serves
8
Level
hard
Recipe overview
What to know before you cook
Use this overview to check the occasion, serving ideas, regional context, and cooking commitment before you begin.
When to cook it
Best for Eid tables, weddings, special dinners, or a showpiece weekend meal.. Plan on a hard cook and about 125 minutes total.
What to serve alongside it
A simple salad, mint tea, olives, or a light soup.
Regional lane
Tagines and special mains. Slow-cooked, spiced, sweet-savory, and celebratory dishes that anchor the table.
Chef watch-outs
- Rushing the base before the raw edge has cooked out.
- Adding all seasoning early and forgetting to adjust at the end.
- Cooking on heat that is too high once the dish should be steaming or simmering.
How you know it is ready
- The aroma should smell rounded rather than raw or sharp.
- Oil, sauce, broth, or steam should look settled and deliberate.
- The final texture should match the dish style before you plate it.
Pantry lane
preserved lemon, green olives, saffron, ras el hanout, semolina
Recipe photos
See the dish before you cook
Each recipe supports one main image and up to four extra prep, serving, or step photos when they are available.
Chef board
Build the table around Chicken Pastilla
A simple salad, mint tea, olives, or a light soup.
Best route from here
Tagines and special mains
Collections to keep cooking
How to cook it
Step-by-step method
Keep the rhythm calm, watch the texture, and adjust seasoning at the end.
4 steps
50 min prep
75 min cook
125 min total
hard
2
Make the egg sauce
Remove and shred the chicken. Reduce the onion sauce until thick, then stir in beaten eggs over low heat until softly set.
Kitchen noteThe filling should be moist, not runny.
thicken sauce
15:00
3
Prepare almonds
Mix toasted chopped almonds with powdered sugar and cinnamon.
mix almonds
05:00
4
Layer and bake
Brush phyllo sheets with butter in a round pan. Layer chicken, egg sauce, and almonds, fold pastry over, brush again, and bake until golden.
Kitchen noteCool 10 minutes before dusting with a little sugar and cinnamon.
bake
30:00
Traditional versions may use pigeon and warqa pastry. Home versions often use chicken and phyllo for access.
Keep exploring
Cook around Chicken Pastilla
Follow country, category, collection, time, and pairing paths without turning the recipe page into a link farm.
Morocco
Main dish
Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemons & Olives
Moroccan chicken tagine with preserved lemons, olives, saffron, turmeric, onion, parsley, and cilantro.
Open recipe
Morocco
Main dish
Seffa Medfouna
Moroccan sweet-savory vermicelli or couscous mound hiding spiced chicken and finished with almonds, cinnamon, and powdered...
Open recipe
Morocco
Dessert
Chebakia
Moroccan sesame, almond, honey, and orange blossom pastries folded into flowers and fried for Ramadan.
Open recipe
Morocco
Main dish
Lamb Tagine with Prunes and Almonds
Moroccan lamb tagine with ginger, saffron, cinnamon, honeyed prunes, toasted almonds, and sesame.
Open recipe
More Morocco recipes
Stay inside the Morocco country hub.
More main dish recipes
Compare dishes in the same course or cooking style.
Similar cooking time
Pick another dish with a nearby time commitment.
Build a fuller table
Pair a main, side, drink, or dessert where the atlas has a useful match.