This fragrant chicken is brilliant as an easy midweek meal. It's basically a stir fried chicken recipe with North African flavours and is perfect in a pitta bread or with couscous.

This fragrant chicken stir fry is packed with delicious spicy North African flavours. I don't think it's in any way authentic but it always makes me feel I'm enjoying a delicious Moroccan meal! It's aromatic with ginger and garlic and spiced with cumin, coriander and chilli powder. I also add a lot of fresh coriander, even more than you can see in the pictures as I didn't want to completely hide the rest of the ingredients!
I am a complete coriander (cilantro) fiend and this fragrant chicken is a recipe I love to top with lots and lots of fresh coriander.
Do be generous with the coriander, if you like it of course, as the coriander really makes this fragrant chicken dish. Lots and lots of coriander. I know it's a herb but I find I'm using it almost like spinach these days!
This dish is basically a recipe for marinated chicken which is then stir fried. You don't have to marinate the chicken though. I've made this recipe in less than 20 minutes when I've been in a hurry and it's still really tasty.
The spicy marinade just makes it even more tasty though. I like to marinate for a minimum of one hour but if you're going to work you can put the chicken in the marinade in the morning then cook it in the evening. You can even mix up the marinade the night before to make things easier for yourself.
Ingredient notes for fragrant chicken
To make this fragrant chicken recipe you'll need:
- Chicken - I use chicken breasts as they cook quickly and are great in stir fries. You could replace the chicken with turkey. For a vegetarian version, replace the chicken with butter beans or chickpeas.
- Garlic - I like to use fresh garlic but garlic puree is also fine.
- Ginger - Fresh ginger adds a real flavour punch but you can also use frozen grated ginger or a puree.
- Spices - ground cumin, ground coriander and chilli powder.
- Chilli pepper - For a bit of extra heat a fresh red or green chilli pepper works really well.
- Lemon - I use the juice of a lemon foer the marinade. If you don't have a fresh lemon you can use bottled lemon juice or replace it with 1-2 tablespoons or white wine vinegar.
- Oil - I use a light olive oil for stir frying this but you can use vegetable or sunflower oil instead.
- Pine nuts - I always toast them a little in a dry frying pan to bring out the flavours. If you don't have pine nuts you can miss them out or use another seed such as sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.
- Vegetables - I like to use red onion and a pepper. Feel free to use whatever you have though.
- Fresh coriander (cilantro) - I really do like to add a lot and it is the ingredient that really makes this into fragrant chicken! I know some people don't like coriander and if that's you then try it with parsley or mint instead.

How to make fragrant chicken
Do check out the recipe card further down the post for full details.
If you have time, it's best to marinate the chicken with the lemon juice, spices, diced chilli pepper, grated ginger and crushed garlic for an hour (or longer) before beginning to stir fry it.
Put the pine nuts in a dry frying pan and lightly toast them. Remove when they start to turn golden brown.
Then, just heat the oil in a large frying or saute pan and stir fry the chicken for a few minutes. Add the pepper and onion slices and continue to stir fry till the chicken is cooked through.
Stir in half the chopped coriander leaves at the end and then sprinkle the rest on top of the finished dish.

What to eat with this Fragrant Chicken?
I like to eat the fragrant chicken with pitta breads, tomato salad and some salad greens. It's also great on top of couscous and the leftovers can be put in a sandwich the next day. You can even enjoy it cold.
Is this recipe suitable for children?
This North African chicken stir fry is a recipe that both my children will eat. Little Miss Spice loves marinated chicken and likes to eat hers in a wrap. Master Spice loads his with extra toppings including cheese and barbecue sauce. Please note, I am not recommending you add barbecue sauce too! Although a little feta crumbled on top works quite well.
If your children don't like meals to be too spicy then miss out the extra chilli pepper and just add a little extra to those who want it at the table. You can add a little diced chilli pepper or even jalapenos.
Can you adapt this stir fry chicken recipe?
This stir fried fragrant chicken recipe is very easy to adapt. Just use whatever vegetables you want to use up. A few courgettes (zucchini), thinly sliced carrots or green beans would all go well.
You can vary the spicing. If you don't want it to be too hot then remove the seeds of the chilli pepper. If you like your food hot then go ahead and add an extra one. Or even two!
I like to put lots of fresh coriander (cilantro) on top, more than you can see in the pictures. If you're not such a fan of coriander then parsley also works well.
Storing the leftovers
You can store the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for at least 48 hours. I often then reheat in the microwave.
You can even freeze the leftovers for up to three months. Just make sure you defrost and then reheat thoroughly before eating.

Recipe

Fragrant Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts sliced into strips
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- 5 g ginger grated or finely diced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 red chilli pepper optional
- 1 lemon juiced
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 tablespoon pine nuts
- 1 red onion sliced
- 1 pepper (red, yellow, green or orange) sliced
- 15 g fresh coriander (cilantro) roughly chopped
Instructions
- If you have time in advance, combine the dry spices, ginger, chilli, garlic and lemon juice and marinate the chicken for an hour. If you don't have time for this then just go straight to step 2.
- Heat a little oil in a wok and then add the chicken and spices from step 1.
- While the chicken is cooking, toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan until they are slightly browned.
- When the chicken is cooked on all sides, add the red pepper and onion to the wok. Continue to cook for about 4 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
- Add the pine nuts and coriander leaf and stir through.
- Serve with couscous or in pitta breads
Video
Notes
Nutrition
More Easy Chicken Recipes
Chicken is such a versatile meat and we eat easy chicken dinners at least every week! Here are a few of them.
You might also like my lemongrass chicken stir fry and my ras el hanout chicken tray bake.
Keep in touch
Do let me know if you make this fragrant chicken recipe. I love to get feedback from readers.
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Cat | Curly's Cooking
This looks delicious and so colourful, I love the sound of it in a pitta! I'm afraid I don't like fresh coriander at all, but the ground coriander in your recipe I could cope with just fine 🙂
Corina Blum
It's funny how some people hate coriander. Luckily I love it and it's one of the herbs I use a lot too!
Monika Dabrowski
Great idea to cook this dish in a wok! Great flavours too!
Corina Blum
Thanks Monika! I'm so pleased you like the flavours.
Jacqui Bellefontaine
Another fabulous recipe from you Corina, Your dishes are always so colourful and tasty. Bring on the Coriander. Thank you for sharing on #CookBlogShare
Corina Blum
Thanks so much Jacqui. I do like colourful food and coriander is such a great herb!
Jo Allison / Jo's Kitchen Larder
Stir fries are simply perfect as meals in a hurry. Your North African flavours more than work for me and I would definitely flood the dish with coriander too! I do love its fragrance that works so well with so many dishes! Lovely recipe! 🙂
Corina Blum
I love coriander and I'm so pleased you like this too! I normally use more than you can see on here but I was running out on the day I took the pictures!
Cliona Keane
The flavour of this practically jumps out of the screen! Plus it's so colourful, perfect to impress at the dinner table!
Corina Blum
Thanks Cliona! I'm so pleased you like it - It's a great quick and easy dish!
Farrah
I love the sound of this marinade! Will definitely have to try it out soon! :]!
Corina Blum
Thanks Farrah! I hope you like it - It's so easy and tasty too.
Katerina
With so much coriander, fragrant is the right word for this chicken. I believe that the flavor would be exquisite.
tasteofbeirut
Coriander or cilantro is such a mainstay of the Lebanese diet, I don't think we could eat anything without it! This recipe looks simple and full of flavor
Year on the Grill
OK... here's my ignorance... Where would I be likely to find coriander. I can get the ground version, no problem, but I can not think if I have ever seen it "Leaf and stalks".
And I have an odd question for you... I have committed myself to a vegetarian evening main course meal a week. In your vast repository that is your blog, could you point me to one of your favorites???
Dave
Corina
Coriander leaf is called cilantro in US English. I forgot to put both words in the recipe but will update it. One of my favourite standby vegetarian recipes is falafels. They're another thing that are great with cilantro in and plenty of cumin and chilli. Good luck wiht the vegetarian recipes.
Year on the Grill
Silly me... I knew that, just a senior moment (and too lazy to do a Wikipedia search. Thanks... off to hunt down your falafel recipe
Joanne
I love the taste and smell of coriander and when a recipe calls for it, I definitely tend to go a bit overboard and use more than it suggests. What a delicious dish!