Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs with Apricots and Chickpeas

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the chicken and ingredients

   Pat the chicken thighs dry with a paper towel. Finely chop the onion, mince the garlic, and cut the dried apricots into quarters.

   
2. 2

   Brown the chicken thighs

   Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Season the thighs with salt and brown them in batches for about 2 to 3 minutes per side, until browned on the outside. They do not need to be cooked through; transfer them to the slow cooker.

   
3. 3

   Toast the spices and prepare the base

   Add the onion to the same pan and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 minutes, until softened and lightly browned around the edges. Add the garlic, cumin, coriander, paprika, cinnamon, and black pepper; stir for 30 seconds. Stir in the tomatoes, broth, and apricots, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, then transfer the mixture to the slow cooker.

   
4. 4

   Slow-cook the chicken

   Nestle the chicken thighs into the tomato mixture and cover with the lid. Cook in an electric slow cooker on LOW for 6 hours without lifting the lid unnecessarily. After 5 hours and 15 minutes, add the drained chickpeas and olives, stir them into the sauce, and cover.

   
5. 5

   Finish the sauce and prepare the couscous

   After another 35 minutes, stir in the baby spinach and cook, covered, for 10 more minutes, until wilted. Check the thickest part of the chicken with a thermometer: it must reach at least 74 °C. Put the couscous in a bowl, pour over 300 ml of boiling water, cover for 5 minutes, then fluff the grains with a fork. Stir the lemon juice into the sauce.

   
6. 6

   Serve

   Chop the parsley and stir it into the sauce. Serve the chicken thighs with the couscous, dividing the chickpeas, olives, and apricot sauce among four plates.