I've always loved tagine at restaurants but never owned a proper clay tagine, so I tried adapting it for the slow cooker instead. Used boneless chicken thighs, chickpeas, dried apricots, and a spice mix built around ras el hanout, cumin, cinnamon, and ginger. Seared the chicken first for a bit of extra flavor, then let it go on low for about 6.5 hours.

🛒 Ingredients:

2 to 2.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs

1 onion, sliced

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 carrots, chunked

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 can chickpeas, drained

1/2 cup dried apricots

Ras el hanout, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, paprika

1.5 cups chicken stock

Olive oil, honey, lemon juice

Olives and preserved lemon (optional)

Cilantro and almonds for garnish

👩‍🍳 Step-by-Step Instructions: 1️⃣ Layer onion, garlic, carrots, and bell pepper in the slow cooker. 2️⃣ Toss chicken with all the spices, then place on top of the veggies. 3️⃣ Add chickpeas, apricots, stock, olive oil, honey, and lemon juice. 4️⃣ Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3-4 hours. 5️⃣ Check the chicken reaches 165°F, shred if you like, and garnish before serving.

Honestly the apricots surprised me the most, they kind of melt into the sauce and give it this subtle sweetness against the warm spices. Served it over couscous with a squeeze of lemon at the end.

Wrote up the full recipe with exact measurements if anyone wants it: https://creamydishes.com/chicken-tagine-crockpot

Ramen is this beautiful balance of broth, tare, noodles, and toppings, and the ramen egg is the thing that ties the whole bowl together. That jammy yolk and savory exterior bring richness and depth, and every shop has its own style. This recipe leans into a stronger brine because I like a punchier egg, but you can go lighter or deeper depending on how long you marinate.

And honestly — they’re not just for ramen. These make incredible pickled‑style snacking eggs straight from the fridge.

I like meal-prepping but butter in sauces always separates weirdly when you reheat it, so my family took what we liked from like four different recipes to make one that tastes good and reheats well!

I usually double this recipe when meal prepping, but here’s the “normal” recipe that SERVES 6:

Ingredients:

•1lb pasta of choice (shorter pastas such as rotini are better for reheating / meal prepping)

•1.5-2lb cubed chicken or shrimp

•1/2 onion, minced

•2 spoonfuls minced garlic (measure with your heart)

•1.5 cups heavy cream

•1/2 cup chicken broth

•1/2 a bundle of spinach, chopped fine

•3/4 cup grated Parmesan

•1/4 tsp paprika

•1/2 tsp salt

•1/2 tsp black pepper

•optional parsley to taste

•2 egg yolks

Steps:

1. Salt & pepper your chicken till it be enough, then sauté in a large pan till cooked and golden. Set aside.
2. Now start your pasta water, so that the pasta should be done at the same time as the sauce. The pot should be large enough to hold the finished meal (if I’m doubling the recipe, I use a medium sized stock pot)
3. In the pan used for chicken, sauté the onions in the chicken drippings till translucent, then add garlic and cook till fragrant.
4. Add the cream and the chicken broth, and simmer till thick, stirring frequently. Try not to let it boil or it’ll separate.
5. Add in the spinach and the set-aside chicken in the last minute or two of cooking.
6. Add your spices, adjust to taste. Take pan off the heat.
7. With the egg yolks stirred up in a small bowl, ladle some of your still-hot sauce into the bowl and stir to temper the eggs, then add the contents of the bowl to the pan and combine.
8. Drain your pasta, then add both pasta and sauce into your pot and combine. Serve it forth.

Tips / semi-relevant comments:

I love using spinach in this (I try to sneak in veggies whenever I can), I chop it finely so it practically disappears, but if you REALLY want it to be undetectable you can put it into a blender with some of the sauce before stirring it into the rest of the sauce (a hack from my mom, yes I was a picky eater growing up)

We got the paprika idea from a shrimp Alfredo recipe, it really adds depth (though we tend to stick with chicken). You can do shrimp though if you like!