berebere chicken

Berbere Chicken and Lentils - a flavorful delicious Ethiopian recipe that features Berbere Spice. See notes for a vegan tofu option!

Berbere Chicken with Ethiopian Lentils

water

onions

garlic,

fresh ginger, minced

carrot

tomato

Berbere Spice Mix (see below)

salt

olive oil

parsley

chicken thighs (skin-on)

Berbere Spice Mix

Kosher Salt

paprika

red pepper flakes,

cumin seeds cumin

coriander seeds coriander

cardamom seeds (shelled) cardamom

turmeric

fenugreek seeds

black peppercorns peppercorn

cloves

allspice

ginger

cinnamon

Make the lentils

In a heavy bottom pot, or dutch oven, saute diced onion, carrots, garlic and ginger in 2 tablespoons olive oil, until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add 2-3 tablespoons Berbere Spice mix and sauté 2-3 minutes. Add 1 cup lentils, 1 cup diced tomatoes, 1 teaspoon salt and 3 cups water, and bring to a boil, cover, turn heat to low and let cook until tender, about 30 minutes. Uncover and cook off any extra liquid.

Make the Chicken

Pat dry the chicken and salt all sides with salt and pepper and generously rub each piece with Berbere Spice Mix. The more, the spicier.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a heavy bottom skillet, on medium-high heat, place chicken skin side down and sear until it is crispy and golden, about 6- 8 minutes. Turn over, and turn heat down to medium, searing for 2-3 minutes. Place in a 400 F oven until internal temperature reaches 165F (10-15 minutes)

Serve over a bed of the Ethiopian lentils, and garnish with fresh Italian parsley.

If using whole seeds, lightly toast them on the stovetop in a skillet for 2-3 minutes.

Grind them using a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle. Remember to crush or grind the chili flakes.

Very delicious! I finished lentils  with juice half a lime and served chicken with lime wedges.

Have made this several times following the main tenets of your recipe. 
I actually made a mistake the first time and after browning the chicken put it in with the onions, carrots, lentils etc in my pressure cooker. The resulting “casserole” was delicious (I’d clearly inadvertently gone off piste at this point as I’d also fortunately added a bit more water to cover everything in the pot)! Anyhow, I now deliberately do this every time and it is a firm favourite with everyone who tries it. Thanks!

I love this recipe!  Easy to make, and it is soooo tasty!

I thought it would be really spicy but it was sweet and then had a little bit of a kick to it at the end.  It was really good! I will defiantly make this again.

Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe. Is it helpful for weight loss diet?

Truly delicious. We were worried the redundancy of spices in both the lentils and chicken would make for a dull dish, but they both took on an entirely different taste. Lovely Sunday meal. Thank you.

I love Ethiopian food and this was excellent and easy to make.  I especially appreciated the Berbere spice recipe.  I  also made it with cut up beef and it was also a winner.  Thank you for the recipe.

The smell in my house while making this is absolutely divine!
Eating it is even better!
Many many thanks for this recipe!
Jeanette 
Canadian Rockies

I have a huge bag of berbere that a friend brought back from Ethiopia.  I've been making this recipe for years now.  It's a total go to for an easy, healthy, tasty dinner.  I like to serve with a side of greens of some sort.  Last night was kale.  If I'm a bit heavy handed with the spice I serve the lentils with some sour cream to tame them.  Sometimes a squeeze of lemon in them too.  I have also used pork in place of the chicken.

We are in an international supper group and I think I may use this recipe when it’s my turn. I’m so excited to try this. Your food looks heavenly.

My most ambitious recipe to date but your instructions saw me through it! My wife loved it as did I and will definitely make it again!
Thank you!

Absolutely fantastic. This was so delicious, the kind of food that makes you want to dance after the first bite. Thank you for all your wonderful recipes!

A friend gave me a packet of Berberi spice mix, and I did not know what to do with it. I found this recipe on Pinterest, and was so pleased with the results! I ended up not having enough spice mix, so was thrilled to have it included in the recipe. It was spicy enough for my brother, who likes to eat fire for meals (well, practically), and had depths of flavor that made it worth the heat for me. The best part is that I have found this very inspiring blog about beautiful food! I preserved some lemons last week, and am going to start some kimchi this week. So excited to have found you!

OMG, Sylvia!  You do have the most amazing recipes!  My only dilemma is how long it takes me to go in and save each one to my recipe book when you have a list of 2, 5 and I love 20 of them!  Do you have a cookbook for sale, or is there a way to save a whole batch of recipes in one go ;D  
The berbere chicken is mouthwatering, and making the spice mix was great fun!  Thanks so much!

Looks outstanding!  Was gifted some berbere by my niece, whose husband is from Eritrea.  Question: do you soak the lentils overnight like you would other legumes?

This was amazing! I used chicken thighs, but am looking forward to trying it with tofu. I served the dish over cauliflower rice.

I probably would decrease the amount of water so all the liquid is soaked up. I did tofu but the spice mix just didn’t stay on. Any advice?

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