Instant Pot Chickpea Tagine is a delicious and nutritious stew flavored with spices, packed with chickpeas and veggies. Vegan, gluten-free, and super easy to make in your pressure cooker.
(This recipe was first published in October 2018, and has been updated with new content)
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Allow me to talk a bit about that wonderful meal that we know as 'Tagine'. If you're a regular reader, you'll know how much I love African cuisine and flavor-packed meals and stews. I've shared two African-inspired recipes before - a hearty chickpea and squash stew and a delicious, flavourful chicken tagine.
I love using the Instant Pot to make some of my favorite chickpea recipes such as Chickpea salad and Chickpea coconut curry. The pressure cooker cuts down the cooking time and you can have this meal ready for dinner in under an hour!
What is a Chickpea Tagine?
The word 'Tagine' itself has a dual meaning - it refers to both conical vessel used to cook the dish and the dish itself. A tagine (the dish) is, simply put, a flavourful stew made with spices, veggies and occasionally, meat, with origins in North-African cuisine. (I personally love this recipe for lamb tagine).
Traditionally slow-cooked, the sweet-and-savory flavors blend harmoniously together, giving you a flavor-packed stew.
The stew comes together in under an hour using the Pressure Cook function on the Instant Pot. No more waiting around for your delicious Chickpea Tagine to arrive at the dinner table!
List of Ingredients
For this recipe you will need:
- Cooked and drained chickpeas along with the reserved chickpea water
- Chopped seedless dates
- Paprika powder or chili powder (use Kashmiri chili powder as a substitute)
- Cumin powder
- Turmeric powder
- Coriander powder
- Honey
- Ginger and garlic (minced)
- Potatoes
- Tinned tomatoes (or use fresh)
- Onion
- Carrots and sweet potatoes (sweet potatoes are optional)
- Harissa Paste (optional) - This is a North African hot chili pepper paste that is used to add heat to tagines. You can substitute this with hot sauce or skip this entirely.
Step by step recipe instructions
To make tagine with dried chickpeas, you need to pre-soak the dried beans in warm water for at least 3 hours. Pressure cook the chickpeas in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes and let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes - this renders the chickpeas cooked, yet firm. Remember, you will be cooking them again so you need not cook them for more than 10 minutes.
Once the chickpeas are cooked, take them out, reserving the cooked chickpea water for later - you want to keep this for later!
To make the tagine, saute the ginger and garlic in olive oil, and then add the onions. Saute onions untill translucent.
Add the veggies, followed by the spices, dates and honey.
Add the tomatoes. Deglaze the pot using a spatula to remove any residue stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add the cooked chickpeas, and mix together.
Add the reserved chickpea water, salt to season and pressure cook for 5 minutes. Let the steam release naturally 5 minutes, and then manually release steam.
Open the lid of the Instant Pot, add the juice of 1/2 lemon and stir. If the amount of liquid is too much, reduce by cooing on Saute mode for a few minutes more.
Your Instant Pot chickpea tagine is now ready! Mix well and serve with rice or couscous.
Experts tips for making tagine
- Use dried chickpeas instead of canned: Use dried chickpeas and say goodbye to canned chickpeas forever. Dried chickpeas are more nutritious and flavorful than canned chickpeas, and also do not come with preservatives that are there in many brands of canned chickpeas. To cook chickpeas in the pressure cooker, pre-soak the chickpeas in water for at least 3 hours, or up to overnight. Pressure cook the chickpeas for 10 minutes and use them in recipes that call for chickpeas.
- Pressure cooking the tagine to reduce time: Traditional tagines are made by slow-cooking all the ingredients together. By pressure cooking them, we are cutting down the time significantly. In other words, delicious tagine, in less than half the time!
- Using Dried fruit and honey : Tagines are known for their characteristic tang and sweetness that helps build its flavour profile. A tagine is typically made with dried apricots or pitted dates or raisins . Honey is also used to balance out the tang in the dish. Don't worry, the dish doesn't become too sweet! The dried fruit and honey helps to round off the flavours very well and are key ingredients for making tagines.
- Serving suggestion: Serve your tagine with some cous-cous or rice. If you are not familiar with couscous - it is made with semolina and is usally served with stews and tagines spooned on top. If you are serving this taginewith rice, any rice will work well, but long-grained Basmati would be ideal.
Ingredient Substitutions
- Dates can be substituted with dried apricots or raisins. Honey can be substituted with maple syrup or even sugar.
- You can opt for canned chickpeas instead of making them fresh.
- Harissa can be substituted with any hot sauce of your choice. Take a look at these options for harissa substitutes.
Frequently asked questions
If you are using an Instant Pot, Pressure Cook on High for 15 minutes, and let the pressure release naturally. You could also cook dried chickpeas in the pressure cooker without soaking them - in this case, pressure cook the chickpeas for 50 minutes.
Dried chickpea (not soaked) can be cooked in the Instant Pot directly, on Pressure Cook mode for 50 minutes.
Store cooked chickpeas in the fridge in a sealed container with the liquid used to cook the chickpeas, for up to 4 days. You can also freeze them in freezer-safe containers.
More Instant Pot soups and stews
If you liked this recipe, do comment below and rate the recipe! If you make this recipe, please post a pic on INSTAGRAM -tagging @carameltintedlife and follow along on FACEBOOK and PINTEREST
Instant Pot Chickpea Tagine
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Tagine:
- 1 cup dried chickpeas 1 cup = 250 ml (see notes if using canned chickpeas)
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 teaspoon ginger and garlic minced
- 1 large potato cubed
- 1 carrot cubed
- ½ sweet potato peeled and cubed
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon Paprika powder or use Kashmiri chili powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ tin tomatoes approx. 5 oz tomatoes
- 6-7 seedless dates chopped (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon honey
- Salt for seasoning
- ½ teaspoon Harissa paste optional (see notes)
- ½ Lemon
Instructions
To cook the dried chickpeas
- Soak 1 cup of dried chickpeas in 4-5 cups of water for at least 3 hours, best overnight. Rinse and drain the water after soaking.
- In the Instant Pot, add around 3 cups of water. Add the pre-soaked chickpeas and a teaspoon of salt (the chickpeas should be submerged in the water). Give it a stir and close the lid of the Instant Pot.
- Pressure Cook on High for 10 minutes
- After the cooking cycle is complete, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then manualy release steam and open the lid.
- Strain out the cooked chickpeas, preserving the chickpea liquid for later.
To cook the tagine
- Hit the ‘Saute’ mode, in the ‘More' setting.
- Add the olive oil, and let it heat. Then add the minced ginger and garlic.
- Add the chopped onions. Sauté for a couple of minutes until the onions turn translucent.
- Add the potatoes, followed by the carrots.
- Add all the spices, honey, dates and the chopped tomatoes. If using harissa paste or chili paste, add it now.
- Stir all the ingredients well, deglaze the pot to make sure there is no residue sticking to the bottom of the Instant Pot.
- Add the strained chickpeas and 2 cups of the reserved chickpea liquid.
- Add salt to season and give all the ingredients a stir.
- Put on the lid of the Instant Pot and Pressure Cook on High for 5 minutes. Once the IP beeps, and the cooking cycle is complete, let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes more. Once all the steam has released, the pressure valve comes down and the IP lid is safe to open.
- Open the lid and give the tagine a stir. Add the juice of 1/2 lemon to the tagine and mix well. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley or coriander.
Video
Notes
- Canned chickpeas can be used instead of dried chickpeas. In this case, directly proceed to cooking the tagine.
- Dates can be substituted with dried apricots or raisins or prunes.
- Harissa paste is a North African chili paste. It can be substituted for any hot sauce or chili paste or can be skipped entirely.
- You can add more of the chickpea liquid if you want more liquid in your tagine. 2 cups of liquid worrks well for me, but you could increase it to 3 cups if you prefer a more runny stew.
Nutrition
If you liked this recipe, do comment below and rate the recipe! If you make this recipe, please post a pic on INSTAGRAM -tagging @carameltintedlife and follow along on FACEBOOK and PINTEREST
I made this last night and we both enjoyed it. I appreciate that you included the nutritional information as well. I think the next time I make it I might put more tomatoes in it though to see how it does.
We had it over Basmati rice though next time I think I might try having it with naan.
Thank you for your feedback! Glad you liked it, and I hope you try it again with more tomatoes and let me know how it went! Naan should be a good option too. I recommend trying it with couscous as well.
I will certainly do that. I was thinking of using a whole can of tomatoes (drained) though it was good with the 5 ounces you suggested too.
I also purchased a jar of Harissa paste online, which I had never heard of before so I didn't have it for last time. I have to say that it is pretty wonderful stuff that smells great and tastes even better.
I'll have to try it with couscous, thank you for the suggestion.
I made the tagine again tonight and it was very good. I used the whole 14.5 ounce can of tomatoes and I thought it was good, though to my taste about the same as using 5 ounces. My husband liked it better though but then he really likes tomatoes. For liquid I used 2 cups of low sodium vegetable broth, since I didn't want to use the liquid that came with the canned chickpeas. I thought it was very good both times I've made it and I'm glad I learned about Harissa paste from your recipe because it is really great stuff!
Also, I was wondering if I might use one of your pictures of the tagine on my small blog with a photo credit. I want to put a link back to your recipe on the blog and your pictures came out far better than mine did.
hi Alexandria, you could go ahead with it! Thank you for checking with me
Hi Shinta,
Thank you very much. I appreciate it! 🙂
regards,
Alexandra
why was the info on making couscous removed???
Hi, I didn't think readers were finding it helpful and took it off after recently updating the recipe. Would you prefer it back on the recipe card?
Honey isn’t vegan
Yum! This was just what I was looking for and I added pumpkin as well. I served it over quinoa, which I had previously made in the instant pot, A really satisfying and healthy meal that should make great leftovers.
thank you so much Ellen! So glad you liked it, tagine is one of my personal favorites meals. Great as leftovers, as the flavour intensifies over a day or two.
What a wonderful dinner idea! Love that this is made so easily in the instant pot! Can't wait to give it a try!
I'd love it if you did and let me know! Thank you
That chickpea recipe looks so delicious! Awesome photos!
Thank you so much for your feedback!
I love recipes that have chickpeas in them! This looks delicious. Great for a meatless Monday dish!
Thank you! I'm so glad you liked the recipe, and absolutely, give it a go this Monday if you can!
I love a tagine and this looks SO good. Proper comfort food too - and I love that you can make it in the Instant Pot.
Thank you Bintu! Absolutely, I chickpeas are best made in the pressure cooker, always!
Chickpea tagine is such delicious veggie comfort food. Great idea to do it in the instant pot too!
Thank you! I find this is one of those dishes that can be adapted perfectly for the Instant Pot, glad you liked it