Spicy Rabbit Tagine with Almonds & Apricots
Rabbit leg tagine with peppers, apricots and almonds gets a wonderful spicy hit from harissa and is fragrant with ras el hanout and sumac.
This recipe is wonderfully simple to cook, and you spend most of the 75-minute cooking time with your feet up waiting for dinner to be ready!
Moroccan-Influenced Rabbit Stew
I love North African flavours and, in particular, the flavours you get from gently cooking ingredients in a tightly sealed pot.
I also love cooking and eating rabbit, whether it is spicy or much more traditional, as in this rabbit cacciatore!
As a meat, it benefits greatly from gentle cooking techniques; as a result, this rabbit tagine ticks a whole load of boxes.
It combines the sweetness of dried apricots and peppers with spicy harissa and the almost tart flavour of sumac.
As with all rabbit recipes on my site, this recipe is developed with farmed rabbit in mind. If you are new to cooking with rabbit, it is a simple and safe place to start.
Cooking with wild meat takes a little experience, but this recipe takes out all of the guesswork. It is essentially a foolproof dinner!
If this recipe gets your juices going, then check out some of my other rabbit recipes: classic rabbit stew, braised rabbit leg with Leeks and Carrots, Instant Pot rabbit ragu, and traditional paella Valenciana with Rabbit and Chicken.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I cook this in a tagine pot?
Yes, but on the proviso that you have a tagine that is large enough to hold the rabbit legs.
I cook most of my tagine recipes in a 20cm or 8" tagine, which is perfectly sized for creating a meal for two. However, unlike my duck leg tagine and chicken leg tagine, rabbit legs are just a little too large to fit in.
Larger tagines tend to be a little deeper, and as a result, you will need to add more vegetables (and liquid) to create the base to steam the meat over.
Can I use other cuts of rabbit?
I would avoid using the loin of rabbit because it is very tender and lean and can dry out very quickly.
What is rose harissa?
Rose harissa is a spicy North African pepper paste that, as the name suggests, contains either rose water or rose petals (or usually a combination of both).
It's delicious and adds a wonderfully floral/perfume tone to recipes that it is used in. I use a brand called Belazu, but you can swap it out for any harissa paste if those floral tones are not for you.
What is sumac?
Sumac is the dried and ground “fruit” of the sumac plant. It has a delicious tart flavour that is almost like a cross between lemon and vinegar.
It can be used as both an ingredient and a finishing seasoning.
Serving Suggestions
As far as I am concerned, this recipe needs a relatively neutral side dish aimed at spreading all that delicious flavour!
I serve this version with herbed bulgur wheat that has a squeeze of lemon added.
It would work equally well with buttered couscous, again with a squeeze of lemon juice.
I adore this dish with potatoes, some well-salted fried potatoes work great, as do batata harra, spicy Lebanese potatoes!
But it would also work with a simple garden salad as a side, too!
Equipment Used
I only name-check brands of equipment if I think that they make a material difference to a recipe. But if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.
- Hob/stovetop.
- 28cm or 11" frying pan with a lid.
- Small mixing bowl.
- Stirring and serving spoons.
- Chopping board.
- Kitchen knife.
- A combination of weighing scales, a measuring jug, measuring spoons and cups.
Spiced Rabbit Tagine Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Rabbit Legs
- 1 tablespoon Sumac
- 1 teaspoon Ras el Hanout
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 2 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- 1 Large Onion 200g
- 1 Red Pepper
- 2 Garlic Cloves
- 75 g Dried Apricots ½ Cup
- 35 g Blanched Almonds ¼ Cup
- 1 tablespoon Rose Harissa Paste
- 50 ml Water 3 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon
- 20 g Runny Honey 1 tablespoon
Instructions
- Mix half of the olive oil with the sumac, half of the ras el hanout and half of the salt. Pour it over the rabbit legs and massage it in.
- Peel, top and tail the onion, then cut in half and slice it into 1cm (½") thick half-moon shapes.
- Heat a 28cm frying pan (with a lid) over a medium heat. When hot, add the oil, then throw in the onion and cinnamon stick, and cook for 10 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
- Peel and finely slice the garlic cloves.
- Remove the seeds from the red pepper and cut into 5mm (¼") thick strips.
- Add the garlic and red pepper and cook for a further 5 minutes. Stirring regularly.
- Cut the apricots in half.
- Add the apricots, almonds, harissa paste, remaining ras el hanout and salt, then stir well.
- Pour in the water and place the rabbit on top.
- Drizzle over the honey and add a lid, reduce the temperature to low and cook for 45 minutes.Then serve.
I love rabbit!!
Me too!
This looks lovely Brian, I haven’t had rabbit in years until a couple of years back and somehow I didn’t like that much anymore- we’ll, I can never say I was crazy about.
This dish looks so amazing that I really want to give mr rabbit another try. I love the colours and the presentation of this dish. Superb as always.
I haven't had rabbit for a while now, this is a good opportunity to try this recipe. In France, I have no problem in finding rabbits. Wild bore instead and the irony is that the forest right next to us is full of them and they have to kill them regularly as they overtake. Unfortunately, I don't know any hunters but when I go visit my sister the vet, I can get plenty. Hunters are very friendly with vets
Stunning photos! I love the lighting!
This looks lovely Brian, I haven’t had rabbit in years until a couple of years back and somehow I didn’t like that much anymore- we’ll, I can never say I was crazy about.
This dish looks so amazing that I really want to give mr rabbit another try. I love the colours and the presentation of this dish. Superb as always.
Rabbit is a funny meat done well it can be sublime but it is insanely lean and really needs to be cooked well to be edible.
I haven't had rabbit for a while now, this is a good opportunity to try this recipe. In France, I have no problem in finding rabbits. Wild bore instead and the irony is that the forest right next to us is full of them and they have to kill them regularly as they overtake. Unfortunately, I don't know any hunters but when I go visit my sister the vet, I can get plenty. Hunters are very friendly with vets
Haha, yes vets are the very best source of wild meat here too! I love cooking with rabbit!
Stunning photos! I love the lighting!
Thanks Amanda
How long would I cook this on top of the stove in my tagine?
Hey Raney... I had to do some research on this for you and it looks as though around 40 minutes should be good but I would personally check after 30 minutes as rabbit can dry very quickly.
A Tagline is not a regional dish, rather it is the name of the pot it is cooked in
It is indeed, however the both the pot and flavours are very specific to a region making both notions correct, my cooking method aims to produce a similar 'steamed' approach to the food despite not using a tagine.
WOW! That looks insanely tasty!!! I can't even remember the last time I had rabbit either. I gotta find one and make this!
Thanks Gigi, good luck with the rabbit hunting 🙂
I've never made a Tagine recipe before...always thought it was intimidating and just not realistic for me to do, but yours looks delicious and easy enough to make. Perfect! 🙂
You should defiinitely give it a go, you don't even need a tagine 🙂 It is nothing more than a regional name for a type of stew, naturally the flavours are a little different but in essence lovely one put wonders of deliciousness and most importantly really simple.
About 10 years ago we set ourselves a small challenge to cook with meats we hadn't tried before, including rabbit. The rabbit pie we made was really tasty, but for whatever reason we haven't cooked with rabbit since! You're right that it seems to have fallen out of favour. Love the sound of this recipe with all those spices.
I rarely cooked with meats out of the norm when I lived in the UK although always loved the least popular cuts, however they are much more available over here and really do offer something new to the dinner table.
Looks delicious and love the spices combination. This is a comfort food, must try.
Thanks Sabrina.
This sounds incredible! It's packed full of so many warming and delicious spices, I miss food like this!
Thanks Emily, it is definitely a warming winter dish.
Nooooo! You bunny boiler Brian! How could you eat a little, defenseless Miffy bunny lol. If I put aside my horror, I will say this does look extremely tasty (though it pains my bunny loving bones to say it lol).
More like bunny broiler 😉 I love bunnies too they taste great, but they have stole my entire brussel sprout crop this year so in the pot they go 😀