Chicken Pastilla, a scrumptious Moroccan delicacy, made easy in a skillet. Tender shredded chicken with aromatic spices wrapped in perfectly crisp pastry layers.
What Is Pastilla Or Bastilla?
Pastilla is a hugely popular Moroccan preparation, the traditional version of which can be labor intensive and time consuming to make.
In some parts of Morocco it is typically made with pigeon meat. And it is quite rich and intricately prepared with pastry layers known as warqa.
The version here uses phyllo dough. Often, people are wary about working with phyllo pastry sheets. But, really, it is not that hard at all.
Once you figure it out, it is easy and you can make a variety of pastries and even crispy samosas using this dough and freeze it for later.
Like Persian cuisine, Moroccan food uses a combination of sweet and savory flavors in several preparations. So it is not uncommon to see fruits and dried fruits in savory dishes.
And traditional versions of this pastry, particularly also use some sugar in it. So yeah, spices, onions, herbs, cinnamon and some sugar with chicken!
But my husband would not eat a chicken pie with sugar. So I made this version, which still combines savory and sweet flavors. Besides, why not reserve the sugar for the sweet treats!
Tips And Tricks
- I substituted the sugar (used in the traditional version) with some moist dried prunes. But you could also try dried apricots or dates. Make sure to choose dried fruit that is still moist, not too dry and hard.
- In addition, what keeps the filling moist is the use of tender curdled eggs.
- Also, the chicken thigh meat is a lot more softer than the chicken breast, which I think would be too dry for a Pastilla recipe.
- The trick to working easily with phyllo dough is to thaw the frozen dough properly. Once each layer separates out easily and not sticking to each other, then it is so easy to work with.
- Be sure to buy a good brand and from a store with a high product turnover, so that the stock is fresh.
- Sometimes using the microwave for just a few seconds can help separate sticky sheets, but it is tricky. If you overdo it, then the sheets will become dry and crumbly.
- Traditionally, butter is used to brush the warqa (pastry leaf) layers, which makes it quite rich. But I tried this recipe using olive oil to brush the phyllo sheets, then drizzled some ghee on the top and baked it. It was quite flaky and had a rich flavor.
- If you desire to have the full richness of the traditional version for special occasions, you may substitute some of the oil with brown butter or ghee (richer flavor than regular butter).
How To Serve It
One serving of this pastilla has a substantial amount of high quality protein and a good dose of healthy fats from the olive oil. So you can have it with some green salad for your lunch. It could be part of dinner menu with a light entree and of course any party menu too.
Storage, Freezing, Meal Prep
- You can make ahead the filling.
- The pastilla can be assembled and frozen before or after baking. Thaw and bake or reheat in oven.
- Leftovers can be refrigerated for 3 to 4 days and reheated in oven or toasted oven to crisp it up.
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Chicken Pastilla (Moroccan Skillet Pie)
Ingredients
- 3 lbs chicken thighs with bone, yield: approx 1½ lbs chicken meat
- 2 onions medium, sliced
- 1 teaspoon ras el hanout Moroccan spice blend
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin ground
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander ground
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper ground
- ½ teaspoon Aleppo red pepper ground
- 1½ teaspoons ginger grated
- 5½ tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon saffron ground, soaked in 1 tablespoon hot water
- ⅓ cup prunes or dates/apricots, dried, chopped
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped
- ¼ cup parsley chopped
- ¾ teaspoon salt adjust per taste
- 6 eggs large, whisked
- ¼ cup almonds roasted, coarsely chopped
- 8 ounces phyllo dough 20 sheets - 9 X 14 size
- ½ tablespoon olive oil or ghee/ melted butter
- almond flour or confectioners sugar with ground cinnamon Optional
Instructions
PASTILLA FILLING PREPARATION
- Take the cleaned chicken thighs in a cooking pot. Add ⅓ of the sliced onions to it.
- Next combine the spices in a small preparation bowl - ras el hanout through Aleppo red pepper. Add ⅓ of that to the chicken and save the remaining spice mix. Then add ⅓ of the grated ginger to the chicken.
- Add about ½ cup water to the chicken. Turn on the heat to high and let the water sizzle. Lower the heat and cook the chicken until it is well done.
- The chicken will release its own juices. If needed, add a little more water. When the chicken is cooked, reserve two tablespoons of the spiced liquid, if remaining.
- Debone the well cooked chicken using a fork. Shred the chicken meat.
- Heat ½ tablespoon oil in a skillet and sauté the remaining sliced onions until golden brown. Stir the ginger.
- Add the shredded chicken, remaining spices, ginger, saffron water, chopped prunes, salt, herbs and combine it all. Adjust the seasoning to your taste. Transfer the chicken mixture to a prep bowl.
- Heat one teaspoon of oil in the skillet and add the whisked eggs (save one tablespoon for later) and scramble. Then add the two tablespoons of spiced liquid saved from previous step. Season with salt.
- Next add the scrambled eggs and almonds to the chicken mixture. Combine it all gently and set aside.
ASSEMBLE PASTILLA
- Thaw the Phyllo dough as per instructions - overnight in the refrigerator and an additional 4 hours or more at room temperature.
- Preheat oven at 350 degrees F (adjust this as per oven, increase to 375 if needed).
- Remove the phyllo dough sheets out of the package. Unwrap and cover it with a damp thin kitchen towel.
- Grease a 10 inch iron skillet with oil. Unroll one phyllo sheet and lightly brush with oil. Carefully transfer the phyllo sheet on to the skillet making sure to center it and lightly press it into the base of the skillet.
- Brush 8 more sheets, one at a time, and lay over the skillet in a similar fashion, making sure to rotate the placement slightly each time. After placing the 9 oil-brushed sheets, it should look like a fan, such that the sheets are layered uniformly in a circular fashion.
- Spread half of the filling on to the layered phyllo sheets. Fold couple of phyllo sheets over the filling.
- Layer 9 more oil-brushed phyllo sheets on the filling just like in steps 4 and 5. Spread the remaining filling over the phyllo sheets. Fold over all of the phyllo sheets on top of the filling, tucking the sides into the skillet.
- Brush the remaining two phyllo sheets with oil and layer one at a time on to the chicken pie and tucking the sides into the skillet. Mix ½ tablespoon oil (or ghee/melted butter) with one tablespoon whisked egg and brush on the top.
- Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes until nicely golden brown. Let it cool for 5 minutes and dust with almond meal or confectioners sugar + cinnamon mixture.
Notes
- Ras el hanout, the Moroccan spice blend is available at Moroccan/Middle eastern grocery stores or online.
- I used olive oil for most of the chicken pastilla and drizzled some ghee on the top for flavor.
- Traditionally the pie is dusted on the top with confectioners sugar and cinnamon. I used finely powdered almond meal instead.
Kevin says
My changes worked well with the recipe. The dried fruit works great, I did both apricots and dates. I used chicken breasts vs. thighs and broke each one down to thirds to decrease cooking time. Because the breast can be a bit dry I added some additional olive oil and increased the sweetness and moister by adding 1 cup of shredded carrots.
Cathy says
One of my favorite Moroccan dishes while visiting Morocco this year. Great recipe, tested last night. I substituted smoked paprika for the aleppo pepper. I think I will add a little more Ras el hanout next time to add just a little more spice. I now appreciate even more the effort that goes into making this dish, but as another comment said, well worth the time. I'm going to use this dish in a food & wine tasting dinner party paired with a Santa Barbara Pinot Gris.
Anonymous says
Absolutely wonderful!
Jon Manol says
I had this dish in a Moroccan restaurant years ago and finally decided to try it. This recipe is great! It takes a bit of time but it's not complicated the result is really flavourful and was great hot out of the oven and even cold as leftovers. The mix of spice, sweet and nutty is a great combination. I used the dusting of powdered sugar on top. Next time I will add a bit more juice from the chicken cooking to the pie just to make it even moister (a couple more tablespoons). We replaced a few ingredients that we could not find like crushed red peppers flakes instead of aleppo peppers and mint instead of cilantro (different flavour but similar).
Merlin says
Can I make this with puff pastry
Roxana Begum says
I haven't tried. But it might work. The filling should be moist.
Amy says
Great way to change up dinner! I am going to have to make this soon!
Roxana says
Thanks so much Amy. Enjoy :)
Stephanie says
Wow. This looks and sounds amazing. And yes to reserving sugar for sweet treats.
Roxana says
Thanks for your feedback Stephanie.
amy says
Your recipe looks amazing. I would love to try it!
Roxana says
Thanks Amy. I hope you try it and enjoy :)
Lucy says
What a pie! And what a great idea to switch out the sugar for some dried fruits too.
Roxana says
Thanks Lucy. So glad you liked it :)
Hannah Healy says
Yum! This looks like a lovely weeknight dinner option.
Roxana says
Thanks Hannah. Yes, and I enjoy it with some salad.
Daniela Anderson says
I haven't had many Moroccan dishes, only a tagine, which l loved.This dish looks delicious, l'm glad you used chicken, l don't think l would ever try pigeons ?
It makes a lovely dinner that everyone would love.
Roxana says
Thanks Daniela. I too am fascinated with Moroccan cuisine. Yes, I agree, I am glad it's not pigeons :)