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Golden, spiced and deeply satisfying – this is the kind of bowl you’ll want on repeat. I made this Harissa Chicken Bowl once, and it’s become one of our absolute go-to recipes.

Smoky marinated chicken thighs, a rich harissa and coconut milk sauce with a generous amount of shallots and garlic, finished with fresh coriander and spring onion and topped with pomegranate, sesame seeds and fluffy basmati. Bold, warming and completely brilliant.

Makes roughly 3 portions | Prep time: 10 mins plus marinating | Cook time: 30 mins

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How to make Pomegranate & Harissa Chicken Bowl

Ingredients:

For the chicken: 6 chicken thighs (skinless and boneless), 1 tbsp smoked paprika, drizzle of olive oil, salt

For the sauce: 6 – 8 shallots (finely diced), 4 garlic cloves (minced), 2 tbsp harissa paste, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 400ml coconut milk, 1 chicken stock cube (crumbled), 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp fish sauce, juice of 1 lime, small bunch of fresh coriander (roughly chopped), 3 spring onions (sliced)

To serve: Fluffy basmati rice, handful of fresh pomegranate seeds, spring onion (sliced), sesame seeds, fresh coriander

Method:

Marinate the chicken. Combine the chicken thighs with smoked paprika, a drizzle of olive oil and a generous pinch of salt. Leave to marinate for as long as you can, even twenty minutes makes a difference.

Brown the chicken. Fry the chicken thighs for 4 minutes on each side until deeply golden over a medium-high heat in a large, shallow pan. Remove and set aside.

Build the sauce. In the same pan, soften the shallots and garlic over a medium heat until translucent and sweet – don’t rush this part. Add the harissa paste and smoked paprika and cook for another minute, stirring so nothing catches. If you need to add a splash of water to deglaze the pan, feel free to do so. It’s all great flavour going straight into your disk.

Simmer. Pour in the coconut milk and crumble in the stock cube. Add the soy sauce and fish sauce and stir everything together. Return the chicken to the pan, nestling it into the sauce. Cover and simmer gently for 10 – 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened. Feel free to add an extra dash of smoked paprika or soy sauce to suit your preferences. I usually add about 3/4 of the coconut milk to start and then the rest if it feels like it needs to be a little saucier. This is entirely personal preference.

Finishing touches. In the last couple of minutes of cooking, stir through the fresh coriander and spring onion – adding them late keeps them vibrant rather than letting them disappear into the sauce. Finish with a generous squeeze of fresh lime.

To serve. Spoon over fluffy basmati rice and top generously with fresh pomegranate seeds, sliced spring onion, sesame seeds and fresh coriander.

A few notes:

Don’t skimp on the shallots – six to eight might seem like a lot but they melt down beautifully and give the sauce a real sweetness and depth that one or two simply can’t deliver. Even if they are a bit fiddly!

The marinating time genuinely matters here. If you can get the chicken in the marinade in the morning before work, the flavour payoff by dinner is significant.

Leftovers reheat really well the next day – the sauce gets even better overnight.