Chicken Bastilla
Morocco's show-stopping pie of flaky warqa pastry encasing spiced chicken with eggs, toasted almonds, and dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Sweet and savory magic.
🛒 Ingredients
- 1.2kg whole chicken, poached and shredded
- 2 large onions, grated
- 1 tsp ras el hanout
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp saffron threads
- 6 eggs, beaten
- 200g blanched almonds, toasted and roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 12 sheets filo pastry (or warqa)
- 100g unsalted butter, melted
- extra powdered sugar and cinnamon for dusting
👨🍳 Method
- 1
Cook chicken with onions, saffron, ginger, and ras el hanout until tender. Shred meat.
- 2
Reduce cooking liquid, add beaten eggs, stir until just set. Mix with chicken.
- 3
Toast almonds; mix with sugar and cinnamon.
- 4
Layer 6 buttered filo sheets in a 30cm round pan, letting edges overhang.
- 5
Add chicken layer, then almond layer.
- 6
Cover with remaining filo sheets, folding overhanging edges over the top.
- 7
Bake at 190°C for 30 minutes until deeply golden.
- 8
Invert onto a plate. Dust with a crosshatch pattern of powdered sugar and cinnamon.
💡 Chef's Tips
- →Use warqa pastry if you can find it — it has a unique texture. Filo is a worthy substitute.
- →The sweet-savory contrast is intentional and essential — don't reduce the sugar.
- →Can be fully assembled a day ahead and baked just before serving.
More Moroccan Recipes
Moroccan Lamb Tagine
Slow-braised lamb shoulder with preserved lemons, green olives, fragrant ras el hanout, and sweet apricots over fluffy couscous.
Harira — Moroccan Tomato Lentil Soup
The comforting soup that breaks the Ramadan fast: chickpeas, lentils, tender lamb, and tomatoes in a spiced, silky broth thickened with flour and finished with lemon.
Mechoui Slow-Roasted Lamb
A whole leg of lamb rubbed with a cumin-coriander-butter paste and slow-roasted for hours until the meat falls from the bone with barely a touch.