This ground lamb chili recipe is flavored with Moroccan-inspired spices and uses chickpeas instead of beans. The addition of sweet potato and kale makes it a complete and healthy gluten-free dinner.
The first time I officially cooked for Charlie was on his birthday, over 5 years ago. And no, I did not make this Moroccan Lamb Chili Recipe.
There had been plenty of non-official cooking prior, back when we were friends and I would host a group for pulled brisket tacos or bring a bowl of succotash to the BBQ he was throwing for the 4th of July. For this first official meal though, I have virtually no recollection of what I made. And I mean virtually, as I usually hold this blog accountable for logging he vast majority of things that come out of my kitchen and the significant moments they commemorate. But alas, for this significant moment, I’ve got nothing.
What I do remember is going to three different markets in preparation. First, to Murray’s to pick up Charlie’s favorite cheeses, then to Chelsea Market to get the finest cured meats in all the land, and finally to Lobster Place for oysters.
Since this was a mere three weeks into dating, I of course waited until he arrived to shuck the oysters so I could impress him with my masculine energy in the kitchen by popping each shell open with the ease of a beer bottle. This worked for about 5 minutes, until I severed one of my thumbs and had to reassure him that I was “toooootally FINE!” as blood poured down to my elbow. I taught him how to shuck the rest of the oysters while wrestling with my Bounty tourniquet, and he did so well, the job became permanently his.
Aside from all the subsequent oyster appetizers, one of the first meals Charlie officially cooked for me was chili.
One night a month or so after the great birthday mollusk massacre of 2013, he surprised me with a homemade meal of one of the recipes from the blog, chili con carne. I talked about the significance of this moment here, and the immediate anxiety that I felt since the chili was an older recipe. Therefore there was a significant chance that the meal would be terrible and the blood for the second time in our at-home dining would be on my hands.
The meal was delicious of course, and even more so because he made it for me. But I’ve been on a mission ever since to create superior chili recipes, and ones with Slow Cooker instructions, should he happen to surprise me again with a comforting Crock Pot meal.
Now that we officially married and many bowls of chili in the hole, I thought there was no better time to revamp this healthy lamb chili with Moroccan spices. (There’s now a video below!)
The flavors of my favorite traditional lamb tagine lend themselves well to the chili, since the base spice is cumin, which is similar to a lot of Tex-Mex dishes. I amped up the heat with plenty of harissa, added some sweet potatoes for sweetness, and loaded it with kale for healthiness, even though it melts away and you can hardly tell there are vegetables in there.
If you have any significant moments of your own that need celebrating this winter, I highly recommend this comforting Moroccan chili with ground lamb. There’s far less risk of blood shed involved than dishes that involve a shucking knife, and if you’re lucky, you can find a man with a slow cooker to take the sweat and tears off your plate too.
With health and hedonism,
Phoebe
Moroccan Lamb Chili with Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion finely diced
- 1 pound ground lamb
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1-2 tablespoon harissa (Moroccan chile paste)
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- One 28-ounce cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
- One 15-ounce cans chickpeas rinsed and drained
- 1 medium sweet potato peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes (about 2 cups)
- 2 cups beef stock or water
- 2 cups frozen or fresh chopped kale
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- Greek yogurt for serving
Instructions
- In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, heat the oil. Saute the onion over medium-high heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Push the onions to the sides of the pan and add the lamb. Cook the meat, breaking apart with your spatula, until nicely brown and cooked through, 5 minutes. Add the garlic, harissa (add more if you like spicy chili), cumin, and salt. Cook for 1 minute, or until the spices are fragrant. Carefully pour in the tomatoes and simmer, scrapping up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan, until the liquid has reduced, 15 minutes.
- Stir in the chickpeas, sweet potatoes, and kale. Cover with the stock. Bring to a boil, turn the heat to low, and simmer uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender and the chili has thickened. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice, and taste for seasoning.
- Serve the chili with Greek yogurt and garnish with fresh chopped parsley or cilantro.
Notes
Nutrition
If you make this, tag @phoebelapine and #feedmephoebe – I’d love to see it!
Perfect for a rainy day, like, today. Adding kale is great, because boys need their greens – they just don’t want to notice they’re eating them. 🙂
I know! I wish I had a bowl on me right now…
I made this and won a chili contest at work. 100% recommend.
So I feel like I’m only just discovering lamb and have SO much to learn. This looks like a great place to start!
ground lamb is a great easy way to start! one day though, you’ll have to work your way up to my roasted leg of lamb for a huge party. it’s such a winner. thanks for stopping by Erin! xoxoxox
This is AMAZING !!!
This sounds like such great comfort food – love the warm spices, sweet potato and kale that go along with the lamb
Thanks, Jeanette! Your stew sounds divine. Love the slow cooker week!
Ha! What a funny story! I have a mental image of your bounty tourniquet. The flavors in this chile are fantastic!
hehe thanks Laura! Glad you like the lamb chili!
This was amazing! The lamb gives a strong distinct flavor, the sweet potato gives it a touch of sweetness, and the Harissa gives it a nice kick. I used 2 and 1/2 cups kale (it shrivels up small) and 2 and 1/2 Harissa tsp because I have the dry stuff and not the already mixed paste. Great recipe overall.
Yay John! Thanks so much for making it and reporting back. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Never had dried harissa before, but that’s a great pantry alternative if you can find it!
This is so on for tonight! Another way to go through my 30 pounds of local, organic sweet potatoes is more than welcome. I’m a huge fan of Harissa with lamb. Love just a simple marinade of Harissa and yogurt and then off to the grill. So wonderful.
amazing!! jealous of all your sweet potatoes – they are so beautiful this time of year. Let me know how it turns out! xo
I modified this and it’s a keeper. I used a HUGE sweet potato and instead of chickpeas…2 cans of black beans. Added extra garlic, extra harissa, cracked pepper and roasted coriander.
Topped with cilantro, sour cream, and homemade jalapeno cornbread croutons.
Thanks for the idea!!
Hi Phoebe this sounds amazing. Just to clarify, when using a slow cooker I should sauté the onions and lamb and then dump that and the rest of the ingredients except sweet potatoes and kale into the crock pot? Or do I have to reduce the tomatoes too? Thanks!
That is correct Carin!! Let me know how it turns out!! xoxox
I made a Moroccan chili (not this recipe) for a cookoff and won with it. We’re trying yours tonight! I just didn’t use lamb last time. We are both being kind of lazy and don’t want to go to the grocery, so I might leave the sweet potatoes out. Extra beans? Substitute a carrot?
Hi Kristin! Hopefully it’s not too late to weigh in. Either more beans or a carrot is great! Or you can simply omit altogether, it will just be a smaller total serving size and less bulky. Let me know how you like it! and hooray for Moroccan chili.
So no ground lamb at the store. Used a little over a pound of boneless lamb shoulder minced up. My friend said he liked it better with the little pieces of lamb; also, used homemade harissa from a fairly dumbed down recipe. The real moroccan stuff might have made more complex flavor. Four stars.
Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for reporting back. When it gets cold again I’ll have to try with lamb leg or shoulder.
I used this approach as well. Really like the cubes of lamb. Have used sweet potatoe in Thai Chili. Can’t wait to try in a more traditional chili
This was really good!!! I would call my dish a stew more than chili because I don’t like spicy food so I didn’t use harissa. What I missed were the sweet potatoes, because I didn’t have any, but I definitely will make it again, next time with sweet potatoes!
So great to hear Silvia! Def try with the sweet potatoes. They are a great compliment. xo
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I did not have any kale, so I substituted Swiss Chard, as I had that on hand. My husband is quite the Foodie/Home Chef, so I added his homemade Ras El Hanout, for an extra punch. Really wonderful. Thank you for the suggestion!
homemade ras el hanout?? look at you! so glad you liked it and sure that was a delish addition xo
Terrific Recipe! Not a huge fan of chili in general, but when I saw your recipe I thought now I HAVE to give this one a try. Lamb, harissa, kale, chickpeas, sweet potato…Moroccan flavors?! Chili turned out delicious! Followed recipe exactly except added some ground cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg.
Thank you so much for posting this recipe!
awesome cyrus!!! i’m sure the cinnamon was amazing. xo
What’s the nutritional info for this dish.
Thanks!
This is not Moroccan or Maghrebi because you put some lamb, cumin and harissa in it. This is modern American food. Nothing Moroccan about it. It’s like if I put tomato and cheese on kesra and called it pizza.
Well, I’d think it’d be pretty much obvious. Just like most taco recipes are not truly Mexican food and anything labeled “Italian” and written by an American recipe blogger is not actually Italian food— Would “Moroccan Inspired” be a better label, well duh— but most people would not reasonably assume this was a traditional Moroccan recipe.
Scrumptious and well balanced flavor. Not terribly spicy either. A great dinner, especially on a cold day!
yay I’m so glad you liked it Antonie!
Thanks for the recipe! My husband noted that all the liquid was gone in our version though. Maybe needs a little more broth (or bigger cut sweet potatoes?) when we use fresh kale? I love it thick though so not an issue for me. Absolutely love the flavors together. A keeper!
awesome! yes, it sometimes depends on the pot/stove. Always add more stock or water if you prefer a looser texture.
Thank you for this recipe. I made it tonight for my family paired wit couscous and watermelon salad. They all loved it.
yum!! I’m so glad!
Hey! Thanks for yummy recipe 🙂 How would i modify it to be vegetarian?
You can omit the lamb 🙂 and double the chickpeas
I just made this for 30 people. Total winner. The lemon juice at the end makes it even more perfect than perfection. Thank you!
wooohooo
Wonderfull. I cannot resist, I’m going to prepare it.! Thank you very much
I am eating for my blood type and lamb is one of the beneficial meats that I can have. I am excited to see this recipe because I have neve cooked ground lamb. Glad to know it is no different than other ground meats. I am going to have a field day with this meal.
awesome! more lamb recipes in my archives 🙂
Does this hold up well if made a day in advance? Thinking of making it the night before for a get together but with the kale I wasn’t sure if it would hold up as well as some other chili’s that tastes better on day 2.
Just made this for dinner tonight. My husband is a garbanzo freak. He went wild. This recipe is definitely a keeper. Thank you so much!
Making this a second time today because it is what my partner requested for a belated Father’s Day dinner. We love it so much but can’t eat leafy greens so we just add extra chickpeas and sweet potatoes instead. Thank you for this deliciousness!
I have made this several times now – we love it! Interesting flavors, warm and comforting dish. Great variation on traditional chill.
Thanks for this really lovely recipe. It works on every level. I used black beans because that’s what I had and balsamic vinegar in place of lemon. It was so full of flavour. My husband and I loved it! Never really made a chilli with lamb before, but this was the best.
Lamb burgers are part of our weekly dinner rotation but I am always open to mixing things up a bit. This was really good (even without the kale, which i forget to purchase).
We enjoyed this dish last night and I’ve added it to our repertoire.
Some things to note: I found it much soupier than a standard chili. In the future, I’ll add a flatbread to sop up the delicious sauce or serve it over couscous.. The lemon juice brightens the dish and ought not to be omitted. After having prepared and eaten some of the chili, I read the comments and added cinnamon to what remained in the pot. It’s a good addition. I used sweet potatoes, but mine were flavourless and, unfortunately, I didn’t get the sweet contrast I was expecting. Finally, I’ll try adding kale later in the cooking process to preserve some texture.
A friend gifted me several packages of lamb and in my search, found your recipe. I had almost everything on hand, used a few substitutions, added a little cinnamon and nutmeg that someone suggested, and white it’s GREAT, I felt it needed something still and my mind screamed raisins. YUM! Like a Moroccan Piccadilllo, kind of. I’m regretting freezing half because I just want to eat it all right now!
Absolutely fantastic dish – thank you!! I am excited for the leftovers as I’m sure it’s even better today. I forgot the yogurt topping which I’m sure makes it even better. I squeezed a whole lemon into the pot, it’s a key ingredient!
yes, love the lemon in there!
This dish is King(Queen).
yay!
Really enjoyed this chili! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Lisa
So delicious! Stumbled upon your recipe and it has become the new house favourite! Definitely adding this into our weekly meal plan- so flavourful!
yay!! hope you’ll try others
This was very good!! Thank you! I will make it again 🙂
I made this chili today, OMG!! This is the BEST chili I’ve made. I did add red, orange and banana peppers as well as a spice mix I have. I added more cumin and more than 2 cups of kale greens. I had this chili with honey cornbread.
I will definitely make this again.
Thank you for this delicious recipe.
I wanted to add that I cooked this chili in the crockpot on High for 4 hours.
Delicious! Added just a bit more Cumin at the end than it called for, but absolutely loved the recipe! Served it with Zinfandel for some guests and Grüner Veltliner for others along with fresh baked Asiago Cheese Bread. Used grass fed lamb and followed the instructions in the Dutch Oven as above.
5 star rating from me!
This is absolutely amazing. Agree with an earlier poster that that the lemon juice really takes it over the top, but it’s stunningly good. Thanks for sharing.
So glad you enjoyed!