Harissa Honey Chicken (GF/DF) + Bowl

Harissa honey chicken is the perfect balance of heat and sweet! It is deliciously glazed and can be added with other ingredients to create a harissa honey chicken bowl as suggested here.

Use Tzatziki Dressing and the Harissa Vinaigrette recipes as great toppings for a Harissa Honey Chicken Bowl.

Jump to:

• Harissa Honey Chicken At Cava
• Flavors In Harissa Honey Chicken
• Harissa Honey Chicken Seasoning
• How Long Does It Take?
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Stages of Cooking Harissa Honey Chicken
• Cooking Rice for Harissa Honey Chicken
• Substitutions
• Serving
• Variations
• Storage
• Reheating
• Top tip
• FAQ
• Related
• Harissa Honey Chicken (Gluten Free & Dairy Free (Option)
• Food safety

Harissa Honey Chicken At Cava

I don’t know about you but the first time, and only time for that matter besides in my home, that I have had harissa honey chicken is at Cava. The moment I tasted the deliciousness of the harissa honey chicken bowl, I was captivated. I was also pregnant at the time so my appetite was even more increased making this one of the best meals I’ve had in my life. I was determined to make my own version at home. And I have been absolutely satisfied with it. My husband says it is better than Cava. We shall see! Let us know what you think.

Flavors In Harissa Honey Chicken

Harissa Honey Chicken has a delicious balance of sweet and heat. And it is boldly flavorful! The sweet comes from honey. The heat comes from ground cayenne pepper. And the bold flavor comes from the delicious spice harissa. I buy premixed harissa spice from the grocery store. I then use this to make harissa paste. However, if you have all of the spices, you can make your own harissa paste using this recipe from The Mediterranean Dish.

Harissa Honey Chicken Seasoning

*You can buy harissa honey seasoning. This is to show the spices in harissa seasoning.

• Chilies
• Red peppers
• Tomato paste
• Garlic
• Caraway
• Coridaner
• Cumin
• Paprika
• Cayenne
• Salt
• Lemon
• Olive oil

How Long Does It Take?

Harissa honey chicken can be a process to prep but the actual cooking time is not overbearing! Cooking the actual chicken takes about 25 minutes. Cooking the rice can take up to 40 minutes. Items to prep include:

Mixing

Chicken glaze

Tzatziki dressing

Harissa vinaigrette 

Cutting/Chopping/Crumbling

Cucumbers

Red onion

Feta cheese

Garlic

Avocado

Kale and cabbage

If I am making this meal, I like to prep these the morning of the day I will cook so that I am not overwhelmed with the process when it comes to serving dinner to my family.

Ingredients

See recipe card for a more concise and precise look at the ingredients!

• Organic chicken- Preferably pasture raised- when these qualities are present in the chicken it is much more nutritious and you want foods you eat to be nutrient dense.
• Avocado oil – You will need oil to cook the chicken in. I choose avocado oil because it has a much higher smoke point helping maintain the integrity of the oil when cooking.
• Harissa Honey Chicken Glaze
  • Honey – Honey adds sweetness to bring delight and to balance the heat.
  • Harissa paste (equal parts water and harissa seasoning) – You should be able to find harissa seasoning amongst all the other spices on the spice aisle. You can read more about harissa seasoning above.
  • Crushed garlic – I use my garlic crusher. You can also mince the garlic! Fresh garlic is truly best but pre-minced garlic is okay too.
  • Cayenne- Cayenne is the superstar of the heat in this recipe.
• Chicken seasoning
  • Cumin 
  • Salt
  • Pepper
• Harissa Honey Chicken Bowl (base + toppings) – Optional
  • Kale and/or shredded cabbage – sturdy greens that will help support the wet and heavy ingredients in this bow.
  • Brown or saffron rice – I always have brown rice on hand and usually choose to go that route. However, saffron rice is so delicious. Try the recipe linked if you want saffron rice.
  • Cucumbers – sliced and quartered.
  • Hummus
  • Tzatziki – this is a yogurt based mediterranean topping that is flavored by dill and lemon. Try a dairy free yogurt to make this dairy free.
  • Avocados – make sure they are ripe or you won’t be able to cut into them!
  • Harissa vinaigrette
  • Red onions
  • Feta

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

If I am making this meal, I like to prep most of the ingredients the morning of the day I will cook, so that I am not overwhelmed with the process when it comes to serving dinner to my family.

Remember that to save or print the Tzatziki Dressing and Harissa Vinaigrette.

Hint: Give the glaze time to cook down! You haven’t messed up if it looks soupy! See the stages below.

Stages of Cooking Harissa Honey Chicken

Note, it can take 20 minutes before the glaze forms. See the stages of forming the glaze below!

When cooking honey harissa chicken, you will mix all of the glaze ingredients, cube and season the chicken, and heat some avocado oil.

After the oil has heated, you will add the chicken and glaze to the pan all at once. The glaze will cook while the chicken cooks.

Since the glaze takes a good 20 minutes to cook down, you will have plenty of time to cook the chicken before the glaze thickens too much. The glaze can feel like it will never finish. However, it really should only take about 20 minutes. It will go from looking really watery and like you totally messed up. You will watch a beautiful amber glaze emerge.

Cooking Rice for Harissa Honey Chicken

The recipe technically serves 2.5-3 people. I make the rice accordingly. So I usually make 1 cup of uncooked rice. I purchase organic brown rice at Costco and always have it on hand. That is what I chose to use for this recipe. If you want to make saffron rice see a suggestion under the ingredients list found in the post.

Substitutions

Substituting the kale and cabbage- If you are going to substitute the kale and cabbage for a different green, it needs to be as sturdy as kale or cabbage. Since there aren’t that many more options of sturdy greens, this may be hard to substitute. Don’t substitute with the “mixed greens lettuce”, iceberg shreds, or spinach. The moisture and weight of the toppings on this bowl will cause the lettuce to become too soggy. Because all of these toppings are pretty smooth without much texture or crunch, the added crunch of the kale and cabbage is necessary in my opinion.

Romaine or iceberg are the only lettuces I would recommend.

Serving

Harissa Honey Chicken Bowl: My favorite way to serve harissa honey chicken is in a harissa honey chicken bowl with nutritious toppings and base such as kale, cabbage, avocado, pickled onions, feta, cucumbers, tzatziki, and harissa vinaigrette. 

Harissa & Pita: Another delicious way to serve this chicken is with a side of saffron rice, pita and hummus, and creamed spinach or another green. If you serve it this way, don’t cube the chicken.

Variations

Cool Down The Spice: If you don’t like spicy food, consider taking the spice down from ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper to ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper. The harissa seasoning may look spicy but it does not have much heat to it. So you shouldn’t need to take out any of the harissa seasoning.

Other Toppings: grape tomatoes, pickled onion instead of plain sliced, sweet potatoes, and olives.

The Greens: If you want to substitute the kale and cabbage, try another sturdy green like romaine and iceberg. Just not iceberg shreds!

Grains: saffron rice, quinoa, brown rice, or white rice.

Storage

Harissa honey chicken can be stored in the refrigerator in an air sealed container for 2-3 days. Make sure to keep all ingredients separate if you want to eat as leftovers. You can combine the chicken and rice.

Reheating

The harissa honey chicken bowl can be eaten as leftovers. Simply reheat the chicken and rice on the stove, in the oven, or in the microwave. Then assemble your bowl again! See storage suggestions.

FAQ

Related

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

Food safety

• Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
• Wash hands after touching raw meat
• Don’t leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
• Never leave cooking food unattended
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
• Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.