This post generously brought to you by ALDI. All opinions, recipes, and photos are my own.
Ben and I have a restaurant in Houston that we absolutely love. They serve Spanish tapas and Moroccan food, and every single time we go, we get a few different things to try. Except this one dish: Moroccan Chicken Croquettes. They are the perfect blend of chicken, rice, and Moroccan spices, served with an aioli and we get them every single time we go!
When ALDI challenged me to create a meal for our family under $10, I began brainstorming. We eat lots of meals under $10, but I wanted this one to be amazing!
I made chicken in the crockpot one night last week, along with some rice. Shortly after dinner it hit me: Moroccan Chicken Croquettes! I whipped up a few immediately and served them to the family for an after dinner treat. 😉 And they immediately loved them.
The crispiness of the outside of the croquette, the creaminess and spiciness of the sauce, the sweetness of the cinnamon and raisins* all combine to make a truly delicious meal. Serve it over a bed of spinach for a complete meal for under $10! *Trust me, don’t knock these ingredients till you try it. I NEVER would have envisioned cinnamon tasting good with chicken, but it’s truly amazing!
{Oh, and you can totally add chili powder to the croquette mixture to make it spicy. I just chose to add the spicy element to the sauce so our kids would eat the chicken croquettes. }
The great thing about this recipe is that it’s entirely versatile. You could change out the spices to make them Tex-Mex, Italian, or any flavor you’re craving! Just use the chicken/rice/salt/egg/flour ratio as your springboard and get creative!
- Chicken: 1 pound chicken breast
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. cumin
- ¾ tsp. sea salt
- Croquette mixture:
- 4 cups cooked rice
- ¼ cup slivered almonds
- ¼ cup golden raisins, chopped
- ½ tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup flour
- ¼ cup olive oil
- Sauce:
- ⅓ cup plain yogurt
- 1 tsp. chili powder, or more to taste
- Place chicken, cinnamon, cumin, and salt , plus one cup water in a slow cooker on high for 4 hours.
- Either shred chicken using two forks, or pulse a few times in a food processor until chopped. (Be sure not to over-process)
- Combine chicken, rice, almonds, raisins, and additional salt, cinnamon and cumin.
- Heat ⅛ cup olive oil over medium heat in an iron skillet.
- Scoop chicken/rice mixture in ¼ cup portions into skillet once oil is heated.
- Cook on 3 minutes, or until golden and crispy.
- Flip on other side and cook an additional 3 minutes or until golden and crispy.
- When you've cooked half the croquettes, add the additional ⅛ cup olive oil.
- Combine yogurt and chili powder (add more if you like it spicier).
- Serve yogurt sauce with croquettes.
We love ALDI and their impressively high quality at impossibly low prices! Seriously, if you haven’t checked them out before, give them a try! You can also read my first post about ALDI here. Also, if you’re brand new to ALDI, check out this Switch and Save Fact sheet to determine how much you can save by switching to ALDI as your grocery store!
About Kelli Hays
These look delicious!
Kelli, this is great. I would love you to stop by Food on Friday: Chicken over at Carole’s Chatter to add this to the recipe collection! Cheers!
I make chicken and salmon croquettes often and I am looking forward to trying these. They will be a welcome change of pace, thank you. Pinned!
These sound so good – like a grown-up version of the chicken croquettes my mom used to make. Pinning this and planning to make them soon. Visiting from FoodieFriDIY – thanks!
Look delicious! Thank you for participating at Tasty Tuesday Creative K Kids. I pinned your post at Pinterest board.