Hello Fresh recipe Review: Moroccan chicken sausage tagine

One of the best parts of Hello Fresh (and there are many!) is that they produce these videos to match some of their recipes. This week, we happened to luck out with this one: 

why hello fresh?

The BEST part of Hello Fresh is they beat all other services on variety and choice. There are 15 recipes to choose from in the Classic Plan, six in the family plan, and three in the veggie plan. That is more choices than any other meal box service. And you're not ever locked in! You can mix and match the plans each week, and choose different numbers of servings per meal, and even choose a different number of meals each week. Their "Dinner 2 Lunch" options supply creative ways to transform leftovers into new lunches! Hello Fresh definitely wins here. 

​Hello Fresh is also one of the most environmentally friendly services. The whole kits come in recyclable paper bags, and they keep the plastic to a minimum. Compared to some of the other services, this is a really nice feature. They've even partnered with GiveBackBox.com so you can ship used packaging to be donated - free! 

Our readers get $40 off now!

Read more of our Hello Fresh reviews HERE.

the recipe

Just like every recipe from Hello Fresh, this one came together quickly and easily. But it wasn't our favorite for a few reasons. 

​1. Prep the veggies and stock. ​Easy enough -  but the carrots here are too big for this recipe. We really should have cut them much smaller. In the end they came out still crunchy in the middle. Prep the stock by adding the provided pouch to some water. 

2. Cook the couscous. ​This is the easiest part of the whole recipe. It cooks just like pasta, but super quickly. And couscous can have a tendency to get all over the place, both before and after cooking. 

​3. Cook the meat and veggies. ​Here's where things went off the rails a bit. The chicken sausage looked and smelled great as it was cooking, but as soon as we added the turkish spice mix, it got super pungent super fast. There wasn't anything bad (like moldy or rotten), but some ingredient in that spice mix was super strong, spine-tinglingly strong. But we carried on anyway - cooked down the chicken, pulled it out, then cooked the beans and carrots in the same pan. Whatever that flavor was stuck to the pan and the veggies too, unfortunately. 

By this point the couscous was done, so we put in some butter to keep it soft and yummy while everything else continued. 

​4. Finish the tangine. ​Which I think is just a mixture of meat and veggies, liberally spiced. Thus, put the chicken back in and add the broth and lemon juice. Let it keep cooking to meld. After a few minutes, add the apricots and tomatoes and give them a few minutes to soften up. 

5. Mix the sauce (meanwhile). ​Add hot sauce to sour cream and thin with water as desired. Mix in as much chopped cilantro as you want. 

6. Plate and eat. ​This was so stinky - it stinked up our whole kitchen. You know what, though? Man actually ate it - and ate all of it. So whatever bothered me didn't bother him in the least. Kid wouldn't touch it either. 

Our readers get $40 off now!

Read more of our Hello Fresh reviews HERE.

our rating:

Sorry Hello Fresh - we usually love you but this one was a miss for us! 
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Thanks for cooking with us, and eat well!