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Air fryer harissa chicken with herby couscous

Air fryer harissa chicken with herby couscous
Prepare
30 mins to 1 hour
Cook
10 to 30 mins
Serve
Serves 2

A simple citrus marinade adds so much flavour to this chicken breast and couscous dinner, served on thick garlic yoghurt.

This recipe is part of an air fryer meal plan for two.

Each serving provides 693 kcal, 59.6g protein, 58.1g carbohydrate (of which 22g sugars), 24.3g fat (of which 7.9g saturates), 2.1g fibre and 2.24g salt.

By Justine Pattison

Shopping list

Ingredients

For the couscous

Recipe tips
How-to videos

Method

  1. Whisk the harissa, orange zest, orange juice and honey together in a medium bowl. Add the chicken, season with a little salt and black pepper and toss together well. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes (you can miss out the marinating step if you like, but even just a few minutes adds a lot of flavour to the dish).

  2. Place each chicken breast on a small sheet of oiled kitchen foil, smooth-side down, and bring up the sides to create a shallow bowl to catch the cooking juices.

  3. Place the chicken in the foil bowls in your air fryer, leaving space between them for the air to flow. Spoon any remaining marinade over each breast. Air fry at 180C for 13–15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through, turning after 6 minutes.

  4. While the chicken is cooking, tip the couscous into a heatproof bowl and stir in the hot stock. Cover and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Fluff up with a fork and mix with the olive oil, herbs and lots of ground black pepper. Set aside.

  5. Mix the yoghurt and garlic together and spread over two dinner plates. Once the chicken is cooked, leave the air fryer drawer slightly ajar and allow the meat to rest for 5 minutes.

  6. Place the rested chicken on top of the yoghurt and serve with the couscous, drizzled with any juices that have collected in the foil bowls. Scatter with the fresh herbs.

Recipe tips

Keep as close as possible to the size of chicken breast recommended in this recipe. If the breasts are much larger, the cooking time will need to be longer. Anything over 180g/6oz, or a particularly thick breast, and you may need to increase the cooking time.

The timings given here should cook 150g/5½oz chicken breasts perfectly, but as air fryers vary so much, it’s best to test the chicken is ready by using a digital thermometer (it will need to be 75C). You could also pierce the thickest part of each breast with the tip of a knife. The chicken should be steaming hot throughout, any juices should run clear and there should be no pinkness remaining.

Resting the chicken after cooking helps make it extra juicy and tender.

You can use any fresh soft herbs you like for the couscous, but a mixture of at least two adds lots of flavour. You could also add sultanas, chopped dried apricots or toasted flaked almonds to make the couscous even more special.

For griddled lemon wedges to serve alongside the chicken, place wedges of fresh lemon on the crisper plate and cook at 200C for 4–5 minutes, turning once.

This recipe was tested using a 4–litre capacity air fryer. If yours has a much larger or smaller capacity, you will need to adjust the cooking times.