This is a thick, chunky braise, not a soup and not a puree.
I want that clear before you scroll another inch, because half the tagine photos online show a bowl of orange broth and that is not what comes out of my pot.
Mine is spoonable but not pourable.
Cubes of beef chuck that give way against the side of a bowl, cubes of sweet potato that still have corners, and a sauce thick enough to sit on a piece of bread.
Two things get you there.
The first is liquid: I fill the pot to just below the top of the meat, never over it.
The second is the sweet potato.
Sweet potato turns to mush in about 25 minutes, while beef chuck needs closer to 2 hours before it surrenders.
Throw them in together and you get shredded orange paste with beef in it.
So I cut the sweet potato two ways, small dice and large cubes, and add them at two different times.
The small pieces break down on purpose and thicken everything.
The big ones go in later and stay whole.
I do not own a real tagine, by the way.
Mine is a Dutch oven with a heavy lid, and it has never once let me down on this recipe.
What Kind of Stew This Is
Naming the texture up front saves everyone disappointment. This is a chunky braise with a thick, clinging sauce.
It is not a blended soup, it is not a chili, and it is not a coconut curry.
The spicing is warm rather than hot, cinnamon and cumin and ginger doing the work, with no chile heat unless you add it.
You eat it with bread or over couscous, and a spoon of cold yogurt on top is traditional and genuinely improves it.
Do You Need a Tagine?
No, and I want to explain what you are actually giving up. A tagine is a shallow clay dish with a tall conical lid.
Steam rises into the cone, hits the cooler upper surface, condenses, and runs back down the walls into the food.
It is a self-basting pot, which matters enormously over a charcoal fire with very little added liquid.
In a home oven or on a gas burner, a heavy Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid does close to the same job.
If you do have a clay tagine: season it first, never put it over high heat, and never move it from a hot burner to a cold surface. They crack, and it is always at the worst moment.
Ras el Hanout, and What to Use Instead
Ras el hanout means "head of the shop", the blend a spice merchant is proudest of. Every shop makes it differently, and a good one carries a dozen or more spices.
You will typically taste cinnamon, cumin, coriander, ginger, allspice, and often rose petals or cardamom.
Buy it if you can find it, because it is the single ingredient that makes this taste Moroccan rather than generic.
No ras el hanout? Mix this. It gets you most of the way there.
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon sweet paprika
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- A pinch of ground cloves and black pepper
That makes roughly the tablespoon this recipe calls for.
Ingredients You Need
- Beef chuck (2 ½ pounds), cut in 1 ½ inch cubes. Not lean beef, not sirloin. Chuck has the collagen that melts into body. Lean cuts go stringy and stay that way no matter how long you cook them.
- Ghee or olive oil (2 tablespoons). Ghee is traditional and browns beautifully at high heat.
- Yellow onion (1 large), garlic (4 cloves), fresh ginger (1 tablespoon). The aromatic base. Fresh ginger, not ground, for this part.
- Ras el hanout (1 tablespoon) plus cinnamon, cumin and turmeric. A little extra of each on top of the blend deepens it.
- Chopped tomatoes (one 14 ounce can). Fresh peeled tomatoes are traditional. Canned are more consistent.
- Beef stock (2 ½ cups). Enough to come just below the top of the meat, no more.
- Sweet potatoes (2 pounds). Half cut in ½ inch dice, half in 1 inch cubes. This is the whole trick.
- Preserved lemon (½, rind only). Salty, funky, floral. See the section below before you use a whole one.
- Frozen peas (1 cup). In at the very end for color and a bit of sweetness.
- Cilantro (⅓ cup, chopped) and plain yogurt. Both go on at the table, not in the pot.
The Sweet Potato Timing Problem
This is the section that makes the recipe work, so I am going to be specific. Sweet potato and beef chuck cook on completely different clocks.
Half inch dice is soft in 20 minutes and gone in 40.
Chuck needs 90 minutes to 2 hours to go from tough to tender.
Any recipe that adds them at the same time is asking one of them to be wrong.
So the potato goes in twice. The ½ inch dice goes in after the beef has already braised 90 minutes, and it is supposed to fall apart. It dissolves into the sauce and thickens it into something with real body, which is why you do not need flour or cornstarch anywhere in this recipe.
The 1 inch cubes go in 15 minutes after that.
They cook through in the remaining time and arrive at the table with edges you can still see.
One vegetable, two jobs.
How to Make Beef Tagine with Sweet Potatoes
Step 1: Brown the Beef
Pat the chuck cubes very dry and salt them.
Brown them hard in ghee over medium-high heat, in 3 batches, about 4 minutes a batch.
Crowding the pan is the single most common mistake here, because a full pan drops the temperature and the meat releases water and simply boils in it.
Set the browned beef aside.
Step 2: Bloom the Spices
Lower the heat, add the onion, and cook 6 to 8 minutes until soft and golden at the edges.
Add the garlic and fresh ginger for 1 minute.
Then stir in the ras el hanout, cinnamon, cumin and turmeric and cook 45 seconds in the fat, until the whole kitchen smells like it.
Spices are fat soluble. Dumping dry spice into liquid leaves it tasting dusty, while 45 seconds in hot fat opens it up completely.
Step 3: Braise Covered
Return the beef and any juices, add the tomatoes and stock, and bring it to a bare simmer.
The liquid should sit just below the top of the meat.
Cover and cook at a slow simmer for 90 minutes, either on low heat or in a 325°F oven.
Step 4: Add the Sweet Potato in Two Stages
Stir in the ½ inch dice and cook covered 15 minutes.
Then add the 1 inch cubes and cook another 25 to 30 minutes, until they are tender and the small pieces have vanished into the sauce.
Step 5: Finish with Lemon and Herbs
Stir in the chopped preserved lemon rind and the peas, and cook 5 minutes more.
Taste for salt, remembering the preserved lemon brought its own.
Cilantro and yogurt at the table.
Preserved Lemon, Handled Carefully
Half a lemon, rind only, chopped fine, added at the end. I am specific about this because a whole one takes over.
Preserved lemons are packed in salt for weeks until the peel goes soft and translucent and the flavor turns from sour to something deeper and almost floral.
The pulp is intensely salty and slightly bitter, so I scrape it out and use only the rind.
Rinse the rind under cold water first.
No preserved lemon? The zest of one fresh lemon plus 1 teaspoon of juice, both stirred in at the end. It is a different flavor, brighter and simpler, but it does the same job of lifting a heavy braise.
What to Serve With It
Something to catch the sauce, and something cold and sharp. That is the whole formula.
- Couscous. The obvious partner. Steamed plain, then forked through with olive oil and salt.
- Flatbread. Torn and used as a scoop, which is how it is traditionally eaten in Morocco, straight from the communal dish.
- Plain yogurt. A cold spoonful on top of each bowl. Not optional in my house.
- A sharp salad. Shaved carrot with lemon and cumin, or sliced oranges with olives.
Storage, Freezing and Reheating
- It is better on day two. Genuinely. The spices settle and the sauce tightens overnight, so I often make it a day ahead on purpose.
- Fridge, 4 days. Airtight, once fully cooled.
- Freezer, 3 months. Freeze it before adding the peas if you can, since they go drab. Portion it into 2 serving containers.
- Reheat gently. Low heat on the stove with a splash of stock. A hard boil breaks the remaining sweet potato cubes apart.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need an actual tagine to make this?
No. A Dutch oven or any heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid gives you the same slow, moist braise. The conical lid on a real tagine condenses steam and returns it to the food, which matters most over an open fire with very little liquid.
What is ras el hanout and what can I use instead?
It is a North African spice blend, usually built on cinnamon, cumin, coriander, ginger and allspice. If you cannot find it, mix 1 teaspoon each of cumin and coriander, ¾ teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon each ground ginger and paprika, ¼ teaspoon each allspice and turmeric, and a pinch of cloves.
Which cut of beef works best?
Chuck, cut into 1 ½ inch cubes. Brisket and short rib also work. Avoid lean cuts like sirloin or round, which have no collagen to melt and go stringy over a long braise.
Why did my sweet potatoes fall apart?
They went in too early, or they were all cut small. Sweet potato needs about 25 to 40 minutes total, so the large cubes should go into the pot roughly 40 minutes before you plan to eat. The small dice is meant to dissolve, that part is deliberate.
Can I skip the preserved lemon?
Yes. Use the zest of one lemon plus a teaspoon of juice, stirred in at the end. And if you do use preserved lemon, use half of one, rind only. A whole lemon overwhelms the pot, which is the most common complaint I have seen about this dish.
Can I make it in a slow cooker or pressure cooker?
Both work. In a slow cooker, brown the beef first, then cook on low for 6 hours, adding the small dice at hour 5 and the large cubes 40 minutes before serving. In a pressure cooker, 35 minutes at high pressure for the beef, then release and simmer the sweet potato in stages on the saute setting.
How long does it keep, and does it freeze?
Four days in the fridge and three months in the freezer. It improves overnight. Reheat gently over low heat with a splash of stock so the remaining sweet potato cubes stay intact.
Make it on a cold Sunday.
Brown the beef properly, keep the liquid low, and add the sweet potato in two goes. That is the entire recipe.
Recipe
Spiced Beef Tagine with Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
For the Beef
- 2 ½ pounds beef chuck cut into 1 ½ inch cubes, patted dry
- 2 tablespoons ghee or olive oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
For the Aromatics and Spice
- 1 large yellow onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger peeled and minced
- 1 tablespoon ras el hanout or the substitute blend in the notes
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
For the Braise and Finish
- 14 ounces canned chopped tomatoes one can, with juices
- 2 ½ cups beef stock enough to come just below the top of the meat
- 1 pound sweet potatoes peeled and cut in ½ inch dice
- 1 pound sweet potatoes peeled and cut in 1 inch cubes
- ½ preserved lemon rind only, rinsed and finely chopped, or the zest of 1 lemon plus 1 teaspoon juice
- 1 cup frozen peas
- ⅓ cup cilantro chopped, to serve
- ½ cup plain yogurt to serve
Instructions
Brown the Beef and Bloom the Spice
- Pat the beef cubes very dry and season with the salt and pepper. Heat the ghee in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and brown the beef hard in 3 batches, about 4 minutes each. Do not crowd the pan or the meat will steam. Set the beef aside.
- Lower the heat, add the onion, and cook 6 to 8 minutes until soft and golden at the edges. Add the garlic and ginger and cook 1 minute more.
- Stir in the ras el hanout, cinnamon, cumin and turmeric and cook 45 seconds in the fat until fragrant. Blooming the spice in fat rather than liquid is what keeps it from tasting dusty.
Braise
- Return the beef and any collected juices, add the tomatoes and beef stock, and bring to a bare simmer. The liquid should sit just below the top of the meat, not cover it.
- Cover and cook at a slow simmer for 90 minutes, on low heat or in a 325F oven, until the beef is beginning to give.
Add the Sweet Potato in Two Stages
- Stir in the ½ inch diced sweet potato, cover, and cook 15 minutes. These pieces are meant to break down and thicken the sauce.
- Add the 1 inch cubes, cover, and cook another 25 to 30 minutes, until they are tender but still hold their shape and the small dice has dissolved into the sauce.
- Stir in the chopped preserved lemon rind and the peas and cook 5 minutes more. Taste for salt, keeping in mind the preserved lemon is salty.
- Serve in bowls, scattered with chopped cilantro, with a spoonful of cold plain yogurt on top and bread or couscous alongside.
Notes
- Two sizes of sweet potato: the small dice dissolves and thickens the sauce, the large cubes stay whole. Adding them together gives you orange paste.
- Keep the liquid low: stock to just below the top of the meat, not covering it. Covered beef makes soup, not a braise.
- Chuck only: lean cuts have no collagen and go stringy.
- Ras el hanout substitute: 1 teaspoon each cumin and coriander, ¾ teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon each ground ginger and paprika, ¼ teaspoon each allspice and turmeric, a pinch of cloves.
- Preserved lemon: half a lemon, rind only, rinsed, added at the end. A whole one overwhelms the pot.
- No tagine needed: a Dutch oven with a tight lid does the same job.
- Storage: better on day two, fridge 4 days, freezer 3 months. Reheat gently so the cubes stay intact.
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