A Homemade Harissa Marinade That’s Easier Than It Sounds!
This easy harissa chicken might just be one of the simplest, most sophisticated chicken recipes we’ve ever created. With a quick marinade made in our new Ascent Series Vitamix blender, we were able to take some humble chicken and create a truly praise-worthy meal. If you are looking for a way to amp up your weeknight chicken game, then this is the recipe for you.


What’s in Harissa?
Harissa is a spicy, North African chili paste traditionally made out of roasted red peppers, chili peppers, baklouti pepper, serrano peppers, and other hot chili peppers. It also often contains garlic paste, coriander seed, saffron, rose, or caraway. It is delicious in every way and takes whatever it touches to the next level. We wanted to make a simple harissa marinade that would be a perfect go-to for any night of the week. Our homemade harissa has:
- A jar of roasted red peppers
- Lots of fresh garlic
- Caraway and coriander (visit your local grocer’s bulk spice section if you don’t have these on hand.)
- Smoked paprika


What Cut of Chicken Should I Use to Make Harissa Chicken?
While you can use this marinade to make harissa chicken breast, or boneless harissa chicken thighs, we went with bone-in, skin-on chicken hindquarters. Not to toot our own horns, but they tasted delicious (we’ll take dark meat any day of the week), plus you can often find them on sale. You could even use this quick harissa marinade on a whole roasted chicken. Promise, whatever this marinade touches is destined to be delicious.
How Do You Make Harissa Chicken?
We’ve come up with a quick, straightforward way to make this delicious chicken recipe and you are going to love how simple it is. Here’s how it’s done.
- Add ALL the marinade ingredients to your Vitamix blender and get that baby turned on!
- Coat the chicken with the harissa marinade and toss it in the oven. You could also cook it on a grill, like we did!
- Mix a little of the leftover marinade with some high-quality mayonnaise to make a quick harissa aioli to serve with the chicken.
- Pat yourself on the back for a job well done!

Tools You’ll Need
- Vitamix Blender for making your easy marinade.
- Mixing bowls for marinating the chicken and making the aioli.
- BBQ tongs if you decide to grill instead of roasting in the oven.
What Goes with Harissa Chicken?
- Serve your chicken with these Mediterranean Style Zucchini Fritters with Tzatziki Dipping Sauce.
- Or perhaps this Za'atar Roasted Cauliflower with Herb Whipped Feta.
- Want to go a bit lighter? This refreshing, simple Cucumber Salad is the perfect accompaniment.

Everyone’s Favorite Harissa Dish?
When you decide to give this Easy Harissa Chicken a try, we’d love to hear about it! Be sure to snap a photo, add it to your Instagram feed or stories, and tag @themodernproper and #themodernproper. Also feel free to leave a comment on this post and be sure to tell your friends where you discovered the recipe.
This sponsored post is written by TMP on behalf of Vitamix in partnership with TheFeedFeed The opinions and text are all ours. Thank you for supporting the brands we love.