Craving for something spicy? Looking for inspiration for a weeknight dinner, savory appetizer, or party food? Today, I share a recipe for a spicy chicken baguette with harissa. It makes a tasty dinner or lunch that everyone will love. Or cut into smaller pieces, and it makes delicious finger food! So write this recipe down if you are looking for a substitute for sausage rolls and pizza bites.
What is Baguette Farcie - spicy chicken baguette?
Baguette Farcie is popular Tunisian street food. In the Tunisia dialect, farcie means filled or stuffed. The pizza-like dough is filled with chicken, harissa, grated cheese, green pepper salad (slata mechouia), tomato, olives, lettuce, and onion. Others like fillings such as french fries, minced meat, breaded chicken, and garlic sauce. Next, the filled dough is shaped into a baguette and baked in a hot oven. The prepared dish is served with french fries, mayo, and a soft drink. Yummy!
Serving ideas
This spicy chicken baguette isn’t the healthiest dish ever. But from time to time, it’s alright to treat ourselves with white flour and gooey cheese.
Spicy chicken baguette makes a great dinner, lunch, party food, and appetizer. It’s easy to make lactose-free by using lactose-free milk and cheese. For a vegetarian version, substitute chicken with tofu, tempeh, seitan, or mushrooms. Use gluten-free flour if you need a gluten-free baguette, but adding an egg might be necessary.
To make a fulfilling dinner, serve the spicy chicken baguette with french fries or a side salad. It’s also a great lunch idea, just cut the baguette into smaller pieces and place them into a bento or lunch box. Or maybe next time, pack these into a picnic basket.
Are you organizing a party, game night, or family gathering? Serving a spicy chicken baguette is a great idea! Cut the baguettes into bite-sized pieces and place them on the tray. Serve together with other salty treats, such as chicken omelets, fried vegetables, tiny tuna pitas, and fresh salad.
Tips to make the best spicy chicken baguette
Here are a couple of tips to guarantee your success in the kitchen. Read those through to make the best possible spicy chicken baguette.
- This is a perfect recipe for leftover chicken and emptying the fridge. Feel free to use spring onions, red bell pepper, mushrooms, cheeses, or any other leftover that you happen to have in a fridge.
- You may add one egg to the dough. It will help with rising and lightens the texture of the dough a bit. Personally, I don’t use eggs in this dish, and it works perfectly well.
- It’s crucial to knead the dough until it’s become elastic.
- Be generous with fillings, as every bite needs to be full of taste.
- Using a pizza stone makes the baguette slightly crispier, but this is optional. So, don’t buy a pizza stone for this recipe, but if you have one, go ahead and use it.
- If you fill-up the baguette with Slata Mechouia, a Tunisian grilled green pepper salad. Then you can skip green pepper in the chicken filling.
- In the chicken filling, use green bell pepper if you don’t want it too spicy. For more spiciness, try Anaheim pepper. This time I used tiny hot Turkish peppers.
Recipe for spicy chicken baguette
Total preparation time: 2,5hours
Servings: 4 baguettes
Oven temperature: 200 degrees C/ 400 degrees F
Cooking time in oven: 20-25 minutes
Ingredients for the recipe
Dough:
3 dl milk
10 g dried yeast
1 tsp sugar
450 g flour
2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
1 tsp salt
Chicken:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 chicken breasts cut into small cubes
1 yellow onion medium size, chopped
1-2 green pepper, chopped (the spicier, the better)
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp hot chili powder
1 tsp mixed herbs, such as herbs de Provence, Italian seasoning, or thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
A dash of water (if the mixture seems dry)
Optional: fresh chili
Fillings:
1 red onion, sliced
6 black olives, chopped
300 g grated cheese (mozzarella or cheddar)
1 tomato, chopped
4 tbsp harissa
4-6 tbsp slata mechouia, grilled pepper salad
Optional fillings: sliced lettuce, garlic sauce, egg for egg wash
How to make spicy chicken baguette
Dough
Step. 1
Pour the lukewarm milk into a large bowl. Add the dried yeast and sugar, and mix with a fork. Let the mixture set for around 10 minutes until it becomes slightly foamy.
Step. 2
Pour in most of the flour, salt, and vegetable oil. Start mixing with a fork and continue with clean hands. Bring it together as a ball of dough, and add the rest of the flour as you need to stop the dough from sticking.
Step. 3
Transfer the dough to a flour-dusted surface and keep kneading, pushing, and stretching it for 5-10 minutes or until you have an elastic dough. (Feel free to use a stand mixer for your convenience)
Step. 4
Put the ball-shaped dough in a bowl and cover it with a kitchen towel. Allow it to prove 45 minutes- 1 hour until doubled in size.
Chicken filling
Step. 1
Peel and slice the onion. Chop the green pepper finely and cut the chicken into small cubes.
Step. 2
Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan over medium heat, add sliced onions and fry until soft. Add the green pepper and chicken cubes, and fry for 3 minutes.
Step. 3
Season the chicken filling with turmeric, chili powder, mixed herbs, salt, and pepper. Add a dash of water if the mixture seems dry. Let it cook for about 5 minutes until the chicken is well cooked.
Step. 4 (Optional)
Add chopped chili to the cooked chicken filling for extra spiciness.
How to fill and shape the baguettes in 3 different ways
Step. 1
Divide the dough into 4 equal size balls.
Step. 2
Roll each one on a lightly floured surface into an oval shape, roughly 3mm thick.
Step. 3
See in the pictures below where to place harissa and other fillings. Spread one tablespoon of harissa on the shaped dough. Sprinkle 1/4 of the chicken filling evenly over the harissa, followed by sliced red onion, chopped olives, grated cheese, chopped tomato, and grilled pepper salad (optional). Repeat with the remaining dough.
Step. 4
Time to shape the baguettes. Choose the desired shape below.
Step. 5
Brush a thin layer of egg wash onto the baguette. Bake in the oven at 200C/400F for 15-20 minutes.
Step. 6
Let the baguettes cool down and serve with french fries, mayo, and a soft drink.
The Tunisian street food way of shaping
- Place the fillings more on the other side
- Fold the dough over the filling creating a semicircle. Pinch the sides carefully that the fillings stay inside
- Next roll the dough in baguette shape, starting from the straight side.
- Leave the seam under the baguette. Cut the baguette with sharp knife and give an egg wash (optional)
The easiest way to shape a spicy chicken baguette
- Spread the filling in the middle of the dough
- Fold the dough over the filling creating a semicircle. Pinch the sides carefully so that the fillings stay inside
- Flip the dough that the seam is under the baguette. Cut the baguette with sharp knife and give an egg wash (optional)
The most beautiful way to shape
- Lay the filling in the middle of dough and cut the sides according to the picture
- Fold the end parts inside the baguette. Look the picture
- Starting from the other end, take dough parts from both sides and cross those over the baguette. Continue as long as all the dough stripes are used.
- Give an egg wash (optional)
I hope you enjoy this recipe of spicy chicken baguette with harissa. Have you ever tried Baguette Farcie on your visit to Tunisia? If you didn’t, definitely try it on your next visit. Next time, I will share with you a packing list for Tunisia. So come back next week if you are hesitating about what to pack for the trip to Tunisia.