Photo by Allrecipes Magazine. A staple of North African and Middle Eastern cooking, harissa is a hot pepper sauce that's great on almost anything! Plus, it's made from healthy ingredients -- including olive oil, chile peppers, and garlic. You can find prepared harissa in grocery stores, but it's also easy to make homemade harissa.
Each batch of homemade harissa sauce may taste slightly different than the other, depending on the kind of chiles used. And as a result, some can be fairly hot, while others are mild. You can pretty much make harissa out of any dried red chile according to your own personal heat index.
These easy Harissa chicken recipe can be made in the slow cooker or Instant Pot (pressure cooker) and can be served so many different ways! Season the chicken with the cumin, garlic powder, pinch of salt, and pepper. Place chicken in a slow cooker, pour the harissa over the chicken, and cover. Cook on HIGH for 2 hours or LOW 4 hours.
You can use harissa sauce as soon as you make it, but if you refrigerate it and use it the next day or two, the flavors will meld well and create a much deeper chile paste you'll love! I like to store my homemade harissa in the fridge in a tight lid mason jar. Adding a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on top will help seal it well.