Why You’ll Love This this Sweet & Savory Apricot Chicken
This tender, juicy chicken gets coated in the most gorgeous sweet and tangy apricot glaze that’ll have you wondering why you ever bothered with boring weeknight dinners.
The beauty is in how ridiculously simple it’s – just toss everything in one pan, let it bubble away, and boom, you’ve got something that tastes like you actually know what you’re doing in the kitchen.
Plus, with chunks of soft apricot and colorful carrots mixed right in, it’s basically a complete meal that looks fancy enough for company but requires zero fancy skills from you.
Ingredients List
You’ll need just a handful of pantry staples and fresh ingredients to whip up this weeknight wonder.
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 4 skinless chicken breasts
- 3 tablespoons cornflour or rice flour
- 1 (40g) packet continental French dry onion soup mix
- 1 (415g) can apricot nectar
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1 (425g) can apricot halves, drained
- 2 carrots, sliced and steamed
A few things worth considering about these ingredients:
- The cornflour creates that silky coating and helps thicken the sauce, but rice flour works just as well if you’re going gluten-free
- That packet of French onion soup mix is doing some serious heavy lifting here, packing tons of savory flavor without you having to chop a single onion
- Apricot nectar gives you way more concentrated fruit flavor than regular juice, so don’t swap it out
- You’re getting plenty of protein from the chicken and some decent vitamins from the carrots and apricots, though that soup mix does bump up the sodium content quite a bit
Step by Step Directions
This foolproof recipe comes together in about 20 minutes with minimal prep work required.
- Cut chicken breasts into large chunks and toss with cornflour in a plastic bag to coat evenly.
- Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and lightly brown the chicken pieces on all sides.
- Add the French onion soup mix, apricot nectar, and chicken stock to the pan, stirring well to combine.
- Cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through (smaller pieces will cook faster).
- Stir in the drained apricot halves and steamed carrots.
- Heat through for 2-3 minutes until everything is warmed and serve immediately.
Alternative Oven Method:
- Combine chicken, cornflour, soup mix, apricot nectar, and stock in a casserole dish.
- Bake at 180°C for 45 minutes.
- Add apricot halves and carrots, then continue baking for another 30 minutes.
- Add extra stock if the sauce becomes too thick during cooking.
For best results with the oven method, use a quality casserole baking dish that distributes heat evenly throughout the cooking process.
Substitutions and Variations
Chicken Swaps
- Boneless thighs work beautifully here and stay juicier than breasts, though they’ll need an extra 5 minutes of cooking time.
- Leftover rotisserie chicken? Shred it up and add it during the last few minutes just to warm through.
- Turkey breast chunks are basically chicken’s boring cousin, but they’ll do the job.
Flour Alternatives
- Plain flour works fine if cornflour isn’t in your pantry, though the sauce won’t be quite as glossy.
- Gluten-free folks can stick with rice flour or try potato starch for that same silky finish.
- In a pinch, skip the flour coating entirely, but expect a thinner sauce that’s less restaurant-worthy.
Fruit Mix-Ups
- Peach nectar and canned peaches create almost the same dish with a slightly sweeter atmosphere.
- Pineapple juice with pineapple chunks turns this into a tropical vacation on a plate.
- Fresh apricots are lovely when they’re in season, but honestly, who’s time to pit a dozen apricots on a Tuesday night.
Soup Mix Hacks
- French onion soup mix is the secret weapon here, but onion powder mixed with a bit of garlic powder and dried herbs can work.
- Chicken soup mix packets add extra savory depth if that’s what’s lurking in your cupboard.
- Make your own blend with onion flakes, garlic powder, and a pinch of thyme if you’re feeling fancy.
Veggie Additions
- Bell peppers add crunch and color, especially the red ones that look so pretty in photos.
- Green beans, snow peas, or broccoli florets bulk up the nutrition factor.
- Baby potatoes turn this into a complete one-pan wonder, though they’ll need extra cooking time.
Additional Things to Serve With This Dish
This sweet and savory chicken practically begs for sides that can soak up that gorgeous apricot sauce.
- Rice is your best friend here – jasmine, basmati, or even plain white rice turns into something special when it’s swimming in that glossy sauce.
- Mashed potatoes create the ultimate comfort food combo, especially if you leave them a little chunky for texture.
- Steamed broccoli or green beans add the color your plate desperately needs, plus someone might actually believe this is a balanced meal.
- Crusty bread or dinner rolls for the sauce-sopping obsessed among us, because letting any of that liquid gold go to waste should be illegal.
- Cauliflower rice keeps things lighter if you’re trying to convince yourself this is healthy.
- Egg noodles turn this into something that feels vaguely stroganoff-adjacent, which isn’t a bad thing.
- Roasted Brussels sprouts might sound fancy, but they’re just little cabbages that pair surprisingly well with sweet sauces.
- Simple side salad with a light vinaigrette cuts through all that richness, assuming you remember vegetables exist.
The key is choosing something that won’t compete with those beautiful apricot flavors but will gladly accept whatever sauce decides to wander over from the main event.
Cooking Tips & Tricks (Chef’s Notes)
Trust me, a few small tweaks will turn your apricot chicken from decent to absolutely divine.
- Don’t skip browning the chicken – that golden crust adds flavor depth you can’t get any other way, even if it feels like an extra step when you’re hungry.
- Cut your chicken pieces uniformly so they cook at the same rate, because nobody wants to bite into rubber while other pieces are perfectly tender.
- Let the sauce reduce properly by keeping the lid off for the last few minutes if it looks too thin, since watery sauce is just sad soup.
- Taste and adjust the sweetness with a splash of soy sauce or a pinch of salt if the apricot flavor feels one-dimensional.
- Use room temperature chicken instead of straight-from-the-fridge cold, which helps everything cook more evenly.
- Don’t overcrowd the pan when browning – work in batches if needed, because steamed chicken isn’t the atmosphere we’re going for.
- Add the apricot halves gently so they don’t turn into mush, since we want actual fruit pieces, not apricot baby food.
- Check your cornflour coating by shaking off excess before cooking, otherwise you’ll end up with gluey clumps instead of silky sauce.
- Keep some extra chicken stock handy in case the sauce gets too thick, because fixing it’s easier than starting over.
The secret is treating each step like it matters, because apparently it does, even when you’re just trying to get dinner on the table.
Nutritional Facts
Based on the recipe serving 4 people, here’s the nutritional breakdown per serving:
- Calories: Approximately 380-420 calories per serving
- Protein: 35-40g from the chicken breast, making this a high-protein meal
- Carbohydrates: 45-50g primarily from apricot nectar, canned apricots, and carrots
- Fat: 6-8g, kept low due to skinless chicken and minimal oil usage
- Fiber: 3-4g from the carrots and apricot pieces
- Sugar: 35-40g naturally occurring from apricots and carrots
- Sodium: 800-1000mg mainly from the French onion soup mix and chicken stock
- Vitamin A: High content from carrots and apricots, supporting eye health
- Vitamin C: Moderate amounts from apricots and carrots
- Potassium: Good source from chicken, apricots, and carrots
- Iron: Moderate amounts from chicken breast
- Calcium: Small amounts from various ingredients
- Saturated Fat: Less than 2g per serving, making it heart-friendly
Fun “Did You Know?”
Did you know that apricot chicken wasn’t actually invented in a traditional kitchen? I find it fascinating that this beloved dish emerged from Australian home cooks in the 1970s who cleverly combined French onion soup packets with canned apricot nectar.
It’s fundamentally a hack recipe that became a nationwide sensation! The dish represents Australia’s multicultural cooking approach, blending European techniques with readily available pantry staples.
What started as a quick weeknight solution has become comfort food for generations. I love how this simple combination of sweet and savory flavors created such an enduring culinary legacy that’s still popular today.
