Chicken With Apricots

Name: Chicken With Apricots
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 cup dried apricots; 1/4 cup red wine vinegar; 1/2 cup red wine; 1 chicken, cut into serving pieces; 1 medium onion, chopped; Salt and freshly ground black pepper

By Mark Bittman

Total Time: 40 minutes
Rating: 4(351)
Comments: Read comments

Chicken with dried apricots is hardly a new idea, but I had issues with its most common interpretations. For one thing, they were almost always cloying; the routine addition of cinnamon and cloves does nothing to offset the apricots' sweetness and makes the dish taste more like dessert than dinner. For another, they were usually stewed rather than braised, turning the chicken skin sodden.

I brown the chicken in a nonstick skillet with no fat, and that works well. A tablespoon or two of butter, stirred in at the end, will make the sauce richer. Or you can render some bacon, remove it, and brown the chicken in the bacon fat, then crumble the bacon and stir it in at the end of cooking.

Finally, any dried fruit can be used, or a combination; with the short cooking time, even prunes will remain intact. But be aware that fruit dried with sulfur (the common method) becomes tender much faster than fruit dried organically, which needs a couple of hours of soaking before cooking.

Featured in: THE MINIMALIST; New Liaison For Chicken

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

1cup dried apricots
¼cup red wine vinegar
½cup red wine
1chicken, cut into serving pieces
1medium onion, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Combine apricots in a bowl with vinegar, wine and ¼ cup water. Let soak while you brown the chicken.
Step 2
Turn the heat to medium high under a 12-inch nonstick skillet, and add chicken pieces, skin side down. Cook, rotating but not turning pieces so they brown evenly. When they are nicely browned — take your time — turn them so they are skin side up. Make a little space to add the onion, and cook, stirring the onion occasionally until it has softened a bit, a minute or two.
Step 3
Add apricot mixture and bring to a boil; cook for a minute, then turn heat to low and cover. Cook until chicken is done, 15 to 20 minutes. Uncover, raise heat and season chicken well with salt and pepper. Boil away any excess liquid; sauce should not be too watery. Serve with white rice or any other cooked grain, or bread.

Ratings

4 out of 5

351 user ratings

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Comments

Debra Miller7 years ago

I'm posting this to counter Ms. Niemeyer's comment because I would not want it to discourage anyone from trying this recipe. I made the recipe as written except that I used only chicken thighs (with skin, bone in). Obviously, taste is individual, but I found this dish to be very tasty and easy to make. The chicken came out very moist and the apricots added a very nice taste. I like onions, so perhaps next time I will add some more onions.

NancyM7 years ago

Brown chicken and remove. Sauté halved shallots and when browned, add full garlic and thyme. Replace wine and vinegar and instead deglaze with cognac or brandy. Add Chicken stock and return chicken and apricots to pan, cover and simmer 30+ minutes depending on cut. Remove chicken and crisp under broiler while reducing sauce on stove top. Whisk in cold butter to reduced sauce and serve with chicken.

jane stein7 years ago

I used 1/2 cup dried apricots, 1/2 cup prunes. Added a little bit of butter.

rC1 year ago

This recipe is delicious, easy to make & flexible. I didn’t want to open a bottle of wine for this recipe& I used white wine vinegar instead. Even the combination of the 2 vinegars didn’t make it sour. It’s a recipe to be made again & again

Sierra Sarah2 years ago

I had fresh apricots (local, farmer’s market) and small chicken thighs. I used the proportions of ingredients suggested, added bacon fat to a non-non stick skillet, and added rosemary to the sauce when I deglazed the pan with red wine and vinegar. Because the apricots are early season they were not sweet, so I added some honey and maple syrup to taste when I reduced the sauce. 30 minutes later, very good meal, served with brown rice and cooked greens. Sauce was delicious.

skullgirl82 years ago

This was really delicious! I made it as directed with chicken thighs because I couldn’t get a whole cut up chicken. I took the advice of another commentor and added castelvetrano green olives and toasted pine nuts at the end, and it came out great.

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