Apricot Chicken

I am sure most of you have a recipe for Apricot Chicken. It has been around for a  long time. I make mine differently then the usual way. My sister, Edith, gave me the recipe probably about 34 years ago, shortly after I was married. I was very new to the kitchen & misunderstood her instructions!

 

Instead of putting in apricot preserves in the mix, I used a can of apricots! After realizing my mistake, the next time I made it with the apricot jam but I prefer it with the canned apricots! This is one of Jacki’s favourite chicken recipes. Give it a try!

Marilyn’s Apricot Chicken

Ingredients

1 3lb cut-up chicken

1 jar of Kraft Russian salad dressing

1 envelope of Liptons Onion Soup mix

1 can halved apricots, drain off half of the juice from the can

Method

1. Lay the chicken pieces in a single layer in a roasting dish that has fairly high sides, if your pan isn’t big enough to lay the pieces in a single layer, make sure to rotate the chicken while it is cooking so that all the chicken gets brown…if some pieces are buried underneath, they will remain white…& I like all of my chicken sticky & nicely roasted!
2. Season the chicken with salt & pepper
3. In a bowl, mix the salad dressing, onion soup mix & apricots with the remaining juice from the can, together, this is now the ‘sauce’
4. Pour the sauce over the chicken, making sure that each piece of chicken is covered.
5. Bake at 350f until done. If the chicken starts to get too brown, because the sugars in the sauce can brown quicker then the chicken, cover the pan with foil until the chicken is cooked. Then uncover the chicken & continue cooking until the sauce gets reduced. This usually takes a couple of hours. You can use a large spoon & put sauce over the chicken as it cooks if some of the pieces don’t have sauce on them

*** Serve this with rice or quinoa. Pour the sauce from the pan on & it is delicious

*** I made quinoa the night we had this chicken. This is what I did…Dice 1 onion & mince 1 clove of garlic. Saute them together in a saucepan that you can add water & quinoa too. Once the onion is starting to brown, add the amount of quinoa you want to make & toast it a bit. Then add the appropriate amount of water & cook as per the instructions on your pkg of quinoa. Some quinoa needs to be rinsed & some does not, so check your pkg, I usually make 1 cup quinoa & 1 1/2 cups of water, stir & simmer until the water is absorbed. If the quinoa seems too dry…I add some hot water & continue cooking until done. Season with salt to taste

*** Here is how I made the brussel sprouts you see in the picture

Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with foil. Clean & cut the brussel sprouts in half. Toss them with oil & kosher salt. Lay them flat on the baking sheet. Roast at 400f until done. Watch them closely, roasting time depends on thier size!

Enjoy!