Traditional Apricot Chicken Recipe For Weeknight Meals (2024)

Add this traditional Apricot Chicken Recipe to your weeknight meals recipe collection, serve it with rice and some greens and that's dinner – done! It's such an easy meal to prepare and is usually a winner with everyone in the family.

Your new family favourite

My mum often made Apricot Chicken as I was growing up and I was always pleased to see it baking in the oven. Even just the smell of it as it cooked was satisfying!

It was such a popular dish in the 80's and 90's. It was on many family dinner tables – not just ours!

The recipe I use is very close to my mum's recipe and comes from one of my favourite community cookbooks: the Kurri Kurri King Coal Cookbook from 1979.

I have, however, added a couple of extra ingredients to make this a sticky Apricot Chicken dish. I've also tested and re-tested to make sure the recipe works every time. Along with the standard cooking method, I've added instructions for making this apricot chicken in the slow cooker.

So, please keep scrolling for the tested and tweaked recipe.

Oh, and that recipe book I mentioned above has some other fantastic recipes. Check out the Snickerdoodles, Potato Cakes, Scottish Tablet and Texas Sheet Cake recipes.

Ingredient Notes

The ingredients you'll need are:

• chicken tenderloins (find more recipes for chicken tenderloins in the collection of chicken recipes)
• apricot nectar (find it in the tinned fruit or long life juice aisle at the supermarket)
• apricot halves (this is one of my additional ingredients, something my mum added, and makes the dish a little extra lovely – but it is optional)
• french onion soup mix
• plain flour (with salt and pepper, to taste)
• vegetable oil.

You'll find ingredient measurements in the recipe card at the end of this post.

How to make Apricot Chicken

You'll need a large baking dish with a lid to make this Apricot Chicken recipe. If your baking dish does not have a lid, don't stress. Simply cover the dish with foil instead.

Prepping

Start by pre-heating your oven to 200 degrees celsius / 390 degrees fahrenheit (fan-forced).

Next, coat the tenderloins in flour (with a little salt and pepper added).

Add the vegetable oil to a frypan and heat. Then, cook the chicken on both sides for 2 minutes before adding to the baking dish.

TIP: You can skip this step, but it is a whole lot better when you take the little extra time required to brown the chicken a little before cooking in the oven.

Adding ingredients

Next, sprinkle the french onion soup mix over the chicken.

Drain the apricot halves and place them in the baking dish.

Now, pour the apricot nectar over all of the ingredients.

I told you this was a super simple apricot chicken recipe!

Baking

Place the lid on the baking dish and bake in the oven, covered, for 50 minutes. Remove the lid or cover and then bake for a further 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and serve.

TIP: If sauce is runny, mix about a couple of teaspoons of cornflour with a little water and add to the baking dish. Stir the mixture through before serving to thicken the apricot sauce for the chicken.

Slow Cooking Apricot Chicken

Start by prepping in accordance with the instructions above. Then add all the ingredients to your slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours.

Storage

You can store leftovers in an airtight container for up to one day and in the freezer for up to 6 weeks.

Recipe FAQs

More chicken dinners ideas

Want some more easy and tasty chicken recipes? Start here: