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I found the perfect dinner.
Like for anytime, any season and anywhere. It’s one of those recipes you need to know about because one, it is so easy, and two, it’s a crowd pleaser.
I mean, roasted chicken and potatoes? Yeah, CLASSIC. Add a little brie, a little basil and a little sticky apricot glaze and you have yourself the perfect chicken dinner that leaves everyone kind of in awe of the amazing meal they just had. Or well, everyone who loves chicken. But you know.
Random thought: anyone look through the photos of all the celebs at the Met Galla the other night? Is it just me or are there some seriously incredible dresses that went down that red carpet. I mean, they are more like art, but WHOA.
Thoughts? Favorite dresses??
Ok, refocus, so you guys remember when I went to Florida last month, right? You know, when I annoyingly talked about how amazing the heat and sunshine were, AND all the amazing tropical fruits… and went on and on about my obsession with fruit (sorry about that). Yeah, well the fruit talk has not really stopped…if anything it has only progressed….sorry, it’s just such a great time of year!
Besides the fruit, and a major case of the “I think I need to leave the cold and snowy mountains (currently a wet snow mix) and move to a warm, tropical place”, I did get something of value out of that Florida trip – this chicken!! Or at least the inspiration behind this chicken.
The night my family and I arrived at my grandparent’s house in Florida, my grandma had made a dish she called The First Night Apricot Chicken. Apparently my grandma made this chicken on the first night each of her many guests arrived. You see, my grandparents have five kids, who now have kids of their own. So, they get A LOT of visitors throughout the “season”. So eventually she just started calling it The First Night Apricot Chicken.
Anyway, my family and I were served this apricot chicken and we of course loved it. Now my grandma is an awesome cook, but she likes meals without like a gazillion ingredients. She is the “everyday” cook and she does it well. Like so well. In fact, I really need to take some more cues from her and learn that sometimes all you need is five ingredients…
I knew this chicken had to be something I recreated, only I wanted to put my own little spin on her recipe, which if you are wondering used a bottle of Russian dressing and jar of apricot preserves. I, of course, went on to add a handful more of ingredients and also threw in some potatoes to complete the meal.
And OK, lots of cheese! Man, maybe I have cheese issues? Nah. You can never have enough cheese.
Perhaps someday I will get her exact recipe, but today I am really excited to share my version. I can’t say it is any better, because to be honest the only similarities are the apricots and the chicken, but HER chicken dish was the inspiration for THIS chicken dish, and I have to give her a big shout out for that!
My chicken takes a little more prep work than my grandmas, but I promise it’s prep work that is worth the effort. HELLO – brie…all melty…with basil and walnuts too!!
Basically, this is one-pan apricot walnut and brie stuffed chicken. All you need to do is make a whipped brie mixture and stuff it under the skin of your chicken breast. Pretty simple. Then you just brush the chicken with a little apricot glaze and roast until golden perfection. OH, and did I mention the potatoes that get roasted all on the same sheet pan?!?! Yes, yes! Not only does this mean less dishes for you to clean, but it also means your potatoes are going to be crazy flavorful.
Yum, right??
It’s the perfect meal to serve guests, to make on a busy night, or maybe even to make for Mom this Sunday? I mean its got brie. All moms love brie!
One-Pan Apricot Glazed Walnut and Brie Stuffed Chicken Breast with Roasted Potatoes.
Servings: 4 Servings
Calories Per Serving: 1257 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
Potatoes
Chicken
- 4 skin on boneless chicken breast
- 1/2 cup walnuts lightly toasted
- 1 cup fresh basil
- 1 clove garlic minced or grated
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 6 ounces brie cubed
- 2 ounces cream cheese
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt + pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 3/4 cup apricot preserves
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Add the potatoes to a large sheet pan with sides. Drizzle the potatoes with olive oil. Add the seasoned salt, pepper, garlic and lemon zest. Toss well. Roast for 10 minutes or until you are ready to add the chicken to the pan.
- Meanwhile, prepare the chicken. Place walnuts, basil and garlic in food processor and slowly add the olive oil until mixture becomes paste like.
- Next add brie, cream cheese and egg to the food processor and pulse until mixed well. Season with salt and pepper.
- Gently pull up skin from chicken breasts and spread about 1-2 tablespoons (depending on the size of your chicken) of cheese mixture under skin of each breast .
- Remove the potatoes from the oven and slide them around a bit to make room for the chicken. Place the chicken on the pan. In a bowl, combine the apricot preserves, balsamic and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Brush the mixture all over the chicken breasts.
- Place the pan back in the oven and roast for 30-40 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the potatoes golden. If the potatoes are cooking faster then the chicken, just remove them a bit early to avoid burning. Serve the chicken with a side of potatoes and fresh basil for garnish.
Notes
*I recommend using a large
But then again, who the heck doesn’t? Let’s all eat brie…with a side of chicken. Please.
Really loved this. I was making this for only 3 people so I had extra filling. OMG – the filling makes the best spread for crackers or toast points. I will make the filling again as an appetizer! I think I might have processed the filling more than you did – just judging from the pictures, but whatever – it was delicious. Needed more vegetables, so I added carrots to the potatoes.
Hi Barb,
Wonderful! Love to hear that this recipe was a hit, thanks for making it! Have the best week:) xTieghan
I’m thinking of doing this for our Christmas bird – so wondering how this might be adapted to a chicken roast. Wondering how the potatoes timing is affected by having the entire bird roasting (or if it would) and also would the undersign stuffing only be done on the breast? Any other suggestions? Thanks so much and happy Christmas!
Hi Justine! I am so sorry, I missed this comment. Did you end up giving this a try? Please let me know if I can still help you at all. Thank you! And Happy New Year! xTieghan
Why can’t you just cut the breasts and stuff thm that way. seems weird to put under the skin like that.
HI! If you prefer, you can certainly cut the breast in half and skip stuffing under the skin. Either option works. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you and happy holidays! xTieghan
I only have goat cheese, do you think that would work?
Hi! Yes, goat cheese will be great! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
Just making this today, just a question for you, i seem to have a lot of the brie mixture left (prob because I’m only doing 2 chicken breasts and didn’t think to adjust the quantities ?) seems a shame to waste the excess, any ideas on alternative uses?
HI! I would spread the brie mix on a piece of bread and toast under the broiler. It will be like cheesy bread and so good! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
This was so delicious! Excited to make it again!
Hi Michelle! I saw all of your comments and I am so glad you have been enjoying so many recipes of mine! Thank you so much!!
Is there a substitute for the walnuts? My son has a nut allergy and I really want to try this recipe.
Hey Sandy! You can leave the nuts out or replace them with sunflower or pumpkin seeds. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much! xTieghan
Fantastic dish!!!! Added a little vodka to the glaze…wow!!!!! will make this again!!!
So glad you loved this! Thank you so much Sue!
I’m thinking of making this tonight, but the only ingredient I am missing is fresh basil. The mixture you make with the walnuts, olive oil, garlic and basil seems like a pesto mixture. I do have some pesto in the fridge, so you think I could substitute some of that without altering the flavor too much? If so, about how much of it do you think I should use? Seems like the major difference would be pine nuts instead of walnuts, with the addition of some Parmesan cheese. Really looking forward to trying this recipe!!
HI! I think using about 1-2 tablespoons of pesto will be great! Just omit the walnuts or use a little less of the walnuts. Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! 🙂
I made this last night for a small group of friends. I just did the chicken and not the potatoes. Not sure if anyone else has had this issue, but the filling leaked out and was a rather unappetizing muddy brown color. I had to do some quick thinking to save the dish visually. I scraped the excess filling and added a bit more glaze to each breast. Added a little fresh basil for color and plated them. Flavor was very good but not happy with the look.
Hi Nancy, I am sorry the look of this was not pleasing to you. Yes, the filling is prone to leak out a bit due to the cheese. Sounds like you made the dish pretty with some fresh herbs. Nice thinking! Glad you love this recipe! Thanks! 🙂
I made this last night with bone in chicken thighs and it was incredible. I used the bone in thighs because they don’t dry out in the oven and the meat practically falls off the bone when it’s done. I pored this with garlic butter and lemon asparagus to marry the flavors together and I impressed the heck out of my boyfriend. Thank you so much for this recipe!
WOO! Sounding delicious! I am so happy these were so great for you and your boyfriend Melissa! Thank you?
This looks amazing … can the walnuts be omitted? nut allergy
HI Shakira! Yes, you can omit the walnuts. Hope you love this! thanks!
Wow, this was soooooo good!! I used a ton of garlic in the potatoes but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. This is definitely a keeper.
Awesome!! Thanks!!
Made this last night. It was very flavorful and will definitely make it again. I used ingredients I had on hand (I had most of them). I used boneless skinless chicken breast and made a pocket to stuff them with the cheese mixture. I had some fresh basil as well as Rosemary so I used both. I omitted the egg and the hot pepper flakes since I don’t like spicy foods. I didn’t have orange marmalade so I used peach preserves. I used red and sweet potatoes and also threw in some cauliflower. Most of the mixture stayed in the chicken using a toothpick. Turned out great! Thanks for the recipe.
I tried making this recipe tonight, loved the idea of it, but practically all the cheese mixture melted out from the chicken breast! Is there any way to prevent this from happening? Or is this common for the recipe. Thanks!
Hey Jaclyn!!
The cheese does melt out for sure, but you can keep it inside a bit more buy using a toothpick to secure the skin over the cheese. Hope that helps and Happy new Year! 🙂