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I make no joke when I say THREE ingredients.
This chicken, this magic chicken, is everything. It’s the perfect, go-to meal for a busy weeknight, or maybe even better for a night when friends are coming over, but as of yet, nothing is planned for dinner. Yep, this would be your meal!
Simple as that.
In full disclosure, I did not include the cauliflower rice in the 3 ingredients with the chicken. You can make the rice if you please… and you really should because it’s delicious, AND it completes the meal in a healthy way, but the chicken is what this post is all about.
The recipe comes from my grandma who got the recipe from her sweet neighbor (hi Mrs. Gonzalez). My grandma is the queen of making simple yet delicious meals that everyone loves. I first had this chicken around this time last year when my family traveled to Florida for Spring Break and Easter. Nonnie served it the first night we arrived, and well, between my dad, my mom, Kai, Asher, my Nonnie and Grandpa, and me, the entire meal was devoured. Even my picky-eating, no chicken thighs please, mother loved this recipe. It’s all about the sauce, it’s a combo I would have never thought up, but man it is so good.
So you ready? The magic three ingredients? Fair warning they are kind of weird, but like I said, SO GOOD.
….skin on chicken thighs (you can use chicken breasts as well)
….apricot preserves (try really hard to find a high quality brand without any corn syrup or other weird ingredients)
…Russian dressing (I made a healthier homemade version, but store-bought is what my grandma uses!)
I know, kind of odd…totally DELISH though.
When Nonnie served this, she had steamed white rice, corn on the cob and bread. I am going the slightly healthier route with my cauliflower rice, but um guys, I promise I will SO not be offended if you just make a pot of rice and call it a day. Nothing beats real deal steamed rice.
However, if you’re willing to branch out a bit, I highly recommend the Cauliflower Rice. I made mine with some coconut milk and then tossed in roasted cashews… healthy and yummy!
Whatever you do, just give this 3 Ingredient Apricot Chicken a try. Honestly, it’s SOOOO good. I can’t figure out if it’s more of an Asian flavor or an Indian flavor or maybe even a Russian flavor, but I really don’t care. All I care is that it’s completely amazing and the EASIEST thing ever to make. Like add your three ingredients to a Pyrex pan and bake.
DONE AND DONE.
Oh, and really quick, thank you so much for you kind words on yesterday’s post. I am thrilled you guys are so excited about the Better Homes and Gardens Blogger Awards, THANK YOU!
Now, let’s all celebrate with a little feast and an easy + pretty, healthy Wednesday dinner.
Sweet and Sticky 3 Ingredient Apricot Chicken with Cauliflower Rice.
Servings: 4 Servings
Calories Per Serving: 708 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 6-8 skin on chicken thighs or 4 breasts
- 1 (13 ounce) jar high quality apricot preserves*
- 2 cups store bought or homemade Russian Dressing see my healthy recipe below
Cashew Cauliflower Rice
- 2 tablespoons coconut or olive oil
- 1 large or 2 small heads cauliflower finely grated*
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- salt + pepper
- 1/3 cup canned coconut milk
- 1/2 cup roasted cashews roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Lightly grease a 9x13 inch pyrex pan. Add the chicken. In a medium bowl, mix together the apricot preserves and Russian Dressing. Pour over the chicken.
- Bake for 30-40, minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. The time will depend on the size of your chicken pieces. If the tops of the chicken are getting too browned, cover the pan with foil halfway through cooking. Serve the chicken along side the cauliflower rice (recipe below). Spoon the sauce left in the pan, over the chicken. EAT.
Cauliflower Rice
- Heat a large, high sided skillet over medium heat and add the oil. Add the cauliflower and season with cumin, salt and pepper. Cook for 2 more minutes. Stir in the coconut milk. Cook until the cauliflower is tender, about 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat, then add the cashews and cilantro.
Notes
*Try to buy apricot preserves without any corn syrup, loads of sugar or other added ingredients that you cannot pronounce. Ideally there should only be apricots and a little sugar. *You can either finely chop the cauliflower or run the heads through a blender or food processor. For the best consistency, I like to blend 3/4 of the cauliflower in the blender and then finely chop the remainder for a little texture.
Healthy Red Russian Dressing.
Servings: 2 Cups
Calories Per Serving: 144 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup plain full-fat or 2% greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup organic ketchup
- 1/4 cup pickle brine/juice the juice from the pickle jar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon hot sauce
- 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley + dill
- salt + pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a bowl or glass jar and whisk to combine. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Keep stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Yes lets… and then maybe even help ourselves to another plate…or two. 🙂
P.S. Don’t forget, you can vote once a day through March 7th for your favorite food blogger!! Just click on the badge above to link you to the Better Homes & Gardens site to vote! THANK YOU for all your continuous support! 
hi! also a little confused about how much apricot preserve is meant to be in the recipe! one 13 oz jar or 1 oz total?
Can’t wait to try it either way!
Thanks
1 (13 ounce) jar. Sorry about that! Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! ?
I made this tonight and really enjoyed it. All I could find at the grocery store was fat free Greek yogurt. I substituted full fat viili (like yogurt) instead. It didn’t get sticky so I’m not sure what happened there. I wasn’t sure if it was one ounce of apricot preserves so I did about six ounces (according to my taste). It turned out more saucey which I just spooned over the cauliflower rice. I plan on making this again. Thank you.
I am glad you still enjoyed this Mindy! Thanks!
Hi, is your recipe calling for 1 oz of apricot preserves or 1 13-oz jar of apricot preserves? Did you brown your chicken in a skillet before baking it? Did you use a glass or metal baking dish?
My recipe has a mysterious 13. It is unclear if the recipe calls for a 1-ounce jar of preserves or 1 13-ounce jar of preserves. I went with the latter. There was a lot of sauce, and the chicken never browned. I’m guessing it means I should gone with the small jar option. Would love for someone to confirm. It still turned out great, and i loved the cauliflower rice!
Hi, could you clarify….if I use breasts, can they be skinless, or do they have to have the skin on? And do I add the chicken straight into the Pyrex dish raw, I.e., no pre-browning?
Hi Tiffany! Yes, you can use skinless breast, that will be great! And yes, just add them right to the baking dish. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!
This… was not good. I just made this following the recipe in the “every day” cookbook.
It was much too sweet and the apricot + dressing was an odd combo. I feel like it was missing something to cut the sweetness. Maybe some mustard?
Also it was really strange to me that the recipe didn’t call for S&P on the chicken.
Hi Vi,
Thanks for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback, sorry to hear it was not enjoyed! xx
This is exactly the kind of dish I need these days. I can’t get apricots in my grocery store yet because it was such a cold winter so I’ll go with the delicious preserves! Love the simplicity of this gorgeous recipe, Tieghan!
Awh thats a bummer!! Soon though!! Im so happy you like it!! Thanks Robyn!!
Do you use 2 Tlb parsley and 2 Tlb Dill in the dressing? I was a bit confused on the “+dill”.
thanks,
Hilary
Yes, it is 2 tablespoons each. Sorry if that is confusing. Hope you love this!
Is it the juice from sweet or dill pickles in the dressing recipe?
Sorry for the late response!! The juice form dill pickles, but I am sure sweet will also work. Please let me know if you have questions, thanks!
Just made this for dinner and while the flavor was wonderful the chicken didn’t turn out sticky and didn’t look anything like the picture. I think maybe there was too much dressing because the chicken was completely emmersed in the sauce mixture. I ended up taking them out of the sauce, spooning some over the top, and broiling at the end of the cook time.
Alright, stop it. Stop being so brilliant.
I have the next 3 meals planned, thanks to you.
Glad I found your blog.
hehe! Thank you so much! I hope you love everything you try! 🙂
It was delicious. I found the sauce will make so much more than just the 6-8 thighs. I did 12 and still had so much coverage of sauce. Really juicy and tender.
SO happy you love this recipe, THANK YOU!!
This is amazing. I almost never repeat recipes, but my husband immediately declared this to be he best chicken ever… And I agree! I’m making it again on Thursday, when his whole family is dropping in for a visit. Thanks! I can’t wait for the cookbook!
Thank you so much!!! Im so happy you guys like it! 🙂
We have made cashew cauliflower rice two times and I only can say THANK YOU!!! Really fantastic recipe! We love it for dinner with chicken, like you suggest, or some differents cheese with home bread.
Superb! 😉
Glad you liked!! Thank you Eva!! 🙂
So I’ve made several of your recipes and my friends all say this is the best meal ever! However when I made this chuck dish I’m not sure what happened. I used chic breasts instead of the thighs. I cooked them for 40 min. My sauce never thickened kind of curdled and didn’t brown. Chix was done tasted delicious. It was the sauce. I used good apricot preserves and made the homemade Russian dressing. Any thoughts? Maybe cook longer. Thx
HI!
Hmm, I am totally stumped. It had to of been the yogurt in the dressing. What kind did you use? I would not bake them longer, 40 minutes is plenty for chicken breast. Did you follow the dressing recipe exactly? I am wondering if maybe you baked it too long. The sauce shouldn’t thicken too much, but it should not curdle. Really sorry for the trouble!! Thanks, tieghan!
I made this tonight for dinner and had the same issue Linda did. I used boneless breasts, made your dressing…The chicken breasts I used were huge and took more than 40 minutes to come to a safe temp, and they were definitely not overcooked. My sauce never browned and I also had the curdling issue. I followed the dressing recipe exactly (and it was also really good), used good quality apricot preserves… it just didn’t hold up to baking. It might have been because I used a non-fat plain greek yogurt and maybe it needed the extra fat to help prevent curdling. While troubleshooting, I also found a recommendation to add cream (in this case yogurt) to a medium temperature mixture or it will separate when it boils. (Mine was all cold.) So, those are the only explanations I can come up with for now. I was disappointed that the chicken didn’t get that browned sticky quality 🙁 That being said, nothing went to waste. The flavor was delicious and the cauliflower rice with the coconut milk, cilantro and cashews was particularly good and just perfect with the chicken!
I am so sorry for the trouble. I did use %2 Greek yogurt so maybe that was it. I also did not bake my chicken longer than 30 minutes so I am wondering if it could be the longer cooking time as well. Again so sorry for the trouble!
Hey Tieghan, no worries! It seriously was delicious! Since another reader had a similar issue, I just wanted to help trouble shoot it. I don’t think it was the cooking time, the sauce separated as soon as it started bubbling in the oven. I might try the 2% or full fat yogurt next time. In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed the flavors and I was quite happy that I was home alone for lunch the next day for the one portion of leftovers we had. Enjoy your time in Chicago!
Low fat and fat free yogurt will usually curdle when heated, especially if not tempered. I’ve never made anything with fat free yogurt that after heated, didn’t curdle. That’s usually the trick – using full fat yogurt will probably not only keep your sauce thicker, but it shouldn’t curdle.
That being said – this was made last night, along with the cauliflower rice. As much as I adored the chicken (so flavorful – and that dressing!) I think that rice was the star of the show. My husband and I played rock-paper-scissors this morning to see who got the leftovers for lunch and sadly, he won. But that’s okay. I’ll definitely be making this again, soon!
HI!
Thank you so much for this great info and I am thrilled that you love both the chicken and rice!! Hope you are having a great week!!
I made this tonight with apricot preserves and a jar of Sir Kensington’s “Special Sauce” which is basically russian but paleo friendly… it was so so so amazing! i love your recipes!
What are apricot preserves? Apricot jam or dried apricots? (I’m Australian)
Apricot jam! Hope you love this! 🙂
FYI – I had to laugh when I came upon a bag of ‘riced cauliflower’ at Trader Joe’s today. Pretty much a sign that I need to give this recipe a try tonight! Just put together the dressing and it is a yummy alternative to the dreaded bottled dressing.
haha! I did not even know that was a thing! Hope you love this and THANK YOU!