Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken
When the days are long and dinner time keeps sneaking up on you, it’s time to dig out the slow cooker. The slow cooker makes getting dinner on the table one thing you don’t have to worry about. Tuck the recipe for Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken into your recipe box and those long days will never get one over on you again.
This sweet and savory slow cooker chicken is so easy to make. Mix the sauce pour over the chicken and then cook. That is literally it. You will need to cook rice or noodles to serve this over but that’s easy enough to pull off as the apricot chicken is cooking. Plus you can cook this for four hours or eight hours depending on how long you’ll be gone during the day.
What you need to make slow cooker apricot chicken
The only special ingredient you need for this recipe is the apricot preserves. You can use store-bought or homemade; both work just fine.
- rice wine vinegar
- grated ginger
- minced garlic
- crushed red pepper
- soy sauce
- whole-grain mustard
- black pepper
- salt
- apricot preserves
- boneless, skinless chicken thighs (can also use breasts if you prefer)
- cilantro
What kind of chicken?
This recipe calls for boneless skinless chicken thighs. But you can use boneless skinless chicken breasts if that’s what you have or want to use. Remember, they’re very lean and then have a tendency to get very dry, even when cooked in the slow cooker.
You could use bone-in legs or thighs if you want, they will work just fine in this recipe. Bone-in breast will probably be too big for the recipe. They’re often so big that they won’t be covered by the sauce in the cooking process. If that’s all you have you can use them, they’re just not the best bet for this recipe.
Serve this chicken with
You will need something to serve this chicken over. You can use noodles OR rice. Whichever you prefer or have on hand. Rice is our go too but noodles work just fine.
You can garnish this dish with sliced fresh apricots if you have them and you want to serve them with the chicken. They make it look so stunning.
Got leftovers
If you have leftovers, store them in airtight containers in the fridge for 3-4 days. If you divide them into smaller containers, they make perfect lunches throughout the week. You can enjoy apricot chicken cold or reheated.
Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon grated ginger
- 4 cloves of garlic minced
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 2 Tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons whole grain mustard
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup apricot preserves
- 2 – 2.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (can also use breasts if you prefer)
- ½ cup cilantro
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients except chicken and cilantro in a bowl and whisk together until completely combined
- Place chicken in crock pot
- Pour apricot mixture over the top
- Cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours
- chop the cilantro and sprinkle over the chicken
- Serve over hot rice or pasta
