This gorgeous slow cooker apricot chicken recipe is perfection. Made from scratch with no packet soup in sight, it’s deliciously sweet and savoury. The vegetables are cooked along with the chicken so you just need to prepare some rice, pasta or mashed potatoes to enjoy it with.
Apricot chicken was a 1970’s family favourite. Seemingly created as a way to make an easy dinner using soup packets, it’s a much loved classic. I make mine without the packet mix and add in plenty of vegetables alongside the tender chicken thighs. It’s still so easy and super yum!
Try this slow cooker beef stroganoff too – it’s the best you’ll ever have, I promise.
Never Miss a Recipe!
Get the latest recipes straight to your inbox.
Ingredients & substitutions
With a few tweaks from that 1970’s classic, my apricot chicken sticks to mostly whole ingredients. You still get juicy, tender chicken thighs slow cooked in a gorgeous apricot sauce. And it’s still super easy to make, but the French onion soup mix is swapped for real onions, flour and some quality chicken stock powder.
When it comes to the apricots, there seems to be two camps – apricot nectar or apricot preserves (apricot jam). This slow cooker apricot chicken recipe uses the former, nectar, along with some tinned apricot halves. You can skip those if you prefer.
Jump to the recipe card for full ingredients and instructions.
- Skinless chicken thighs are better than chicken breast here. The latter is too lean and won’t keep as juicy over the longer cooking time.
- Apricots in two forms – apricot nectar and apricot halves in juice. These add all the sweet apricot flavour you need.
- Chicken stock powder or stock cubes: This adds the savoury flavour you need (along with a little salt and pepper).
- Vegetables: The veggies are very customisable. An onion and a little garlic is a must but I add carrots, mushrooms and green beans too. You could use broccoli for instance or just leave the veggies out of the slow cooker and serve something on the side instead.
How to make slow cooker apricot chicken
Sure, the classic apricot chicken is simple to make and we’re adding ingredients here but I promise it’ll take you only 5-10 minutes more. With this apricot chicken in a slow cooker you get real flavour from real ingredients. Love that!
Jump to the recipe card for full ingredients and instructions.
1. Coat the chicken
Coat the chicken in the flour, salt and pepper. This coating will eventually fall off the chicken as it cooks but the caramelisation you get in the next step adds flavour whilst thickening up the sauce later.
2. Brown the chicken
Saute the chicken in a little oil in a frying pan / skillet just until browned on each side. This adds flavour to the slow cooked apricot chicken.
3. Combine and slow cook
Combine the chicken, vegetables, apricot nectar, apricot halves and stock powder in the bowl of a slow cooker / crockpot and cook on low for 5 ½ hours (or high for 2 ½-3 hours).
4. Cook the mushrooms
While the chicken cooks away, saute the mushrooms in the same pan you cooked the chicken then chill until required.
5. Add the mushrooms and beans
Add the mushrooms and green beans to the slow cooker and cook for a further 10-15 minutes. Then, it’s ready to serve.
How to serve it
Something starchy is great for soaking up that delicious sweet and salty apricot sauce. You’ll often find apricot chicken served with rice. Mashed potato is great too. Personally, I’m a pasta lover so I normally serve it over some pasta shells or penne pasta. The last of the top 4 would have to be couscous. You can’t go wrong with any of these options.
With the vegetables already cooked right in the dish, it’d be lovely just served up as is with some crusty bread for mopping up the sauce too.
What would you serve it with?
Storage
Leftover crock pot apricot chicken can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 4 days. It can be frozen for up to 3 months.
It can be easily reheated in the microwave or in a pan on the stovetop. It’s also great used inside mini pies.
More recipes you’ll love
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Did you try this slow cooker apricot chicken recipe?
Show it some love with a comment and rating below.
Hungry for more?
- Subscribe via Email, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.
- Add Sugar Salt Magic as a Google Preferred Source.
Ingredients
- 1 kg skinless boneless chicken thighs (1.1lb)
- ⅓ cup plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 1 teaspoon cooking salt
- ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 large onion , roughly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 medium carrots , chopped into chunks, optional
- 405 ml canned apricot nectar
- 400 g tinned apricot halves in juice
- 2 teaspoons chicken stock powder (or 2 tablespoons soy sauce)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 200 g mushrooms , sliced, optional
- 1 ½ cups frozen green beans , thawed (170g / 6 oz), optional
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- Non-stick frying pan / skillet
- Slow cooker
Instructions
- Combine the chicken thighs with the flour, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
- Heat half the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium high heat. Add the chicken thighs (you may need to do it in 2 batches) and cook until golden on each side. Transfer to the bowl of a slow cooker. Add the remaining oil and cook the second batch the same way.Note: As the chicken slow cooks later, the coating will come off and in turn thicken the sauce but the aim of adding it to the chicken and browning it is to get that flour toasted.
- Add the onion, carrots, garlic, apricot nectar, apricots in juice, and stock powder to the chicken in the slow cooker bowl and give it all a good mix. Cook on low for 5 ½ hours (or high for 2 ½ hours).Note: The apricot halves will break down in the sauce. If you want to serve it with them in whole pieces, don’t add them until the last ½ an hour.
- Meanwhile, wipe any dark bits from the pan the chicken was cooked in and add the butter. Let it melt then add the mushrooms and cook turning every so often until golden all over. Transfer the mushrooms to a bowl and chill until required.
- At the 5 ½ hour mark, add the mushrooms and beans to the slow cooker and cook for a further 10-15 minutes until hot through.
- See serving suggestions below.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- The carrots, mushrooms and green beans are all optional. You can swap them for other vegetables or leave them out entirely.
- Serving suggestions: Apricot chicken is often served with steamed rice. Pasta, mashed potatoes and couscous are other great accompaniments. You can also just serve it with crusty bread for mopping up that sauce.
- Leftovers should be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Leftover apricot chicken is delicious turned into mini pies too.
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission for my referral, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Sugar Salt Magic.
