Ambrosial Apricot Chicken

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My recipes are grain free, refined sugar free and most are dairy free. Since beginning this lifestyle journey it has been hard to find products that don’t have grains and or refined sugar. Which means that most times I am creating everything in my recipes from scratch. There had been a recipe rolling around in my head for a while. I had even gone as far as writing the recipe down. I just needed the ingredients to get it all to come together.  After going to a local farmer’s market and seeing apricots and knew immediately what I would be making for dinner in the next couple of days. I had dried apricots at home and wanted to combine the two for my preserves. That’s what I did.

But before I could make the Ambrosial Apricot Chicken I first had to create a recipe for Apricot Preserves to use in my dish. I did make the apricot preserves on the same day as Ambrosial Apricot chicken but the preserves can be made way in advance.

I had to think about what goes best with apricots and chicken. My thoughts were Italian seasonings, basil, rosemary, and citrus. The other spices just came to my mind. I first made the peach preserves. Then I made the sauce and did a taste test. It was spot on. But this doesn’t always happen. I don’t report on the many recipes that are edible but not super tasty or the recipes my family likes and I don’t feel are up to par.

You can use this with chicken breast skin on or no skin. I used skin on chicken thighs. This is one of those recipes that you drool over and want again and again. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family. This recipe uses some tomato paste from a tube of Cento Tomato Paste, coconut aminos garlic sauce and coconut aminos. Use with apricot preserves and Italian seasonings.

* Notes: To chiffonade roll the Basil up into a cone shape. Slice the cone. You will end up with small strips of Basil.

*Nutritional Facts are below the photos.

2 lbs. chicken thighs or breast approximately 8 thighs

1 teaspoon avocado oil

1 cup homemade apricot preserves

1 cup chicken broth

1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon coconut aminos

1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon coconut aminos garlic sauce

1 -2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary

1/3 cup of chopped onions

2 minced garlic cloves

1 teaspoons fresh orange zest

1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest

1 teaspoons fresh orange juice

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon my Italian seasoning

6 basil leaves chiffonade

3 tablespoon tomato paste

salt and pepper

2 cups chopped broccoli

Preheat oven to 325 F. Generously salt and pepper both sides of the chicken. Preheat the stove to medium heat with one teaspoon avocado oil. Don’t put the chicken into the pan until it is hot. Place salted and peppered chicken skin side down and brown for approximately 5 -10 minutes. Turn over and cook the meat side down for approximately 5 – 10 minutes. Oil a deep oven-safe dish that has a lid. Make the sauce by adding my homemade apricot preserves with chicken broth, coconut aminos, coconut aminos garlic sauce, dijon mustard, chopped onion, minced garlic, orange zest, lemon zest,  orange juice and lemon juice, my Italian seasonings, chiffonade basil, and tomato paste and whisk together until combined. Pour 1/3 of the sauce into your oiled deep dish and place the chicken thighs on top of the sauce. Cook for 40 minutes. Remove dish from the oven and pour 1/3 of the sauce onto the chicken and add broccoli cook another 20 minutes. Remove chicken and allow to cool. Serve chicken and top with remaining 1/3 sauce.