Apricot glazed chicken

This apricot glazed chicken has become a family favorite this year. My husband asked me to keep the glaze in the fridge at all times, and his tastebuds tend to be my gauge for success.

The ingredients are so simple, but they come together so well. You will taste savory, sweet, tangy and smoky in each bite. I enjoy the flavor of duck sauce, but I don’t care for the soupy consistency or how the meat turns out when it’s baked in the oven — it always reminds me of boiled soup chicken, especially if it is covered when baked.

I experimented many times to get the glaze and cooking technique just right, and I’m so happy to be able to share it with you. This recipe makes enough sauce to glaze about three pounds of chicken pieces, but it will last for weeks in the fridge if you have any leftovers. This is also excellent to add to any kind of sweet and sour roast or meatball recipe. My version is cost-effective and allows you to avoid extra salt or preservatives that come in store-bought duck sauce.

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Ingredients:

1 jar of apricot preserves
Juice of 1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons)
½ teaspoon of salt
¼ teaspoon of onion powder
⅛ teaspoon of garlic powder
¼ teaspoon of Cayenne pepper
Or
A rounded half teaspoon of Aleppo pepper

If the jar of apricot preserves that you find is a bit smaller than a pound (I’ve seen many that are 12-14 ounces per jar) you can go ahead and follow the recipe as is. Empty the jar of apricot preserves into a saucepan and place over low heat. It takes a few minutes for the preserves to start to soften. Add the lemon juice, salt and spices to the pan and stir well with a whisk. It will take a few more minutes over low heat for the jam to liquify. Allow the mixture to gently simmer for about 10 minutes, whisking occasionally. I tend to use the lowest heat setting to keep the sugar in the preserves from burning. If you need to, turn the heat up to medium until the mixture is gently bubbling, then reduce the heat to low again. The goal is to get the spices to blend well with the fruit base, but this doesn’t need to be cooked for a long time.

Remove from heat and allow the glaze to cool. This is the best time to taste the glaze, so if you feel that it needs a bit more garlic, salt, tangy lemon or spice, feel free to add a bit more in small increments and adjust it to your taste. When this is freshly made, you can really taste the onion and garlic, but that softens up and melds together when cooked with the chicken. When this is cool enough to handle, I use a spatula and pour the mixture back into the original glass container for storage. Refrigerate once it’s cool, but it’s easier to glaze the chicken if you put the jar out on the counter for an hour before using.

I like to use dark meat on the bone for this recipe. You can choose drumsticks, thighs or a mix of the two. As I mentioned above, there will be enough sauce to cover up to three pounds of chicken. If you’re making less, just use what you need for the day, but be careful not to contaminate the jar of sauce with any utensils that could have touched the chicken. I’m all about easy cleanup, but lining a sheet pan with parchment paper didn’t give me the sticky, bubbly glaze that I wanted. I tried this on a plain metal sheet pan and in a glass baking dish — I suggest a glass baking dish. Cleanup is easier and there was a bit more sauce left in the bottom of the pan to put on an extra layer of glaze near the end.

Set your oven to 375 degrees and place the wire rack in the upper third of the oven. Lightly grease or spray your glass baking dish before adding your chicken pieces. Don’t overcrowd the chicken in the dish — leave an inch or two between each piece. Sprinkle the chicken very lightly with salt and bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove the baking dish from the oven — the chicken will look white and bland, but the magic comes after you add the sauce.

I add about a tablespoon of glaze per piece of chicken, using a bit less on drumsticks. Use a clean spoon to dip into the jar (or pot if you just made the sauce.) It’s a bit easier to spread the sauce if you have a silicone brush, but you can use a small silicone spatula or the back of a spoon. I coat each piece as well as possible. Sometimes the sauce will melt and sort of slide off the chicken into the baking dish. When this happens, just take your spoon or basting brush to get the sauce out from the bottom of the pan and quickly reglaze each piece.

Reduce the heat of the oven to 325 and bake for another 25-30 minutes. Food safety guidelines for chicken suggest a minimum internal temperature of 165 degrees. I really like to get the glaze to turn a golden color so by the time that this bakes, it’s normal for the chicken to be between 180-190 degrees when probed. The glaze keeps the meat from drying out, so I don’t worry too much about the temperature being higher. You can take the chicken out of the oven and quickly glaze the pieces again with any remaining sauce in the bottom of the pan, then allow it to cool for a few minutes before serving. It tastes great this way — but I personally like to take an extra step. I brush on about a teaspoon of the glaze fresh out of the jar, put the broiler on and cook this for an additional five minutes to blacken the skin a bit before removing the chicken from the oven. This ensures a thicker glaze, and in my opinion it’s worth the extra effort and also brings out the smokiness from the pepper.

You can also use this glaze if you’re grilling — just paint on the glaze with a silicone brush about halfway through cooking and add a bit more near the end — but you will need to take any extra from the jar since there is no tray to keep the glaze from dripping down onto the coals. This is a truly family-friendly recipe — all ages will love the flavor in the sweet and sour glaze. Enjoy and bless your hands! PJC

Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.