Chicken in apricot sauce
4
Points®
Total time: 45 min • Prep: 20 min • Cook: 25 min • Serves: 4 • Difficulty: Easy
This skillet dish takes advantage of fresh summer apricots. Use apricots that are slightly underripe so they’ll stand-up to the heat and maintain their texture. You could also opt for peaches, plums or nectarines instead. Sherry wine, apricot nectar, brown sugar, vinegar, and mustard meld together for a sweet, tangy, and savory sauce that brilliantly pairs with the tender fresh spinach leaves and toasted pecans. A mixture of cornstarch and water stirred in at the end thickens the sauce and eliminates the need to add extra oil or butter. Just make sure you whisk the cornstarch mixture until well blended so that the sauce has a smooth consistency with no lumps.
Ingredients
Olive oil
1 tsp
Sherry cooking wine
2 Tbsp, dry
Uncooked skinless boneless chicken breast
1 pound(s), four pieces, pounded
Apricot nectar
1 cup(s)
White wine vinegar
1 Tbsp
Unpacked brown sugar
2 tsp
Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp
Cornstarch
1 Tbsp
Water
¼ cup(s)
Fresh apricot
4 item(s), pitted and split in half
Spinach
8 cup(s), fresh, chopped
Chopped pecans (unsalted, raw or dry roasted, no sugar added)
¼ oz, about 1 tbsp
Instructions
1
Coat a large skillet with cooking spray and warm over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and sherry and heat until they sizzle. Add chicken and cook about 6 minutes on each side. Remove from pan; keep warm.
2
Meanwhile, combine nectar, vinegar, sugar and mustard in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook 5 minutes. In a separate cup, mix cornstarch with water.
3
Pour cornstarch mixture into nectar sauce and cook until sauce thickens, about 3 minutes. Add apricots and cook 2 minutes more.
4
While sauce is cooking, add spinach to pan in which chicken was cooked. Cook until spinach is slightly wilted, about 2 minutes.
5
Divide spinach evenly among 4 plates. Top each plate of spinach with a chicken breast, about 1/4 cup apricot sauce and 3/4 teaspoon chopped pecans. Serve immediately.
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