Pressure Cooker apricot chicken with apricot jam just needs 5 ingredients and is the perfect dinner atop a bed of rice! Make as an Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi recipe that is super cheap, only $15 to feed all 5 of us.
If you’re looking for a family friendly meal that even your kids will love, this pressure cooker apricot chicken is it! Tender chicken swimming in a sweet sauce served on a bed of rice, it’s now one of our favorite Instant Pot recipes. (affiliate links present)
Instant Pot Apricot Chicken
Have you ever made apricot glazed chicken?? It. Is. So. Good. I’m talking it’s a meal your kids will ask you to make over and over again. With a sweetness that is not too extreme but satisfied the sweet toothers in your house it is cheap and will have your fam asking for seconds. 😉
If you’re new to this kind of cooking we will make it easy on you. You can use any brand you might have at home including a Ninja Foodi, Mealthy or make as an easy Crockpot Express recipe some night. Find what you need at your grocery store or defrost some frozen chicken to get started.
If you are new to pressure cooking we have a lot of easy one pot meal recipes for you here. To begin with let’s start with a few basic tips:
- Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
- Then PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
- I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot.
- You should know how to deglaze a pressure cooker after sautéing but it won’t have as many issues with this better liner.
For reference, this is the model I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.
Ninja Foodi Apricot Chicken
Sounds delicious right? With French dressing or Catalina style and some jam you can coat your bite size poultry pieces with a sweet sauce your kids will love. With this machine you will use the lid that is not attached and the pressure cook button.
It is said to have started around 1950 by the Lipton dry soup mix company. Used to make this Instant Pot apricot chicken too, it has become a family favorite for everyone around here.
If at the end you want the sauce thicker then use 1 tbsp cornstarch whisked together with 3 tbsp cold water. Set pressure cooker to saute and add this in, stir and it won’t be as thin.
You are going to want a jar of apricot jam and Catalina salad dressing believe it or not. These are the main ingredients in the sauce with some seasonings and a bit of chicken broth to thin it out.
Ingredients
- Chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces, boneless skinless – could use chicken thighs as well
- Chicken broth or stock works better than water to thin out the sauce
- Apricot jam / preserves in a jar or homemade
- Catalina dressing bottled
- Onion soup mix in the pack
- Onion sliced, this is really optional
- Cornstarch if you want to thicken sauce
Substitutions
You are going to use jam for the sweetness and fruit here. You could alternatively use orange marmelade and it would be more similar to our Instant Pot orange chicken recipe too. Add a bit of heat if you like with red pepper flakes or a bit of Sriracha and go!
Some like to add a bit of soy sauce to cut down the sweetness even more, either way is good to us.
Can you make apricot chicken with frozen chicken?
You could. For frozen chicken in the Instant Pot you wouldn’t be able to cut it into small pieces like you see here. What you would want to do is follow the instructions above to cook with broth for 12 minutes. Then you’d drain, shred the meat, set to saute and add the ingredients for this sauce. Allow to bubble and thicken and then serve!!
This takes just 20 minutes to finish this and a batch of Ninja foodi white rice. Of course you can serve it with anything you like but typically we make chicken bowls with broccoli on the side.
How long should you cook apricot chicken?
That depends on what else is in your pot. For pressure cooker chicken and rice it’s the same but breasts need to be cubed bite size. Here’s a peek at what you’re going to need, and what we used to make this sweet and savory dish.
That depends on the serving but in the printable recipe card below there is information for this. Thighs would have more fat than white meat so you need to keep that in mind. Different brands of jam and dressings will vary too so refer to the back for the most accurate calculations.
No there are no whole apricots inside, but it uses apricot preserves so it has the same flavor and coats the meat so it is sweet. I mean you could add chunks of sliced fruit in there too but I would add at the end or it will get too soft.
You could transition this easy Instant Pot chicken recipe into this if you wanted to? I would boil egg noodles to al dente in another pot and then when this is done, fold them together. There is enough sauce to coat everything without a problem.
How to Make Apricot Chicken in Ninja Foodi
- Add all ingredients except cornstarch into your pressure cooker, stir together so everything is coated well.
- Close lid and set steam valve to a sealing position. Set to high pressure cook for 4 minutes. Do a quick release when done.
- Turn pot off, then push saute. In a separate small bowl add 3 tbsp cornstarch + 4 tbsp. of hot liquid from your pot. Whisk together so it is smooth.
- Pour this cornstarch mixture into your pot once the liquid in your pot starts to bubble and cook on high. Stir.
- Slowly stir for 1-2 minutes, will thicken slightly. Then turn pot off.
- Allow to sit for at least 5 minutes so sauce continues to thicken. Serve over rice and enjoy
Printable recipe below with nutritional information included as well. Keep in mind I do not calculate these, the system does and it accounts for exactly what I have listed below. Then try our creamy pressure cooker chicken and rice which turns out great every time.
Pressure Cooker Apricot Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken, boneless, skinless breasts, cut into bite size pcs.
- 1 c apricot jam
- 1 c Catalina salad dressing
- 2/3 c chicken broth
- 1 onion, sliced or diced
- 1 packet French onion soup mix, 1 oz
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Add all ingredients except cornstarch into your pressure cooker, stir together so everything is coated well.
- Close lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 4 minutes.
- Do a quick release when done.
- Turn pot off, then push saute. In a separate small bowl add 3 tbsp cornstarch + 4 tbsp. of hot liquid from your pot. Whisk together so it is smooth.
- Pour this cornstarch mixture into your pot once the liquid in your pot starts bubbling. Stir.
- Slowly stir for 1-2 minutes, will thicken slightly. Then turn pot off.
- Allow to sit for at least 5 minutes so sauce continues to thicken. Serve over rice!
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I tried this tonight with a few minor adjustments. I used 3 lbs of chicken, increased the apricot preserves by .25 cups, added a sliced yellow bell pepper pressure cooked for 12 minutes and gave it a 5 minute natural release and omitted the corn starch. OMG, this was really good, my wife even said it was the best thing I’ve ever made in our Instant Pot! The chicken was fork tender with excellent flavor, and the sauce with onion and peppers was terrific over the brown rice!
Glad it was a hit
This recipe was so delicious, but had to keep an eye on it to stir it… burn message kept popping up. I made it with apricot jam my nieces made. I sautéed the onion with chicken first, which ensured chicken was fully cooked, since I had to keep opening it up to prevent burning. My hubby loved it! Will definitely make it again!
I have not made this but I used to make a similar recipe with Russian dressing and apricot preserves! The sugar at 28 gems omg. There has to be a better way lol
You said this recipe has five ingredients…but The ingredient list also calls for French onion soup mix and cornstarch. Do you use these ingredients as well?
Yes, specific instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Can you make the rice in the same pot (pip style) ?
I haven’t done that
I haven’t had Catalina dressing in years – this brings back memories! Thanks for sharing this tasty recipe! A new family favorite for sure.
This has all of the flavors my family loves. I’ll be making this again and again!