Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken is crispy, sweet, and savory with just five ingredients. The perfect, easy weeknight dinner with tons of flavor!
I love making easy Slow Cooker Chicken Recipes like this Apricot Chicken, Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken, and Slow Cooker Jerk Chicken. They all have easy prep times which allows me to go about my day while my slow cooker does all the hard work!
Why You’ll Love This Apricot Chicken?
- It’s sweet, sticky, savory, tender chicken with a crispy skin.
- It only requires minimal ingredients so prep time is a breeze!
Sabrina’s Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken Recipe
It is slow cooker time, folks! This Apricot Chicken is one of the easiest slow cooker recipes you’ll ever make, too. Most people love the set it and forget it nature of crock pots but this recipe asks you to spend just a few more minutes to create a crispy, juicy texture to the chicken you never think of with crock pots! Worth a couple of extra minutes for sure. These tender thighs are perfect for a weeknight dinner.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 5 chicken thighs , bone in and skin on
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1 packet dry onion soup mix
- 1 cup French dressing
- 1 cup apricot preserves
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme , chopped
Instructions
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper and add it to the cast iron skillet, skin side down browning each side for 3-5 minutes before adding to the slow cooker skin side up.
- In a bowl add the rest of the ingredients and whisk them together, then pour half the sauce over the chicken, refrigerating the rest.
- Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours then remove the chicken to a baking sheet.
- Cover with remaining sauce and broil on high under your oven's broiler for 1-2 minutes or until bubbly and caramelized.
Nutrition
Want to save this recipe? Create a free account to easily save your favorite recipes
Note from Sabrina
You can make this recipe with fresh apricots when they are in season. Every summer when there is a bumper crop of fresh apricots I love making savory meals with fresh apricot sauce. Fresh apricots are a delicious fruit and work great in cooked savory preparations. See my recipe below in the Variations Section on how to use fresh fruit!
Table of contents
About this Recipe
It doesn’t get any easier that this Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken. Brown the chicken before it goes into the slow cooker. Nothing fancy, just season it and brown it in a bit of oil (or even no oil) before putting it in the slow cooker. This adds depth of flavor, lots of texture, and renders out some of the fat the slow cooker may leave behind. Then, when you’ve finished cooking it in the slow cooker you’ll remove the chicken, cover with the additional sauce and finish under the broiler to crisp the skin before serving.
Can this be made ahead of time?
Yes, that is the beauty of this recipe. It is ment to be made ahead of time since it is a slow cooker recipe anyways. You can also prep this as a dump crock pot dinner. Season and brown the chicken. Let it cool completely. Mix your sauce and save half in a small Ziplock or airtight container. Add the cooled chicken and remaining sauce into a ziplock or airtight container. It will stay good in the freezer for up to 3 months. Dump the frozen bag into the slow cooker on low for 8 hours or High for 4 hours. Let the smaller bag of remaining sauce thaw in the fridge while the chicken is cooking. Finish the chicken by placing it on a baking sheet with the remaining sauce and broiling for 1-2 minutes.
Pairing Suggestions
I love serving this chicken with Steamed Rice, Brown Rice, couscous, or Quinoa on the side. Any side that will soak up the sauce is a good choice! I also add steamed or roasted vegetables like Roasted Broccoli or Sauteed Green Beans or a nutritious side. A side-salad would work well with the chicken too.
How to Store
- Serve: Chicken is best served right after you finish the broiling step. Don’t let the chicken sit out for longer than 2 hours.
- Store: Let the chicken cool completely and then store it in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Freeze: This chicken can be frozen in a Ziplock or airtight container for up to 3 months. Pull it out over night to thaw it and then reheat it in the oven to crisp it back up.
Instant Pot Method
- Season the chicken and brown them skin side down in the Instant Pot using the Sauté function for 3-5 minutes.
- Turn them over and brown them for 2 minutes. Take them out of the Instant Pot.
- Add ¼ cup of water and scrape any bits of the browning off the bottom.
- Add the chicken back in the pot with the skin sides facing up.
- Mix your sauce and pour half over the top of the chicken. Save the other half in the fridge.
- Cook on High for 10 minutes. Natural release for 10 minutes and then manually release the rest.
- Move the chicken to a baking sheet, add the remaining sauce and broil in the oven for 1-2 minutes or until the skins are nice and crispy.
- Serve and enjoy!
Frequent Questions
I don’t recommend it for a couple of reasons. Mostly because you must understand a slow cooker relies on a longer cooking time which can dry out white meat or even unprotected dark meat. Bone-in cuts of chicken and the skin provide protection from drying out. If you’d prefer to use these cuts I’d highly recommend you stick to oven or stovetop cooking.
No. But for what it’s worth, I think you should. The browning step helps achieve a deeper flavor and allows the chicken to crisp up more in the slow cooker, so I think it’s worth the few extra minutes and a dirty pan.
Variations
- Jam: I love apricot but have also made the recipe with orange marmalade, peach jam, fig preserves, mango chutney, pineapple jam, and more.
- Other Protein: Pork is a great replacement for chicken in many recipes including this one. If you’re going to substitute pork I would do it with a larger cut like a loin or a pork shoulder. Brown the pork before adding it to the recipe just as you do the chicken.
- Spice: Love the sweet but your looking for a little spice? Add some Sriracha, crushed red pepper flakes or some finely diced jalapeño into the slow cooker.
Homemade Apricot Preserves
- Ingredients: 8-10 ripe apricots (2-2.5 cups), ¼ cup of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice.
- Instructions: Combine diced apricots, sugar and lemon juice in a pot. Cook on the stove for 10-20 minutes on medium heat. Mash apricots while you are stirring. Use ½ of the sauce in the slow cooker and reserve the remaining half in the fridge for later.
Related Recipes
More Slow Cooker Chicken Recipes
Photos used in previous posts:
If I could give a higher rating I would. So amazingly flavorful, kids loved it and asked for more and the recipe too! Still talking about the delicious chicken!!! You know what was the best part the simple no fuss let it cook in crockpot- the best!!
This comment made my day Debbie! Thank you and thanks for the 5 star review!
Excellent meal! It was crispy and tender! Falling off the bone but still inside the skin! Absolutely loved it! I ate everything on my plate and left bare bones…that just doesn’t happen with me (until now, lol). Thank you so much!
Would love more recipes in crock pot that have crispy outsides and tender insides, any kind of meat. Thanks again!?
I enjoy slow cooker or crock pot recipes. You’ll see MANY on the site simply by clicking on Recipe Index/Browse and type in slow cooker or crock pot for a LONG list of options!!
Tried this, put all the ingredients in the slow cooker, it didn’t need all 8 hours on low, but it was SO GOOD! Highly recommend.
Chicken was delicious & fell off the bone so tender. Grand children loved it!!
Can you prepare this in the oven if you don’t have a slow cooker?
Thank you.
Can you use skin on bone in chicken breasts for this recipe or will it be dry? Thanks
Loved this recipe. The 6 year old even ate it. Chicken was falling apart at 6 hours in the crockpot. Crockpot must run hot.
Excellent recipe! And absolute hit as it blew everyone’s mind away as they weren’t expecting a sweet chicken dish. It’s perfect for summer.
Absolutely delicious and so tender. Will make again and again. Loved it.
Question….can I substitute with Cornish hens? Would you suggest cutting each hen in half before adding to crockpot?
I love your recipes, but they are so hard to make a copy from the computer. I know you need to have advertisers but this just goes on and on. You start copying one slow cooker recipe and your not sure one didn’t turn into another. Any other way to download your wonderful recipes?
Try to bring just the recipe on your screen and do a screenshot…save it to your photos then print from photos
That worked for me yes lots of ads
Can I triple the recipe in the crockpot ?
You’ll need to use a bigger crockpot. You don’t want to overcrowd it.
Can you use honey instead of apricot preserve
It’ll adjust the flavor but sure. 🙂
I NEED HELP! I so can I salvage the leftovers (3 thighs and lots of sauce) from a way too sweet apricot dinner. I’m a good cook, but I feel really stupid and hate to give up.
BLUNDER: I was using ingredients from your recipe, but following directions and suggestions from several similar recipes. Somewhere during the process I got distracted and failed to measure the ingredients, but poured each bottle, jar and packet into the crocket on top of the chicken. (2 bottles catalina, 2 jars apr. jelly, 2 packets onion soup). RESULT TOO SWEET: Can I resurrect this meal with fresh chicken thighs. one cup of leftover sauce and a not so sweet jelly you might kindly suggest? I see potential.
Oh no! I’m sorry I’m just now seeing this. You can usually balance out sweetness by adding lime juice or vinegar (which might make it tangy). How did it all work out?
This was absolutely delicious! I normally shy away from crockpot recipes that require me to cook on stove top and/or in the oven. I’m glad I didn’t skip over this one.
I used Catalina dressing since that’s what I had. Moist, flavorful with a nice bit to it. My family loved it! It will be added to my regular rotation. Thank you so much for this one!
So glad you decided to give it a try, Terri!
Hi , can Icook this on low for 5-6 hours ? I think the chicken will be way over cooked for my crockpot , it tends to run a little hot for low ..165 when done ,right?
Yes 🙂
Thanks !
Could you use sweet chilie sauce and pineapple or orange preserves? If so how much of the sweet chili sauce?
Maybe this is a whole other recipe…..sorry if so.
I’ve not tested it yet but it sounds delicious!
Thank u so much for sharing this, both me & hubby eat lots of chicken and are getting bored, lol. This looks amazing!
Always fun to change up the routine. Enjoy!
We made it teicw now once in slow cooker 8nce in oven we marinated it all night was great
Please help, Sabrina! I can’t find low-sodium bouillon granules anywhere. Where do you buy yours?
I buy them from Amazon. Herbox Granular Sodium Free Beef Bouillon
Here’s the link: https://amzn.to/2WWJ3cp
How can I adapt this to the Instant Pot?
I haven’t tested it so I’m not comfortable giving a recommendation. I’m sure you might be able to find an online recipe with similar ingredients using an IP and follow that. Sorry.
Looks delicious and easy to do, but high in sodium.
Feel free to adjust it to fit your dietary needs. 🙂
Made 2 batches of this recipe- one oven version-followed recipe as is, the other was the slow cooker version w/ a slight twist. I used PINEAPPLE PRESERVES wIth LITTLE to NO French dressing, in order to bring out more of the preserve flavor. BOTH came out extremely tasty, but the slow cooker version was the more preferred one, due to the fact that the omission of the french dressing allow the full flavor of the preserves to shine through. Also, I lost track of time and left the chicken in the slow cooker a bit too long, which basically worked out well to use the shredded chicken over rice, noodles, use it in wraps, etc. Being from Louisiana, I’ve eaten many variations of shrimp w/grits. The next morning I tried grits with a bit of the shredded chicken mixed in! Absolutely delicious!!
All in all, it comes down to the flavor you want most dominant in the recipe. I found that using a whole cup of the french dressing overpowered the preserves. I found that cutting back (or eliminating) the french dressing allows the flavor of your choice of preserves to shine through!
I’m getting so hungry reading your comment, haha! Love the idea of having it over grits. Yum!!
…And, on a side note, I originally made a pot of New Orleans Creole Red Beans & Rice to go along with the chicken!
I ended up taking some of the SHREDDED CHICKEN and ADDED a bit to my bowl of BEANS! Wonderful blending of flavors!
ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! ???
You are amazing!! Love it!
Made this for dinner. Added 1/2 peach hot pepper jam and 1/2 apricot jam, because that was all I had in the fridge. It was excellent. Will make again and again…..
That sounds amazing!
Hi ,you have listed french dressing ,what kind of french dressing ,non dairy or dairy If not homemade? Does it matter if its non dairy or has dairy , Vons did not have any organic french dressing not much choice for french dressings at this Vons so i bought french dressing with milk in it .
It doesn’t matter if it’s non dairy or dairy. Hope you enjoy the meal!
Hi again, can i use dry thyme leaves for the fresh thyme? i am planing on making this for dinner tonight :0)….
So sorry about missing your comment until now. I know you’ve already made this but you can use dried thyme. Hope you enjoyed it!
Hi , this sounds sooooo very yummy ! Thinking about make this with fresh apricots how many would i need and how would they go in the the crock pot ?
If you’re using fresh apricots, I would use about 2 cups worth for this recipe. Enjoy!
How would you use the fresh apricots? Is 2 cups but you didn’t specify how to add them
If you want to use fresh apricots, chop them up into small chunks (you’ll need them easier to cook down) and then mix them in 3-4 tablespoons of brown sugar before adding them into the slow cooker. Enjoy!
This recipe is getting a five star rating for how simple and delicious it is! Perfect for just me and my husband, or a dinner party! My husband wanted to know “what dessert is paired with this?” given the name of the blog. He thinks it should be like a wine pairing with food. How funny!!
Haha, that’s so funny that you mention desserts because we are working on that right now. Stay tuned! So glad you all enjoyed the recipe!
This would be an amazing dinner for my family!
I hope you enjoy it!
This looks delicious! Perfect for busy days.
Loving the apricot flavor of this dish. It is perfect for busy weeknights.
Definitley a great go-to meal!
This chicken looks perfect! I need to add this to our menu soon!
Thanks Erin!
SO DELICIOUS! That apricot sauce looks to die for!
Thanks Jamielyn!
This is so incredibly tasty and easy to make! Love the homemade French dressing too!
Thanks Anna!
YUM!! This sounds faaantastic!! I LOVE the flavors!!