Apricot Glazed Chicken

This has to be one of the very first recipes I learned how to cook. Back in the day, I made this with chicken wings (and I still think this is better with wings), but Ole Sweetie-Pi doesn't like meat on the bone, so I used boneless, skinless chicken breast here. It's quick, easy, inexpensive, made with pantry items I typically have on hand, and delicious. It's good for a workday meal as the preparation work can be done in the morning and then the chicken marinates in the sweet, tangy apricot sauce, waiting for you to bake it in the oven. I'd even hazard a guess to say it would be pretty tasty on the grill if you occasionally basted it with the marinade.

Apricot Glazed Chicken

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts halves
1 package dried onion soup mix (like Lipton's)
1 bottle Russian salad dressing (like Wishbone or Kraft)
1 medium jar apricot preserves

Place chicken in a foiled lined (for easier clean up because the sauce will caramelize) 9" x 13" baking dish.

In a medium bowl, combine the dried onion soup mix, the entire bottle of Russian salad dressing and the apricot preserves; mix well to combine. Pour over chicken. Allow chicken to marinate for at least an hour in the fridge (giving the onion soup time to hydrate and the sauce to ripen) or all day if you're preparing it in the morning for that evening's dinner.

Bake in a preheated 350F oven for an hour or until chicken is done.

If I were doing chicken wings, I'd spread the wings out on a cookie sheet and bake and at the end might run it under the broiler to give it some added color and crispness.

The recipe is pretty flexible; you can add more dried onion soup, you can add a little garlic powder. I've even seen recipes where you can swap out the Russian dressing for Catalina (also good!).