Apricot Chicken

I am a fan of Chinese takeout and my husband Andy not so much, so I searched for a recipe that would please us both. My criteria for the recipe was that it have elements of a Chinese takeout meal like cashew chicken but a totally different flavor. I came across two recipes on All Recipes website and both were apricot chicken. One recipe you cooked in the microwave (no way am I cooking chicken in the microwave) and the other had a Caribbean flair to it (made with rum which I omitted). So I did the best I could with the two and took ingredients from both recipes, subtracted ingredients from both, and made up the directions as I went. It actually was easy to make and very flavorful. Enjoy and Have a Great Cookin' Day!

Ingredients:
1- 11/2 pound baked chicken cut into bite size pieces
1/2 cup apricot preserves (use more for more apricot flavor)
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon chicken broth
1 tablespoon organic garlic paste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Mixture of veggies (I used red, yellow, and green peppers, onion, carrots, broccoli, green beans, and sugar snap peas from the frozen section to save time)
1/2 cup unsalted cashews (you can use salted, I just prefer the unsalted)
Sea salt
Lemon
Rice (I made 1 1/2 cup plain white rice, but jasmine rice would be good too)

Directions:
1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place the cooked chicken into the skillet and squeeze lemon juice over chicken. Put as much or little as you want. Warm up for about 2-3 minutes. Stir occasionally.
2. Stir in apricot preserves, chicken broth, organic garlic paste, brown sugar, ground ginger, and sea salt (I just sprinkled a little). Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally so sauce doesn't burn to pan.
3. Add veggies. Simmer until veggies are cooked thoroughly but still have a slight crisp.
4. For the last 2 minutes of veggies cooking add cashews and stir. Then remove from heat.

Gather ingredients.

Heat olive oil in pan on medium heat. Add baked chicken and squeeze lemon juice over chicken. Stir occasionally.

Add apricot preserves, chicken broth, garlic paste, brown sugar, ground ginger, and sea salt. Lower heat to simmer and stir occasionally for about 5 minutes.

Add veggies. Simmer until veggies are cooked but still slightly crisp.

Add cashews during last 2 minutes of veggies cooking. Keep stirring occasionally. When done remove from heat.

 

Serve over hot cooked rice. Enjoy!