This recipe for Instant Pot Apricot Chicken is an old classic. I first came across this recipe in college in a group cookbook. It was originally for the crock pot but we thought it would be great and super fast in the Instant Pot. We were right!
We like to serve this with our Instant Pot Rice but you can serve it however you would like. Generally, we serve this with some sort of veggie on the side, usually steamed broccoli.
What you will need to make Instant Pot Apricot Chicken:
- 4-6 chicken breasts
- 16 oz. Russian dressing, Catalina is a good substitute
- 16 oz. Apricot preserves
- 1 package Lipton onion soup mix
- 1/4 Cup. water
To make Instant Pot Apricot Chicken:
In a bowl, add apricot preserves, Russian dressing and onion soup mix. It used to be easy to find Russian dressing but lately I haven’t seen it anywhere! We ended up buying a case of it on Amazon to have when we want to make this recipe, which is often. Catalina is a great substitute as well. We also like this with Apricot Pineapple Preserves. YUM!
Mix it well.
INSTANT POT TIME:
Add 1/4 cup water to the liner of your Instant Pot. Set the chicken breasts in the water and pour the sauce over the top. DO NOT STIR. This is a very sweet, sticky sauce and you don’t want it right on the bottom of the liner or you may get the “burn” notice. If this does happen, just release the pressure and open the lid. You will have to scrape the bottom of the liner to get anything stuck off the bottom. Then just start it again for a few more minutes. This happened to us when we used cut up chicken. It wasn’t too big of a deal and the meal still turned out great. I recommend you use whole chicken breasts in this recipe for that reason. 🙂
UNDER PRESSURE:
Close the lid and make sure the valve on top is set to sealing. Set the Instant Pot to high pressure for 8 minutes. NOTE: If you are using smaller pieces of chicken you may only need 6 minutes. We ended up doing 10 minutes because we had 3 breasts that totaled 2.5 pounds. They were big ones! We made this recipe in our 6 quart instant pot. I’m sure it would work in a 3 quart as well.
When the time is up on the Instant Pot, let it natural release for 10 minutes…or 12 because you weren’t paying attention. 🙂
Switch the valve to venting and release the pressure. Once the pin has dropped it is safe to open the lid. Take the chicken out and put on a plate.
Finish up the sauce:
Press the saute button and continually stir the sauce to thicken as little or as much as you would like. We did about 5 minutes. When you do this recipe in the crock pot you don’t add the water so there is no need to thicken the sauce.
That’s it! Now serve it up however you would like. The sauce is AMAZING and is so good over rice so that’s how we serve it.
This is one of my kids very favorite meals. They are always excited when it is on the menu and I get lots of thanks.
Give this recipe a try and let us know how you like it!
- 4-6 chicken breasts
- 16 oz. Russian dressing, Catalina is a good substitute
- 16 oz. Apricot preserves
- 1 package Lipton onion soup mix
- ¼ Cup. water
- In a bowl, mix together dressing, preserves and soup mix.
- Add water to bottom of Instant Pot liner
- Place chicken in water
- Pour sauce over the top
- Close lid and ensure valve is turned to sealing
- Cook on high pressure for 8 minutes
- When time is up, let Instant Pot natural release for 10 minutes
- Carefully turn valve to venting and open lid once pressure has released and pin has dropped
- Remove chicken to a plate
- Press the saute button and stir continually for 5 minutes or until sauce is thickened to your liking
- Serve chicken and sauce over rice or however you would like
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Linda
Sunday 13th of October 2019
Can you use a Slow Cooker?
Sunday 22nd of March 2020
The original recipe was for the slow cooker! Just don't add the water to it. Hope it worked out for you! Sorry for the SUPER SLOW response. :)
Mandy
Robin
Tuesday 20th of August 2019
How would you adjust the time if the chicken was frozen? Do you think that would make it too watery? Cannot wait to try this in the IP! I also have a silicone “shelf” to use to keep items from burning. Do you think that might help the burning situation some have had?
Sunday 22nd of March 2020
I haven't tried it with frozen chicken, but I'm sure it would work just fine. If the sauce seems too watery when it's done you can always remove the chicken and turn the Instant Pot to saute and stir while cooking a few minutes to thicken it up. You can also always thicken with a little cornstarch and water slurry. Hope that helps! Mandy
Monica
Thursday 6th of June 2019
Kept water on the bottom, layered the chicken, then the sauce. Burned immediately. I scraped the bottom as the blog said. Burnt again. Scraped the heck out of it again. Finally took. With all the scraping, it was practically mixed even though it said not to do that. Oh well. I appreciate the flavors, but I probably won't make it again.
Tuesday 18th of June 2019
Sorry to hear this didn't work out for you!
Pam Free
Friday 29th of March 2019
I made this in my IP tonight. I’ve been using this recipe for my family for years of course in the oven. Instead of water I just added 3/4 cup chicken broth to the bottom of the pot, then my chicken, then the sauce. 8 minutes. Came out great! Thicken the gravy with a tablespoon of cornstarch, was yummy! Thanks for an old favorite!!!
miranda
Friday 28th of December 2018
this burned immediately :/
Tuesday 12th of February 2019
Sorry to hear that! It's important to make sure the water is under the chicken and do not stir. Hope that helps.