Cheesy Apricot Chicken Bake Recipe

Cheesy Apricot Chicken Bake, a quick and easy baked apricot chicken recipe. This easy chicken recipe is full of flavor and can also easily be made gluten-free!

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A quick and easy dinner recipe for you today, Cheesy Apricot Chicken Bake! It’s a great baked chicken recipe with boneless skinless chicken breasts, a cheesy topping, and Libby’s^® Apricots. This apricot chicken casserole is delicious and a great weeknight dinner for a busy family. 

If you’ve ever tried searching for apricot chicken recipes, you probably noticed there weren’t a lot of options. Apricots and chicken actually go really well together, so hopefully this recipe for apricot chicken will start a fun new trend.

Spring is here and this Cheesy Apricot Chicken Bake is perfect for an easy fresh spring dinner and a great way to sneak some extra fruit into your family’s diet.

Libby’s^® has a wide variety of canned fruits including peach slices, fruit cocktail, pear halves, apricot halves, and more. I love using their fruit in a variety of recipes. You remember my Mini Fruit Cocktail Trifles.

Well this time, I thought I’d go for a sweet and savory dinner. Libby’s^® fruit is great all on its own, but its also easy to use in healthy and delicious recipes for your friends and family. My kids love eating fruit right out of the can!

The fruit is not overly sweet, and still tart and firm. I love keeping canned fruit in the cupboard so I don’t have to worry about it going bad after 2 days before anyone eats it! I hate wasting food.

I love adding some unexpected fruits and vegetables to our family dinners. This Cheesy Apricot Chicken Bake is a great way to sneak some extra fruit into mealtime. And did I mention this recipe is only about $2.14 per serving. The price may vary slightly depending on how much chicken you use or where you live, but either way, its an inexpensive homemade dinner.

To start this apricot chicken recipe, brush a little oil on the bottom of a casserole baking dish, an 8×8 baking pan, or really any kind of pan would work. Even a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil would work. Just brush the oil on top of the foil. Instead of oil, you could substitute melted butter or margarine or a nonstick spray. Place the chicken in your pan and sprinkle a little salt and pepper on top.

In a mixing bowl combine the ingredients for the cheesy sauce including the mayo, mustard, 3 tablespoons of the juice from the can of apricots, dill, and cheese. With a spoon, spread the cheese mixture evenly over the chicken.

Drain off the excess juice from the can of apricots and coarsely chop the apricots. You can save the juice for smoothies, milkshakes, or other things if you’d like. Spoon the chopped apricots on top of the chicken. Then sprinkle the bread crumbs over the apricots and drizzle the melted butter over the bread crumbs.

Bake the apricot chicken uncovered. The cooking time may vary depending on how large your chicken breasts are so I’d start checking the chicken after about 30 minutes just to be on the safe side.

This Cheesy Apricot Chicken Bake goes well with green veggies, salad, and /or rice. For a gluten-free version of this apricot chicken, you could omit the bread crumbs entirely or use gluten-free bread crumbs or gluten-free cracker crumbs. If using gluten-free crumbs, you may want to watch the crumbs as the chicken bakes just to make sure the crumbs don’t burn.

If they start to burn around the edges loosely cover the chicken with aluminum foil.  For a lighter version of the apricot chicken, you could also substitute a lighter mayonnaise and cheese.

Thanks for visiting Snappy Gourmet! I hope you enjoy this baked apricot chicken recipe!

Be sure to check out Libby’s^® website for more recipes and also on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

5 from 2 votes

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Cheesy Apricot Chicken Bake Recipe

Baked Apricot Chicken recipe, a quick and easy dinner!

Course Main Dish

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Yield 4 servings

Author Lisa Huff - Snappy Gourmet

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts
• salt & pepper
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 (15 oz.) can Libby’s® Apricot Halves (not drained); divided
• 1 teaspoon dried dill
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
• 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup butter melted

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Brush oil over bottom and sides of an 8x8 baking dish or an oval casserole pan.
3. Place chicken breasts on bottom of pan in single layer and sprinkle salt and pepper on top.
4. in a medium mixing bowl, mix together mayonnaise, mustard, 3 tablespoons of juice from apricots, and dill until well combined. Stir in cheese. Spread mixture of chicken breasts.
5. Remove apricots from remaining juice, discard juice. Coarsely chop apricots. Spoon apricots of cheese mixture on chicken. Top with breadcrumbs. Drizzle melted butter over bread crumbs.
6. Bake chicken uncovered at 350 degrees F for about 30-45 minutes or until cooked through.

Recipe Notes

SNAPPY TIPS: Baking time may vary depending on size of chicken breasts. You can easily multiply this recipe and place in larger baking dish.

SNAPPY SUBSTITUTIONS: Instead of Swiss cheese you could use an Italian blend or mozzarella.

GLUTEN FREE OPTION: Substitute gluten-free cracker crumbs or bread crumbs for the bread crumbs or omit the crumbs all together.

LIGHTER OPTION: Substitute lighter and/or reduced fat cheese and mayonnaise.

Other fruity recipes you may enjoy:

• Mini Fruit Cocktail Trifles – Snappy Gourmet
• (Slow Cooker) Spiced Pear Bread Pudding – Snappy Gourmet
• Sunshine Salsa – Libby’s