Skillet Chicken Thighs with Apricots and Olives is a hearty and delicious one-pan comfort food dish that’s excellent for a busy weeknight and interesting and lovely enough for entertaining on the weekend.
This skillet dinner is sweet, savory, hearty and so pretty!
The sweetness from the apricots is such a delicious contrasting flavor in the sauce with the briny olives. Add to that, caramelized onions, garlic, herbs, a generous splash of vermouth and succulent chicken, and watch out!
How to Make Skillet Chicken Thighs with Apricots and Olives
This recipe is quite simple and relatively quick to whip up . . .
- Sear the chicken.
- Sauté shallots, garlic, olives, apricots and oregano.
- Deglaze the pan with vermouth.
- Season.
- Return the chicken to the pan and finish cooking.
(More detailed instructions are below.)
Can you use other cuts of chicken?
Yes, you certainly can use other cuts of chicken. I love this recipe with boneless, skinless thighs. I think the darker meat lends itself to the fruity flavor in the sauce. It would also be great with breasts and/or legs, if that’s your preference. You can use bone-in, though the cooking time will be longer. I prefer skinless in this recipe to prevent the sauce from being too greasy.
Tips for Making Skillet Chicken Thighs with Apricots and Olives
- Make sure pan is very hot before you add the chicken to sear it. (You should hear a sizzling sound!) Otherwise, it won’t brown as quickly or easily. In this first step of searing it, we’re not cooking it through (that happens later).
- If you don’t have shallots, use red onion.
- Before you chop the garlic, in addition to cutting off the root ends, remove the roots from the center of each clove, especially if they’re green. The garlic will taste less bitter this way.
- I suggest a combination of Kalamata and Manzanilla, but you can use your favorite olive varieties.
- You can substitute dry sherry for the vermouth if you’d like. Both are delicious in this recipe.
- When you choose dried apricots for this recipe, they should be plump and soft. These are my favorites.
I serve this dish with a side salad and that’s it. The meal is a hit! (In my humble opinion, of course. 😉 )
Enjoy!
Here are a couple more one-pan, skillet chicken dinner recipes:
Skillet Chicken Thighs with Apricots and Olives
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 3 pounds chicken thighs, boneless, skinless
- 1 cup shallots, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons roughly chopped garlic, roots removed
- 3/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives
- 1/2 cup pitted Manzanilla olives
- 3/4 cup roughly chopped dried apricots
- 1/2 cup vermouth
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, washed and dried, roughly chopped
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Add 1 tablespoon of the oil to a large skillet (cast iron is best). Place the pan over medium-high heat. Lightly sprinkle both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper and add them to the pan once it’s very hot. Sauté just long enough to lightly brown, about 1 minute per side. (Do this in two batches if it’s a tight fit.) Remove the chicken and set it aside on a plate covered with foil.
- Turn the heat to medium-low and add the shallots. Stirring a bit, once they begin to soften, add the garlic and sauté for another couple of minutes. Add the olives and apricots and sauté, stirring often until everything begins to brown, about 4 minutes.
- Move the pan away from the heat and add the vermouth. Turn the heat to medium-high and using a deglazing spatula, scrape any bits of the ingredients stuck to the bottom of the pan off, and into the mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Here’s How to Season to Taste.) When the vermouth has almost completely reduced, stir in the oregano.
- Return all of the chicken pieces to the pan, placing them more or less beneath the olive-apricot mixture. Reduce the heat to low, drizzle evenly with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the honey, and cover. Cook just until the chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes.
- Sprinkle with the basil and serve.
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angiesrecipes says
What a great combo of flavours! Chicken thighs are the BEST part of the whole bird 🙂 Definitely on my must try list.
valentina says
Thank you, Angie. I hope you love it as much as we do! 🙂 ~Valentina
Marissa says
I love your savory sweet creations, Valentina! Love that you used thighs here too (I think they’re underrated!), so juicy and flavorful. We’ll be trying this soon!
valentina says
I completely agree that thighs are underrated. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, Marissa. Hope you have a great weekend! ~Valentina
nancy says
You KNOW this recipe has my name all over it right? Honestly, Valentina I LOVE this dish – don’t even need to make it know that I would adore every single bite!!!
valentina says
Thank you so much, Nancy! And so easy, too. 😀 ~Valentina
Eha says
Oh this one will go straight to the top of the ‘to-do’ list ! Chicken thighs, shallots, Kalamata olives and vermouth for me . . . am looking forwards to it ! Methinks in the unlikely event of leftovers they would survive till the next day . . . 🙂 !
valentina says
Yay! I hope you love it, Eha! 🙂 ~Valentina
Clara Jenkins says
Wow! What a delightful recipe thank you so much for the idea. I would like to try this recipe for my husband I wish he will like this thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
valentina says
Thanks, Clara. I hope you and your husband love it as much as we do! 🙂 ~Valentina
Jeff the Chef says
What gorgeous colors! How interesting to use vermouth. I’ll bet it’s delicious.
valentina says
Thanks, Jeff. Sometimes I just grab what I have in the pantry and it works really well. 🙂 ~Valentina
Cathy says
I love skillet dinners and this one with a Moroccan flair has my name all over it.
valentina says
Thanks, Cathy! Wish I could hand you a plate right now. 🙂
Liz says
I love skillet dinners! And this one will not disappoint with the varieties of flavors and textures. Yummy!
valentina says
Thank you, Liz. Enjoy! 🙂 ~Valentina
Gerlinde@Sunnycovechef says
A wonderful recipe, apricots and olive add so much flavor to the chicken thighs. It reminds me of a chicken dish I had in Marrakech several years ago.
valentina says
Thanks, Gerlinde. Oh how I’d love to try something like this in Marrakech! 🙂 ~Valentina
Kelly | Foodtasia says
So. Much. Flavor! Valentina, this chicken dish looks so wonderful and full of flavor! I love the combination of savory and sweet – and the touch of briny is fantastic!
valentina says
Thanks so much, Kelly! Yes, the sweet-salty thing is wonderful. 😀 ~Valentina
2pots2cook says
Sweet salty with a bit of vermouth is absolutely our favourite with some salad. Thanks and enjoy the day 🙂
valentina says
Thank you, Davorka. I hope you have a great day, too! 🙂 ~Valentina
David @ Spiced says
I love the sound of this recipe, Valentina! To be honest, I don’t think I’d ever had warm olives until this past weekend when we ordered them as an appetizer. Wow! Now I want to try this dish at home with the warm olives and flavorful chicken thighs!
valentina says
So cool you just tried warm olive this past weekend! Delicious, right? Thanks for the visit, David. 🙂 ~Valentina
Dawn - Girl Heart Food says
This is totally my kinda dish, Valentina! Savoury/sweet/salty and just delicious! This would be so good for a weeknight dinner or entertaining, alike. Hubby would love too! Hope you’re having a lovely week so far, my friend 🙂
valentina says
I hope you’re having a great week, too — and enjoy! Thank you. 🙂 ~Valentina
mimi rippee says
This is lovely! I can’t wait to try it. Love the ingredients.
valentina says
Thanks, Mimi! 😀
David Scott Allen says
A million years ago I had a dish called Chicken Marbella from the Silver Palate. I found the recipe and decided it was too fussy! Your dish has all the best parts of that but made so easy! (Who knows, maybe Chicken Marbella is easy – I was young and probably intimidated!) Can’t wait to try this, Valentina!
valentina says
I hope you like it, David. It is pretty easy to “throw” together. Thanks! 🙂 ~Valentina
David Scott Allen says
I made this last evening! I was supposed to be cooking and photographing for a blog post but my main ingredient was unavailable till tomorrow. So? Plan B with Valentina! We all loved it and the drizzle of honey really rounded out the flavors! Thanks for another wonderful recipe that was even better than silly old Marbella!
valentina says
David, you made my day! I’m so happy you liked this recipe. And I can’t wait to see what your unavailable ingredient is! 🙂 ~Valentina
Alene says
I made this tonight for 2 of us. I thought it was very good but a fair amount of work for a weeknight. But I know your site is Cooking on the Weekends. Lol! The one thing I thought was that I wished there was some liquid in it at the end. The olive/shallot/apricot mixture was yummy but a little dry. I have a very powerful cooktop and am certain to keep the heat on a burner temperature lower than the recipe indicates. So maybe I accidentally dried up the liquid that was left. If not, I would make this again but add something to make a sauce of sorts. Any suggestions? Thank you!
valentina says
Hi Alene, Thanks so much for all of this great feedback. I think adding a little chicken stock would help with this — probably about 1/2 cup. You can add it with the vermouth. I recently got a new stove (yay!) and the burners are much more powerful than before, so I know what you mean. I love it, though. Thanks again for reading and cooking my recipes! 🙂 ~Valentina
Cynthia says
Hello Valentina — this is a lovely recipe — no fuss but with a complex mix of flavors that can turn a quick weeknight dinner into something special. My one suggestion re your recipe as written: instead of “1 cup shallots, thinly sliced,” it should read “1 cup thinly sliced shallots” — it’s a distinct difference in terms of amounts specified, and I believe you meant the latter rather than the former? And then 2 tablespoons roughly chopped garlic, roots removed; 3/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives; 1/2 cup pitted Manzanilla olives; 3/4 cup roughly chopped dried apricots; and 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh basil, washed and dried.
I’m new to your site and will enjoy checking out your other recipes. Thanks!
valentina says
Hi Cynthia, thanks so much for writing in. I’m happy you’re enjoying my recipes, and I really appreciate your feedback. I agree with you, and I’m going to edit the recipe accordingly. 🙂 I try to write every recipe in the same format for consistency, but it many cases, I should change it to be more clear. Thank you so much and hope you have a great day! ~Valentina