Apricot-Bourbon Chicken with Pecans

This isn't by any means a low-cal offering, but it is something that people seem to like - and sometimes that trumps everything.



I'm leaving amounts up to you, depending on how much you want to make

• Boneless Chicken Breasts
• Almond Flour (I get this from the health food store, or King Arthur Flour)
• Flour
• Brown Sugar
• Crushed red pepper flakes (just a few)
• Milk or Half & Half or Cream
• An egg or two
• Hot sauce
• Salt & Pepper
  Butter
• Cooking Oil (canola oil)
• One or two jars of Apricot Preserves
• Jim Beam or any Bourbon, about 1/4 Cup.  If no bourbon, use brandy.
• Chopped Pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.   Have ready a large baking pan sprayed with non-stick spray.  

Cut the chicken into pieces about the size of a deck of cards.  Cut in half horizontally if too thick.  (Butterfly the breast, but keep going and cut right through to make two pieces.)  Lay them on a cutting board and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap.  Pound the chicken thin with a mallet.  (if no mallet, a big can, a rolling pin...)

Cover chicken breasts with plastic wrap and pound thin

You will be dipping each chicken breast in a milk & egg mixture, then into a dry mixture.

Wet Mix
In a medium-sized bowl, crack one or two eggs (I was making 8 breasts, so used two eggs).  Add some milk/cream/half & half and a few splashes of hot sauce.  Beat well.

The Wet Mix:
Eggs, Half & Half & Hot Sauce

Dry Mix

A note about Almond Flour:  I love almond flour and incorporate it when possible into what I'm cooking or baking.  It's great in apple crisp topping, breading, cakes, etc...

In medium bowl add two parts almond flour to one part regular flour.  One tablespoon brown sugar, salt and pepper, and a few crushed red pepper flakes.  Mix well.

The Dry Mix:
Almond Flour, Flour, Brown Sugar, Crushed Red Pepper, Salt & Pepper

Put chicken breast (as much as will fit) in the milk & egg mix and move them around til each has been covered with milk mixture.

Get pans ready.   Use a big pan or two, as big as you have, on medium heat.   Add cooking oil (I use canola) til it's less than 1/4" up the pan.  Bring the oil to the proper temperature.  I test this by adding a drop of the milk mixture - if it's not sputtering when the milk hits the oil, it's not hot enough.  You don't want to put breaded anything in oil that's not hot enough - it just sits and absorbs oil and the breading turns to mush.  On the other end, if the oil is smoking or smells like it's burning, turn down the heat.

Bread the Chicken:  (Bread the chicken and not your hands)
Use a fork to pick up a piece of chicken and drop it into the dry mix.  Then use a spoon to coat that and turn it over and coat it, patting the breading into it.  Pick the breaded piece of chicken and place in hot oil pan.    Repeat until all the chicken is in the pan(s).   Cook a few minutes each side, until nicely browned.

Cook the chicken until browned on both sides.

Place the browned chicken in the baking pan.  

Add butter to the pan that the chicken cooked in.  When the butter is bubbly, add the chopped pecans and stir, cooking for a minute or until they smell nice and nutty.

Pecans browned in butter

Apricot Preserves &  Jim Beam

Add the whole jar of Apricot Preserves to the pan and cook until the preserves "melt".  (Use two jars if making a lot of chicken for a crowd).

Remove the pan AWAY FROM THE HEAT and add the bourbon to the pan.  (Note - always have a lid ready to cover pan in case of alcohol fire)

Apricot preserves with Bourbon and Pecans

Stir into the preserve/pecan mixture and return to the heat.   Let it cook for a minute or two, til bubbly.    Pour over the chicken in baking pan.

Apricot/Pecan Mixture poured over the chicken

Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.