Olive Garden Venetian Apricot Chicken

Olive Garden Venetian Apricot Chicken is from Olive Garden’s seasonal menu. This delicious Italian dish has grilled chicken with asparagus, broccoli, tomatoes, basil, and apricot sauce.

This recipe combines many things you have in your kitchen: preserves, chicken stock, basil, and chicken breasts. Don’t miss out on this flavorful dish. You can cook up a little pasta with this and have a heartier meal.

Over twenty years ago, Venetian Apricot Chicken first appeared on the menus at Olive Garden. It was a seasonal menu item that combined sweet apricot preserves with tangy tomatoes, garlicky broccoli florets, and tender asparagus served alongside a juicy grilled chicken breast. Although Olive Garden Apricot Chicken didn’t hang around for too long, it certainly had its share of fans who were sad to see it go. Their disappointment is easy to understand when you consider the delicious pairing of the sweetness of apricot preserves with the acidity of tomatoes, making Venetian Apricot Chicken an Italian-style sweet-and-sour dish. Whether you have fond memories of Venetian Chicken or are just looking for a new way to cook chicken with vegetables, you have to give this recipe a try.

Don’t Chicken Out When it Comes to Your Chicken

Today’s chicken isn’t what it used to be. Although most chicken in the supermarket is cheaper and bigger than ever before, the meat has lost much of its taste due to factory farming. But you can still enjoy delicious chicken if you are willing to shop around a bit and pay a few extra bucks to purchase pasture-raised birds. Pasture-raised chicken is better for the birds’ health, the environment, and you, and you can’t beat the flavor and texture. Not all supermarkets carry pasture-raised chicken, however many do, and it is well worth the additional hassle and expense to buy them if it is an option for you.

In addition to using quality chicken for this recipe, you need to cook the chicken properly. Ideally, use a grill or a grill pan since the grill marks enhance the appearance, and the char adds a fantastic flavor to the chicken breast. But, the best alternative is to sear it in a cast-iron pan if you don’t have a grill. To sear your chicken in a pan:

1. Dry the chicken thoroughly with a paper towel. You need a dry chicken for it to develop a rich golden-brown color.
2. Season with salt and pepper liberally on both sides. Use more than you think since much will fall while cooking.
3. Let the chicken rest for about ten minutes. In the meantime, heat a heavy cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon of oil to the pan.
4. Blot any liquid from the chicken’s surface and place it carefully into the hot pan using tongs to avoid getting burned.
5. Cook on one side for about 5 minutes until it is golden brown. Flip and cook on the other side until the meat reaches 165 degrees, about 4 minutes.
6. Remove the chicken from the pan and allow to rest on a wire rack.

Tips for Making, Serving and Storing Olive Garden Apricot Chicken

1. Keep the apricot sauce warm before serving. Some Olive Garden Apricot Chicken recipes floating around the internet contain a little brandy in the sauce. If you want, you can try adding a tablespoon or two before bringing the sauce to a boil.
2. Serve vegetables over rice or mashed potatoes. Rice or mashed potatoes help to soak up all the excess sauce. Alternatively, you can use a thick slice of Italian bread to clean your plate.
3. Store leftovers in the covered in the fridge. Try to finish any extra Venetian Apricot Chicken the next day.

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Ingredients

Here’s a list of what you need:

• Chicken stock
• Apricot preserves
• Salt
• Ground black pepper
• Roma tomatoes
• Basil leaves
• Garlic pepper
• Italian seasoning
• Asparagus
• Broccoli florets
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Skinless chicken breasts
• Fresh parsley

How to Make Olive Garden Venetian Apricot Chicken

1. Combine garlic pepper and Italian seasoning ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Stir together chicken stock and apricot preserves in a saucepan. Add salt and pepper.
3. Bring to a boil then remove from heat.
4. Combine tomatoes, basil, garlic pepper, and salt in a separate bowl.
   
5. Blanch asparagus and broccoli for 1 minute in salted boiling water.
6. Transfer immediately to an ice bath.
   
7. Add olive oil to a sauté pan.
8. Keeping ingredients separated in the pan, heat asparagus, broccoli, and tomato mixture until just hot. Do not overcook.
9. Grill chicken until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F.
10. Place grilled chicken on a platter next to hot broccoli and asparagus. Sprinkle garlic herb seasoning on broccoli.
11. Pour tomato mixture on top of vegetables.
12. Top chicken breasts with apricot sauce and garnish with chopped parsley.

More Olive Garden Copycat Recipes

• Chicken Margherita
• Olive Garden Baked Pasta
• Olive Garden Bread Sticks
• Shrimp Alfredo Recipe
• Sicilian Scampi
• Zuppa Toscana Soup Recipe

Favorite Chicken Breast Recipes

• Alice Spring Chicken
• Chilis Monterey Chicken
• Instant Pot Salsa Chicken
• Longhorn Parmesan Crusted Chicken Recipe
• Peruvian Chicken Recipe
• Shoyu Chicken Recipe
• Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe

You can find more boneless chicken breast recipes and the best Olive Garden recipes here at CopyKat.com, the web’s most popular destination for copycat restaurant recipes.