Easy, tasty — and something a little different from the same ole, same ole chicken breast. This quick onion jam is made with dijon and whole grain mustard, and a couple of tablespoons of apricot jam add sweetness and thickness to the onions. It’s fast and tastes wonderful, and the onion jam is great on both chicken and pork. This recipe makes about 1.5 cups.
Below you’ll find the recipe for onion jam, and following that, one for cooking a chicken breast — just in case you need it.
Quick Onion Jam with Apricot Preserves and French Mustard
- 2 large yellow onions, (julienned (cut in strips))
- 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/8 cup white wine vinegar ((can substitute champagne vinegar, or apple cider vinegar))
- 2 Tbsp. apricot preserves
- 1.5 tsp. fresh thyme, leaves stripped off of stems ((can substitute 1/2 tsp. dried thyme OR 1/4 tsp. ground thyme))
- 1 Tbsp. whole grain French mustard
- 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
- Sea salt, (to taste)
- 3 pinches white pepper, (or to taste.)
- Cook onions in olive oil over medium high heat, stirring regularly, until lightly caramelized. This will take 10 – 15 minutes, depending on how dark you want your onions. I go for some browning, but not heavily caramelized — but you can do this to your taste.
- Lightly salt the onions. You will taste and adjust seasoning later.
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Add vinegar and chicken broth. Cook for about 3 minutes or until liquid reduces.
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Reduce heat to medium. Add apricot preserves, whole grain mustard, Dijon mustard, thyme, and white pepper. Cook until thickened, about another 3 minutes.
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Taste. Adjust seasoning, adding more salt and/or pepper as you like.
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I like the onion jam served warm with roasted pork or chicken, but you could use it cold on a sandwich. The jam will keep for a week in the refrigerator.
You can substitute any fruit jams that tickle your fancy! Pear preserves would be outstanding.
This makes approximately 1.5 cups of onion jam. It obviously depends both on the size of your onions and how deeply you caramelize the onions — the longer they cook, the more the volume will shrink.
If you choose to double the recipe, it will take longer to caramelize the onions. Moving to a larger skillet or large Dutch oven will make the process a little faster for double the onions.
And now for the chicken! You can cook the onion jam and the chicken breasts simultaneously. Browning the chicken before finishing the cook in the oven adds flavor. You can skip this step and cook the breasts completely in the oven; simply increase oven cooking time by 5 minutes or so — but you will lose a lot of taste if you skip the browning step.
Easy Chicken Breasts
- 4 chicken breasts, (pounded flat)
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- salt, pepper, and garlic powder (to taste)
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Preheat the oven to 400°.
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Pound the chicken breasts until the big ends are close to the same thickness as the thinner ends. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste
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Heat olive oil in skillet over medium hight heat.
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Once oil is hot, add chicken breasts and cook until brown, about 3 minutes on each side.
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Put chicken breasts into oven-proof baking dish. Bake in the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until cooked through.
