Quick Harissa Apricot Chicken
Updated May 20, 2026
Ghazalle Badiozamani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Brett Regot.
- Ready In
- 20 min
- Rating
- Comments
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Ingredients
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, patted dry
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons apricot preserves or jam
¼ cup high-quality harissa paste
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅓ cup olives, preferably Castelvetranos, smashed and pitted (or pitted ones torn in half)
Crusty bread or cooked pearl couscous, for serving
Lemon wedges, for serving
2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, torn, for serving (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat a large (12-inch), high-sided skillet over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, season one side of the chicken generously with salt and pepper. Once the skillet is warm, add olive oil and place chicken, seasoned side down, in an even layer. Season the now-exposed side of the chicken with kosher salt and black pepper. Cook until the chicken is mostly opaque on the sides, easily releases from the pan, and is nicely browned on the underside, 6 to 8 minutes.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, add chicken stock, apricot preserves, harissa paste and cinnamon to a large liquid measuring cup. Whisk well to combine and break up the jam.
- Step 3
Flip chicken over and let cook on the other side until lightly seared and no longer pink, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour in the harissa mixture, add the olives, and stir to scrape up any browned bits. Bring to a rapid simmer and cook until the sauce thickens and the chicken is fully cooked through, another 3 to 5 minutes. Taste for salt and adjust seasoning according to taste (this will depend on the chicken stock and harissa used).
- Step 4
Serve immediately with crusty bread or couscous, spooning the sauce and olives over the chicken. Finish with a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkling of mint leaves, if desired.
If you’d like to work ahead, the sauce mixture in Step 2 can be made up to 2 days in advance; store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Private Notes
Comments
truly speedy, moreishly spicy, jammily sticky. Might be worth butterflying, slicing, or hammering the breasts though: mine were very big and didn't cook evenly. Still, a perfect midweek recipe
Great recipe for fast tasty chicken. Mild harissa was still spicy enough for parents and with yogurt was tamed enough to be a kid favorite.
@Too spicy. For what it’s worth, harissa spiciness various enormously by brand and recipe. I always proceed with caution!
I used Mina medium Harissa. Perfect recipe. Easy. Very tasty. Served with lightly pesto’d pasta and a nice salad. Added some chopped asparagus in the chicken dish too. Butterflied the breasts and punched tiny holes with a meat tenderizer - the juices went all the way in to the chicken. Next time will use a little less broth - I had extra 1/4 cup left and put that in too!
So good. Trigger warning: I took liberties with the recipe - don’t read if that makes you crazy. I really appreciate the author making this a fast and approachable, few ingredient meal. It is really good and very flexible based on what’s in your pantry and fridge and how much time you have. I had a tired zucchini, yellow squash, and half red onion that I chopped up and sautéed until soft, removed from pan, and then proceeded with the chicken, adding them back in with the harissa, broth, et al. The chicken breasts I had were really big so I cut them in half parallel to the cutting board to make them thinner. I had half a can of pineapple rings in juice leftover in the fridge so I chopped those and used them and the juice instead of the apricot jam. I had a handful of spicy orange green olives leftover that I used that were so perfect I might buy again just for this purpose. Oh, and my harissa was spicy so I used less. So, so good.
This was so easy and so delicious. I made exactly as directed. I will say the garnish of fresh mint is critical.