Made in a jiffy, this lovely chicken dish comes out very moist and delicious. The sweetness of the apricot jam and the tangy balsamic vinegar create a sauce bursting with flavor. Each serving has only 225 calories, 3 grams of fat and 4 Weight Watchers Freestyle SmartPoints.
Prep Time: 12 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
1 cup onions, chopped
4 (4-ounce each) chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
Juice from 1 lemon
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
Cooking spray
⅓ cup reduced sugar apricot preserves, see shopping tip
⅓ cup (~5) dried apricots, diced into small pieces.
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
¼ teaspoon salt
Black pepper, to taste
Instructions
1. Place onions on a microwave safe plate and cook in the microwave to soften, about 1 minute.
2. Place chicken breasts on a plate and squeeze the juice of 1 lemon all over the chicken. Let sit about 5 minutes. Combine thyme, garlic powder and ¼ teaspoon salt and sprinkle ½ of these seasonings over top of chicken.
3. Heat oil in a large nonstick pan, coated with cooking spray. Add softened onions. Cook for 1 minute over medium-high heat. Add chicken and the lemon juice to pan of onions, seasoning side down. Sprinkle the top of chicken with remaining seasonings. Sauté over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes, turn over, cover and continue to cook over medium-heat, about 4 minutes, until done. Remove chicken from pan to a serving plate.
4. Turn heat down to medium-low. Add apricot preserves, dried apricot pieces, balsamic vinegar, ¼ teaspoon salt, and a little pepper. Mix well to combine. Stir constantly until the preserves melt, about 30 seconds or so. Spoon apricot sauce over chicken.
Makes 4 servings (each serving, 1 chicken breast and about 2½ tablespoons sauce)
Shopping Tips
I like Trader Joe’s line of reduced-sugar preserves. I used apricot for this recipe but it’s available in raspberry, strawberry, blueberry and blackberry. Or, use your favorite reduced-sugar apricot jam or preserves.
Weight Watchers Freestyle SmartPoints 4
Weight Watchers SmartPoints 6
Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS 6
| SKINNY FACTS: for 1 (4 oz) chicken breast with 2½ Tbsps sauce 225 cal, 3g fat, 1g sat. fat, 55mg chol, 27g prot, 24g carbs, 2g fiber, 1226mg sodium, 14g sugar |
| FACTS: for Freestyle SmartPoints 74 calories, 0g sat. fat, 0g protein, 13g sugar |
