Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken — Thirty-Three Years of Dancing in the Kitchen

May. Anniversary month. Rosetta and I have been married thirty-three years, which is longer than some people live and not long enough for me, because if I had the option of another thirty-three years with this woman, I'd take it without hesitation and without reading the fine print. May 5th fell on a Friday this year, and I took the day off — my first sick day in four years, though I wasn't sick, I was married, and marriage requires at least one day a year of undivided attention, which is more than my employer needs to know.

I cooked all day. Not a single dish — a progression, a tasting menu of our marriage, each course a memory. Breakfast: the buttermilk biscuits I made Rosetta the morning after our wedding, when we were in a rented room in Southaven because we couldn't afford a honeymoon and I wanted to give her something beautiful, and biscuits were what I had. Lunch: the shrimp po'boy I made her on our fifth anniversary, when we were in New Orleans for the first time and she said the po'boy on Tchoupitoulas Street was the best sandwich she'd ever had and I said I could do better and she said prove it and I've been proving it for twenty-eight years. Dinner: smoked chicken with white BBQ sauce, which is Rosetta's favorite and also Denise's memorial meal, and serving it on our anniversary is a way of saying that our love story includes our grief story, and neither is complete without the other.

After dinner, we danced in the kitchen. No music — just us, Rosetta's hand on my shoulder and mine on her waist, shuffling in a slow circle on the linoleum, the way we danced at our wedding when Marcus Davis and His Rhythm Kings played "At Last" by Etta James and the whole church reception watched us move like we knew what we were doing, which we didn't, and still don't, but we keep dancing anyway, and the not-knowing is part of the dance.

"Thirty-three years, Earl," she said. I said, "The best thirty-three years of my life." She said, "They better be." I said, "Every year with you is the best year." She said, "That's the most romantic thing you've ever said." I said, "I've been saving it." She said, "For thirty-three years?" I said, "Good things take time." She laughed. I held her. The kitchen was warm. The chicken was gone. The dance continued.

Of everything I cooked that day, it was the chicken that mattered most — Rosetta’s favorite, the dish that holds our love and our grief in the same plate. When I’m not smoking it low and slow over wood, I turn to this apricot chicken in the slow cooker, because it gives me that same tender, fall-apart sweetness with a glaze that caramelizes into something worth dancing over. It’s the kind of recipe that lets you spend the day doing what matters — being present — while the kitchen fills with a smell that says somebody in this house loves you enough to cook all day.

Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 4-6 hours | Total Time: 4 hours 15 minutes to 6 hours 15 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (about 4-5 pounds), patted dry
• 1 cup apricot preserves
• 1/3 cup Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 medium onion, quartered
• 1 cup dried apricots
• Fresh thyme sprigs, for garnish

Instructions

1. Make the glaze. In a medium bowl, whisk together the apricot preserves, Dijon mustard, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, garlic, smoked paprika, onion powder, ground ginger, salt, and pepper until smooth.
2. Prep the slow cooker. Place the quartered onion in the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker to create a bed for the chicken. Scatter the dried apricots around the onion.
3. Season and sear the chicken. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season generously with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the chicken breast-side down for 3-4 minutes until golden, then flip and sear the other side for 3 minutes. Transfer the chicken to the slow cooker, breast-side up, on top of the onions.
4. Glaze the chicken. Pour the apricot glaze evenly over the chicken, making sure to coat the top and sides. Spoon some of the glaze into the cavity as well.
5. Slow cook. Cover and cook on LOW for 5-6 hours or HIGH for 3-4 hours, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F in the thickest part of the thigh. Baste the chicken with pan juices once or twice during cooking if possible.
6. Rest and serve. Carefully remove the chicken from the slow cooker and let it rest on a cutting board for 10 minutes. Skim any excess fat from the cooking liquid, then stir the sauce and spoon it over the carved chicken. Garnish with fresh thyme sprigs and the softened apricots.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 485 | Protein: 38g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 42g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 620mg