Kelley's Kitchen Revival: The BEST BBQ Chicken you will ever have! {Apricot BBQ Chicken}

My love for this recipe is very surprising, even to me, because it contains an ingredient that I'm really not a fan of...apricots. Fruit is not something I typically like in my savory dishes...or at all, really. But, I saw this photo on Pioneer Woman's Cooking page, and I was drawn in immediately.

It looked so beautifully delicious that I didn't really care WHAT was in it, I knew I was going to make it. In fact, it looked SO good to me, that I went out that very minute, bought all the ingredients, and made it for dinner that night. And just like all of PW's recipes, it did not disappoint. In fact, I make this almost once a week, it's that good. This is actually not even one of Ree's own recipes, it comes from her recipe website, Tasty Kitchen, which is one of my favorite resources for great recipes!

I did, however, make some changes in the original recipe. For one, I'm not really a dark meat lover. So, I typically make this with chicken breasts (for me), and thighs (for hubby), rather than drumsticks. Really, you can make this with any cut of chicken. Also, the original recipe calls for the chicken to be baked, but because I ~~am lazy~~ love BBQ'd food so much, we typically grill it. This means a lot more flavor for the chicken, and much less work for me, since The Husband does all the real work.

What makes this recipe really special to me is that you make your own BBQ sauce. From scratch. While this may sound intimidating, it really is just a "dump and mix" kind of recipe, but to me, homemade BBQ sauce is pretty high up on the list of impressive foods. The original title of this recipe is "Hot & Sweet Drumsticks," but since I never make it with drumsticks, and because I don't find them to be particularly spicy, I always just refer to it as Apricot BBQ chicken. Now, typically, I make the sauce in the morning, which takes about 15 minutes, and then marinate the chicken until The Husband comes home to get grillin'. It's probably not necessary to marinate the chicken all day, but I find that making the sauce early makes my evening MUCH easier. You can try whatever way works for your schedule. Also, as with a lot of other recipes, I typically double this one, and save the extra sauce for all kinds of great things like dipping, and even making the recipe again!

Hallelujahs:Impressive, Fast, Easy, Delicious
Hellfires:Can't come up with any!
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Apricot BBQ Chicken
Ingredients:
1 cup Apricot Preserves
1/2 cup Ketchup
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp minced garlic (I used about 3-4 cloves)
2 tsp hot pepper sauce (I use Frank's Red Hot, or Louisiana brand)
Chicken (whatever cut you like!)

-In a saucepan, place your apricot preserves.

-Then, add the rest of your ingredients.

-Stir all ingredients together with a whisk, and turn on the heat to medium.

-You can see in the above picture that the sauce starts out really thick, and gloppy from the apricot preserves. As you cook, and whisk, it will thin out a little, and get more incorporated. Also, it's really important to whisk this recipe a lot as it cooks, and to not get overzealous on the heat. Burnt apricots will NOT add a good flavor to your sauce.
-The finished sauce: