Apricot Glaze Recipe: Sweet and Savory Ways to Use the Glaze

Apricot glaze is a thin sauce made from apricot jam, apricot preserves, or very ripe apricots. To make apricot glaze, cooks combine apricot jam or preserves, water, liqueur, and sugar and cook the mixture on the stovetop over medium heat until it has a loose, pourable consistency. When making the glaze with ripe apricots, cooks may purée the fruit in a food processor beforehand for a smoother result.

If you have a jar of preserved apricot on hand, this tangy-sweet sauce is quick enough to pull together on a weeknight and easy to incorporate into many of your favorite recipes, such as pork roast or braised chicken thighs. Add more water for a thinner glaze or less for a thicker, spreadable condiment.

Apricot glaze has a deep orange-gold color and a tangy sweetness. Here’s how to use apricot glaze on desserts and other sweet treats:

• As a cake filling: Spread a layer of apricot glaze on cooled cake layers for a subtle addition to a delicate layered sponge cake or roulade.
  
• As a garnish on fruit tarts: To give a pâtisserie-style fruit tart a shimmery, lacquered look, brush a thin layer of apricot glaze over the fresh fruit. Try Chef Dominique Ansel’s French fruit tart recipe with pastry cream.
• As a topping: The silky, lightweight texture of apricot glaze makes it ideal for topping vanilla ice cream or delicate desserts like cheesecake or panna cotta.

The sugars in apricot glaze caramelize when exposed to heat, making it a subtle, fruity way to achieve a glossy, crispy finish on roasted meats or add a bright, fresh flavor to creamy cheeses and spicy condiments. Here’s how to use apricot glaze in savory applications:

• Add it to roasted and grilled meats. The tangy sweetness of apricot is a natural complement to roasted and grilled meats like chicken, turkey, and glazed ham, especially when there’s a bit of char to provide a smoky element. Make apricot-glazed chicken wings at your next BBQ by applying the glaze with a silicone pastry brush as the meat cooks on the grill: The heat will caramelize the sugars and turn them sticky and deeply sweet. (For a bit of extra heat, add a teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes to the glaze.)
• Use it to transform sandwiches. Just as cranberry sauce is the ultimate topping on leftover turkey sandwiches, apricot glaze transforms cold cuts into something even more satisfying, especially when paired with Dijon mustard.
• Pair it with cheese. Serve apricot glaze on cheese plates, or alongside cheesy appetizers like baked brie, for dipping or drizzling.