Fruited Chicken Recipe – Vintage Curry Chicken with Tropical Fruit
This was a fun recipe to make. There was no date on the recipe card, but the handwritten card was splotched, signalling it was made frequently. It’s an easy recipe, but I had to scale it back as it would have made a giant batch. Made with canned fruit and chicken breasts, this truly is a blast from the past.
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Recipes from this generation leaned heavily on dredging and browning chicken. The flour is what helps to thicken the sauce that’s made with wine and the liquid from the chicken and the fruit. It’s not a gravy, but a thin sauce that you can easily thicken more, if you like.
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There’s not much to this recipe. Paprika and curry powder do the heavy lifting, relying on the sweetness of the fruit and the acidity of the wine to balance the flavors.
Chef Jenn’s Take on Fruited Chicken
The charm of Fruited Chicken was never the gravy, it’s the fruit itself, warm and glossy, arranged right over the meat. You can thicken the sauce if you like, but the main key to this recipe is to not overcook the chicken.
I use chicken thighs just as often as breasts here, especially when I want a little more forgiveness in the oven. Either way, the fruit needs to go in well drained. The cherries will discolor the chicken, so arrange them around the sides.
You’re going to have some liquid left in the pan. Reduce it to thicken it up, then spoon it over the chicken. Yum!
What You’ll Love About Fruited Chicken
- The curry and paprika dredge gives the chicken real flavor before a single piece of fruit even goes in the pan.
- It looks like a dinner party dish with orange segments, pineapple, and cherries, but it’s really just chicken, a skillet, and one baking dish.
- It’s a simple recipe where the fruity flavors really shine.
History
Composed dishes that paired curry-seasoned meat with warm fruit, canned pineapple, orange segments, cherries, became a fixture of American entertaining in the 1960s and 1970s, when curry powder and tropical fruit signaled a kind of continental sophistication at the home dinner table. Recipes like this one showed up regularly in women’s club cookbooks and magazines of the era, prized for looking elaborate while relying on pantry shortcuts like canned fruit and a simple seasoned flour dredge rather than a from-scratch sauce.
Ingredients
- Chicken breasts – 4 boneless, skinless, about 1½ to 2 pounds. Thighs work well too if you want a little more forgiveness in the oven.
- Flour, salt, curry powder, paprika – This is the entire seasoning for the chicken. Don’t skip the curry powder, it’s what carries the dish.
- Vegetable oil – Just enough to brown the chicken before it goes into the oven. Any neutral oil works.
- Dry white wine or chicken broth – Use broth if you’d rather skip the wine. A dry Riesling, Pinot Grigio, or Sauvignon Blanc all work if you’re using wine.
- Orange segments, pineapple chunks, Bing cherries – Drain the pineapple and orange segments well before adding them to the pan.
- Fresh mint – For garnish. Skip it if you don’t have it on hand, it’s not essential to the dish.
How To Make Fruited Chicken
Scroll down for the full recipe card with exact measurements and printable instructions.
Combine the flour, salt, curry powder, and paprika in a shallow dish. This dredge is doing most of the flavor work, so don’t rush it.
Dredge the chicken breasts in the seasoned flour, shaking off the excess. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat and brown the chicken on both sides, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. It doesn’t need to cook through here, it’ll finish in the oven.
Transfer the chicken to a 9×13-inch baking dish. Pour the wine or broth around the chicken, cover tightly with foil, and bake at 375°F for 20 minutes.
Arrange the drained orange segments, pineapple chunks, and cherries over and around the chicken. If the pan looks dry at this point, add a small splash more broth.
Return the dish to the oven, uncovered, and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the chicken reaches 165°F. The uncovered time is what lets the fruit roast instead of steam.
Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and spoon the fruit over and around it. Discard the cooking liquid, there’s no sauce to save here.
Finish with fresh mint sprigs right before serving.
Make It A Meal
I keep the sides simple so the fruit and curry flavors stay the focus. Roasted Green Beans with Almonds and Lemon gives the plate something green and a little crunch. For something closer to the dish’s vintage roots, my Sunshine Salad is a natural fit alongside it.
Plain white rice is the classic base if you want something underneath the chicken to soak up the little bit of juice left on the platter.
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat gently in a 300°F oven, covered, until warmed through, the fruit softens further on reheating so go easy on the time. This dish doesn’t freeze well, the fruit will lose texture once thawed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, as long as it’s thawed and drained thoroughly first. Wet fruit will steam instead of roast, so pat it dry before it goes into the pan.
Chicken broth works as a full substitute if you’d rather skip the wine. The liquid is there to keep the chicken from drying out during the covered bake.
Fruited Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts about 1 ½ – 2 pounds
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup dry white wine or chicken broth
- 1 cup canned mandarin orange segments drained
- 1 cup canned pineapple chunks drained
- 1 cup Bing cherries canned and drained
- fresh mint sprigs for garnish
Instructions
- Combine the flour, salt, curry powder, and paprika in a shallow dish.
- Dredge the chicken breasts in the seasoned flour, shaking off any excess.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat and brown the chicken on both sides, about 3–4 minutes per side. The chicken doesn’t need to be cooked through.
- Transfer the chicken to a 9×13-inch baking dish. Pour the wine or broth around the chicken and cover tightly with foil.
- Bake at 375°F for 20 minutes.
- Arrange the drained orange segments, pineapple chunks, and cherries over and around the chicken.
- Return the dish to the oven, uncovered, and bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until the chicken reaches 165°F.
- Transfer the chicken to a serving platter, spoon the fruit over and around the chicken, and reduce the cooking liquid for 5 minutes to thicken slightly, then spoon over top of the chicken.
- Garnish with fresh mint sprigs before serving.
Notes
Recipe Card Tips
- Drain the pineapple and orange segments thoroughly before adding them to the pan. Any extra liquid steams the fruit instead of letting it roast.
- Don’t skip the uncovered second bake. That’s what caramelizes the fruit and browns the chicken, covering the whole time leaves everything pale and steamed.
Nutrition
A Note on Nutritional Information
Nutritional information for this recipe is provided as a courtesy and is calculated based on available online ingredient information. It is only an approximate value. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site cannot be guaranteed.
