Dried Apricots substitute

Best substitute

Dried peaches or dried nectarines

Use the same amount by weight as the dried apricots you are replacing

Best for tzimmes

Close match

Dried peaches or dried nectarines are the nearest match and swap 1:1. Golden raisins are the easiest pantry swap at 1:1 by weight, but they are sweeter and much less tart, so add a squeeze of lemon juice to bring the acid back. Prunes work 1:1 in stews like tzimmes but will darken the dish from amber to brown. Fresh apricots are not a substitute at all, since they are mostly water and will collapse instead of holding their shape.

Other dried apricots substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Golden raisins (sultanas)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
The most likely thing already in your cupboard, and traditional in plenty of the same dishes.
What changes
Best for
tzimmes, rugelach filling, kugel, rice pilaf, stuffing, baking
Distinctly sweeter and much less tart, so a stew made with them tastes rounder and can go cloying. Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of lemon juice per half cup of raisins to restore the acid. They are also far smaller, so you lose the visible chunks of fruit and the dish reads as speckled rather than studded.
3Prunes (dried plums)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
The classic Ashkenazi dried fruit and the other traditional fruit in tzimmes and sweet-and-sour brisket.
What changes
Best for
tzimmes, brisket, compote, lekvar, braises, stuffing
They are sweeter, deeper and more caramel-like, and they break down more in long cooking, which thickens the sauce nicely but also turns the whole dish brown instead of orange. Expect a heavier, jammier result. Excellent if you are honest about it being a different dish.
4Dried mango
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
Chewy, sharply tangy and about the same size and thickness as an apricot half.
What changes
Best for
stews, tagines, chutney, grain salads, snacking
Tangier than apricots with a resinous, tropical note that is unmistakable, and the texture is tougher and more fibrous, so it needs a longer soak or a longer simmer to soften. Very good in savory dishes, more obviously out of place in a European fruit compote.
5Dried cranberries
Taste and texture differ
¾ the amount by weight
Sharply tart little berries, usually sweetened, which makes them a strange but workable stand-in.
What changes
Best for
baking, kugel, stuffing, grain salads, granola
Much more aggressively sour and also more sugary because most brands are sweetened with added sugar or juice, which is why you use less. They stay firm and beady instead of going soft and yielding, so a compote made with them has bite rather than melt. Good in baking, poor in a slow-braised stew.
6Dried figs or dates, chopped
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
Both bring sweetness and body in long cooking and are staples of the same broad tradition.
What changes
Best for
tzimmes, compote, tagines, stuffing, cakes
Neither has any real tartness, so the dish will taste flat and heavy unless you add acid; a tablespoon of lemon juice per cup of fruit helps a lot. Figs add tiny crunchy seeds and dates dissolve almost completely into a honeyed sauce. Choose dates if you want the stew to thicken and figs if you want texture.
7Canned apricot halves, drained and patted dry
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by piece, for baking only
The right shape and clearly apricot, but a completely different water content.
What changes
Best for
cakes, tarts, glazed toppings, quick compote
This is the wrong swap for anything simmered, because they will disintegrate into mush within minutes. In a cake or tart where the fruit sits on top, they look and taste good, though the flavor is much milder and they leach syrup into the batter. Reduce other liquid slightly and expect a wetter crumb.
8Fresh apricots
Taste and texture differ
Use 3 fresh apricots for every 1 ounce of dried, and expect a different dish
Not really a substitute, and worth saying plainly.
What changes
Dried apricots are roughly 15 percent water and fresh ones are around 85 percent.
Best for
quick compote, when nothing else is available
Fresh fruit collapses into sauce rather than staying as chewy nuggets, and it is far milder because none of the sugar or acid is concentrated. A tzimmes made with fresh apricots is a saucy stew, not a fruit-studded one. If you must, add them in the last 15 minutes and cut back other liquid by a quarter cup per cup of fruit.

What is Dried Apricots?

Dried Apricots is Dried apricots are apricot halves dried until they are chewy and leathery, which concentrates their sugar and their tartness so a small amount brings both sweetness and a clear sour edge to a dish.

Cooking tips

Soak dried fruit before it goes into a batter, never before it goes into a stew. Twenty minutes in hot water, tea or orange juice plumps apricots for a cake so they do not steal moisture from the crumb. In a stew they should go in dry so they soak up the cooking liquid and thicken it.
Bright orange dried apricots are sulphured and taste noticeably tarter and cleaner. Dark brown ones are unsulphured, sweeter and more caramelized. If a recipe looks orange in the photo and yours came out brown, this is why, not your cooking.
Turkish apricots are whole, plump and sweet; California apricots are halves and markedly tarter. Turkish are the default in most supermarkets, so if a recipe tastes flatter than expected, a squeeze of lemon closes the gap.
Chop sticky dried fruit with oiled kitchen scissors rather than a knife. Wipe the blades with a little neutral oil and the pieces will fall apart instead of gluing themselves into a lump on the board.
In tzimmes, put the dried fruit in for the last 45 minutes rather than at the start. Apricots added at the beginning of a two-hour braise turn to fibrous threads, and the point is for them to be plump and distinct against the carrots and sweet potato.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use fresh apricots instead of dried apricots?

Not really, and it is the most common mistake here. Dried apricots are concentrated, chewy and tart; fresh ones are 85 percent water and will collapse into sauce. If you have no choice, use about three fresh apricots per ounce of dried, add them near the end of cooking, and cut back the recipe's other liquid. Accept that you now have a saucier, milder dish.

Can I just leave the dried apricots out?

In a savory pilaf, stuffing or granola, yes, they are a pleasant accent and the dish survives. In tzimmes, sweet-and-sour brisket or a fruit compote, no, the dried fruit is providing most of the sweetness and acid that make the dish work. Substitute something else dried rather than dropping it.

What is the best substitute for dried apricots in tzimmes?

Prunes, which are equally traditional in tzimmes and behave the same way in the pot. They will make the dish darker and sweeter. If you want tzimmes to stay bright orange, use dried peaches or golden raisins with a squeeze of lemon instead.

Are dried apricot halves and apricot preserves interchangeable?

No. Preserves are already a sweet, spreadable gel with no chew and a lot of added sugar. They cannot give you pieces of fruit in a stew, and dried apricots cannot glaze a cake. If you only have preserves and need fruit pieces, chop dried peaches or raisins in instead.

How do I soften dried apricots that have gone rock hard?

Pour boiling water or hot tea over them and leave 20 to 30 minutes, or simmer them gently for 10 minutes in whatever liquid the recipe uses. A splash of brandy or orange juice in the soaking liquid adds flavor while it works. Very old fruit will soften but never fully return to plump.

Related substitutes

More fruits substitutes

Dried Apricots substitute

Other dried apricots substitutes

2Golden raisins (sultanas)

3Prunes (dried plums)

4Dried mango

5Dried cranberries

6Dried figs or dates, chopped

7Canned apricot halves, drained and patted dry

8Fresh apricots