Dried Apricot
Tested serving
- ½ cup (67g)
Dried apricots are High FODMAP at ½ cup (67g), driven by concentrated Fructans and Sorbitol.
- Drying apricots removes water and concentrates their sugars, so both Fructans and Sorbitol climb to high levels in a ½ cup (67g) serving, which is why this portion lands firmly in high territory.
- Because they are so small and sweet, dried apricots are easy to nibble by the handful, and they often turn up in trail mixes and snack bars where the load can quietly add up.
If you are craving that chewy sweetness, try using them very sparingly as a flavor accent, or reach for a fresh fruit that suits your plan instead.
Per ½ cup (67g): 0.54g fructans, 4.02g sorbitol.
Why dried apricot is rated high
Dried apricot is high FODMAP at ½ cup (67g), and it is high on two fronts at once: fructans and sorbitol. Apricots carry both in the fresh fruit, and drying pulls the water out and leaves those two behind in a much smaller, much sweeter package, so a serving that looks modest represents a lot of apricot. The published data for dried apricot has a single rung, ½ cup (67g), and that rung is high, so there is no lower tested serving to quote and no portion of dried apricot the data calls safe.
What changes your risk
- Drying shrinks the fruit, not the FODMAPs The water leaves and the fructans and sorbitol stay, which is the entire reason dried apricot sits where it does while looking like a modest snack.
- Only one tested serving, and it is high ½ cup (67g) is the sole published serving for dried apricot and it lands high. Nothing smaller has been tested, so there is no tested amount to work with.
- Two subgroups means two stacking risks The fructans pile up with wheat bread and pasta, onion, garlic and inulin or chicory root fibre in bars and yoghurts. The sorbitol piles up with fresh stone fruit, blackberries, pear and sugar-free gum or mints. A single day can hit both without any one food looking like the culprit.
- The snack bar problem Dried apricot turns up chopped into muesli bars, fruit and nut mixes and energy balls, where it is blended with other dried fruit and is very hard to portion or even see.
- Cooking and soaking do not undo it Simmering apricots into a tagine or soaking them before baking does not break down fructans or sorbitol, and whatever dissolves into the sauce is served along with the fruit.
Swaps
The role dried apricot plays is sweet, sticky and savoury at the same time, and no dried fruit on the low FODMAP list fills it, so it is more useful to rebuild the effect than to look for a lookalike. In a tagine or a rice pilaf, sweetness from maple syrup or a little table sugar plus a savoury base built on garlic-infused oil, chives and the green tops of spring onions gets you the sweet and savoury contrast without the fructans. For snacking, oranges, mandarins, strawberries, grapes, kiwi or a firm just-yellow banana cover the fruit craving, and walnuts, pecans, macadamias, peanuts or pumpkin seeds cover the handful-of-something habit. Dried apple, dried pear and fresh peaches, plums or nectarines are not swaps, because they share the sorbitol.
How to lower the load
Read past the front of the pack. Dried apricot appears in tagines and Moroccan-style stews, stuffing and rice dishes, muesli bars, fruit and nut mixes, Christmas baking and lamb dishes, and on cheese boards. Choosing unsulphured apricots is a preservative decision and changes nothing about the fructans or sorbitol, so the dark brown ones sit exactly where the bright orange ones do. If you cook for a family that likes apricot in a stew, adding the fruit to individual bowls at the table rather than to the pot keeps the fructans and sorbitol out of the shared sauce, which is where they would otherwise end up in every serving.
Common questions
how many dried apricots can i eat on a low fodmap diet
The published data gives one serving for dried apricot, ½ cup (67g), and that serving is high. No smaller amount has a tested level, so there is no portion to quote as low.
why are dried apricots high fodmap
Drying removes the water and concentrates what is left, so the fructans and sorbitol end up packed into a far smaller piece of fruit.
are dried apricots high in fructans or sorbitol
Both. Dried apricot carries fructans and sorbitol, which is why it stacks with two very different groups of foods in the same day.
what can i put in a tagine instead of dried apricot
Build the sweetness with maple syrup or table sugar and the savoury base with garlic-infused oil, chives and the green tops of spring onions. Dried apple and dried pear are not substitutes, since they bring sorbitol of their own.
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Informational only, not medical advice. Individual tolerance varies. Talk to a healthcare professional or a dietitian for personal guidance.
References
- Fructan and free fructose content of common Australian vegetables and fruit. Muir et al. (2007), J. Agricultural and Food Chemistry 55(16):6619-6627.
- Measurement of short-chain carbohydrates in common Australian vegetables and fruits by HPLC. Muir et al. (2009), J. Agricultural and Food Chemistry 57(2):554-565.
- Quantification of fructans, galacto-oligosaccharides and other short-chain carbohydrates in processed grains and cereals. Biesiekierski et al. (2011), J. Human Nutrition and Dietetics 24(2):154-176.
- Dietary sorbitol and mannitol: food content and distinct absorption patterns. Yao et al. (2014), J. Human Nutrition and Dietetics 27(Suppl 2):263-275.
- FODMAPs: food composition, defining cutoff values and international application. Varney et al. (2017), J. Gastroenterology and Hepatology 32(Suppl 1):53-61. Supplies the low, moderate and high cutoffs used on this page.
Last reviewed September 22, 2026.