Cranberry Chicken
The combination of ingredients for this Cranberry Chicken may seem unusual, but I promise, once it is all baked together the flavor is HEAVENLY! The chicken is baked to perfection in it’s own savory sweet cranberry sauce with sweet bursts of craisins and toasted pecan pieces. You are going to love it. I have made this on many many occasions and it turns out perfectly EVERY time!
I love serving this chicken over rice with a green salad. The red and green look so pretty together, and so classy. There is an ample sauce leftover in the pan once the chicken is baked. When serving, I like to spoon the extra sauce over the chicken and the rice. It’s a great looking dish for special occasions that is sure to impress. It’s a perfect dish for Christmas, but is also be great for Valentine’s Day or any other formal or informal meal. Be sure to make plenty because everyone will want seconds! If you do have leftovers, it is just as good when it is reheated.
Other Yummy Cranberry Recipes
If you are looking for some other tasty cranberry recipes to make at home we have a lot of great recipes where cranberries are the star ingredient. If you serve this dish with a salad you should definitely try our Cranberry Vinaigrette Dressing. Some other cranberry recipes that we always are making over the Holidays are our Cranberry Almond Bread with Cream Cheese Swirl for breakfast, our Cranberry Salsa for a yummy appetizer, and our Orange Cranberry Sauce and Cranberry-Sausage Stuffing are perfect for Holiday dinners. Another favorite cranberry sauce is our Raspberry Cranberry Sauce recipe, I love this one on sandwiches and rolls.
A Special Note
The recipe calls for 3-4 chicken breasts, cut in half. This is assuming that the chicken breasts are large. If they are smaller, you will want to use 6 or 7. There should be enough chicken to fill the 9 x 13 baking dish.
How to make Cranberry Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in half
- 1 can cranberry sauce whole berry
- 1 packet dry onion soup mix
- 1 cup pecans chopped
- 1 cup craisins
- 1 bottle Catalina dressing
Instructions
- Place chicken in baking pan. Generously spread cranberry sauce over the chicken.
- Sprinkle onion soup mix, pecans, and craisins over the chicken.
- Pour catalina dressing over top.
- Bake lightly covered with foil at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 more minutes.
- Serve over rice.
- Tip: Spoon extra sauce over the chicken and rice when serving.
Equipment
- 9x13 inch pan
Kristen says
I just wanted you to know how much I enjoy your blog. Thank you for all of your delicious recipes. I cannot wait to try the sushi. We recently moved (okay, it’s been 3 years) from the Seattle area and I miss sushi more than just about everything else.
Erica says
Thanks Kristen! Believe me, I know how you feel. Good sushi is hard to find when you don’t live on or near the coast!
I’m glad you like the blog! Visit often!
Brooke says
Sounds good! I have never tried it with cranberries. I will have to try that next time. I do the same recipe but use apricot jam. . . I love it!
Judy says
Recipe for Apricot Chicken please?
Favorite Family Recipes says
You can find our recipe for apricot chicken HERE: https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/easy-apricot-chicken/
Joe, Amber and Ken says
THis was delicious! I just barely came across your blog and it is a new favorite! I also made your lemon bars for work and they were a hit!
Lisa says
Question: What size catalina dressing and what size pecan package. They have small and large in my store.
Niki says
I bookmarked this recipe ages ago and am just now getting around to making this. What size bottle of dressing? And what size package of pecans?
Emily says
Just the regular size dressing, and the amount of pecans you want to use is really to taste. Just enough to sprinkle over the chicken.
Diane says
what’s “regular size”? 8 ounce or 16-ounce?
Echo says
16 oz – thanks for asking!
Harry Francis says
.trying this on the grill with.. added blue berries & a little crushed red pepper. Touch of apple cider vinegar
Cristy Spangler says
I came across this recipe about 9 months ago and my entire family of 10 people all love this so much! I just bought cranberries in bulk so I will be able to make it throughout the year! Thank you for sharing this!
john says
Which Catalina dressing am i supposed to use? Have went to grocery store and found many different flavors.
Emily says
Any kind will work, I would go with a brand you typically trust.
Tina says
Would a bag fresh whole cranberries work as well?
Erica says
You would need to simmer them down first with some sugar to bring out the flavor and add some sweetness. You would do a 12-oz. bag with about 1 c. of sugar and a couple Tbsp of water. Let it simmer until the cranberries pop and soften and then add them as directed to the recipe! I have done this recipe this way before and it is amazing! 🙂
Joanne says
I’ve made this with chicken thighs. I mix all the ingredients together and rub it all over the chicken including under the skin and then bake. Comes out deelish!!!!
Erica says
Great idea! Thank you for sharing!
Brenda MacNeil says
I am wondering too what size of dressing you use….you said regular but is that the small size or the larger size?
Erica says
I use the 16 oz bottle of Kraft Catalina Dressing when I make this recipe. Thank you for asking!
Brenda MacNeil says
Thanks…I am having my daughter over for supper tonight and plan on serving it. It sounds so delicious!!
Irene says
This recipe sound delicious. Can I cook in my casserole crockpot? Or top my stuffing with the chicken?
Going to try it on Christmas.
Thank you for the recipe.
Erica says
I have made this in the crockpot before, but I prefer baking it in the oven. The last few minutes of cooking without the foil gives the chicken and the pecans a chance to brown a little. Are you thinking of serving the dish with stuffing instead of rice? I think it would be great with stuffing!
cindy says
I wonder if you could use fresh cranberries sauce instead of can?????
Erica says
Yes, I’ve made it before with our Orange Cranberry Sauce and it is amazing! Any homemade cranberry sauce would work and taste great. Thanks for asking!
Nancy Ng says
This looks and sounds great. I would like to make this with boneless/skinless chicken. How long should I cook it for?
Echo says
The recipe calls for boneless/skinless chicken breasts. It cooks for 45 minutes with the foil on, and then an additional 15 with foil removed. You are going to love this recipe – it is so good!
Eldell says
I want to be nice, but I made this for my family and they are still mad at me. It was SO awful!!!! I ultimately had to wash the stuff off the chicken and just re-purpose it with barbecue sauce – I couldn’t bear to throw that much chicken away. I’m sure it was my cooking skills (or lack of) that didn’t help, but the recipe is too vague for the chef with no instincts. I doubled the meat, but apparently doubling the other stuff is NOT the way to go, AND in doing so, my pan was not big enough I guess because I had Catalina dressing running over in the oven and them hovering on top like a nasty red forcefield. Any further clarification you can add to the recipe would help people like me. I may try again, but in seclusion until I’m sure it’s right and I’ve won back their trust.
Echo says
I’m so sorry this recipe didn’t turn out for you. It has worked great for me every time. I have never doubled it in one pan, so that may have been the problem. I will take a look at the recipe again and see if I can make the instructions more clear.
Eldell says
Thank you!! I hated to be a debbie downer, I’m sure the votes saying it worked beautifully come from more experienced and better cooks. Would appreciate a little help for doubling (because I would have to double for all the hungry mouths in my brood). I’ll try again or have my mom try it so we can blame her if we hate it again. It sounded delish to me!
Sue G. says
This recipes calls for 3-4 chicken breasts – I am thinking that this means 3-4 WHOLE chicken breasts OR 6-8 HALF chicken breasts. If you only want to make 4 servings (1/2 ckn breast/svg) you will need to cut the recipe in half. Correct ??? That is what I plan to do unless I want extra sauce.
Echo says
Yes, the 3-4 chicken breasts are boneless, skinless breasts that have already been halved, not whole chicken breasts. For four servings, I would recommend two half chicken breasts cut in half again. If you are using prepackaged breasts, one breast is enough for 2 servings. There will be a lot of extra sauce even with cutting the recipe in half. I will say that when I’ve made this my guests usually go for seconds. This also is delicious reheated if you want leftovers for lunch the next day. Thank you for your comment!
Roxanne says
Very good I made it with boneless skinless thighs and it was a big hit and will make it again. There is nothing I would change.
Leigh Ann says
Can you use Lite Catalina dressing and it turn out just as good? I accidentally bought Lite dressing at the store..
Echo says
Yes, the light dressing will work just fine!
Leigh Ann says
thank you! it was delicious!
Lindsey says
What are the ounces of can for whole berry cranberry sauce and what size of package for chopped pecans do you use and any recommendation brands for either of these two?
Echo says
I usually use Ocean Spray cranberry sauce – I don’t have a can on hand to tell you exactly, but it is a 12 -14 oz can. I use approximately 1 cup of pecans. I use pecans often for salads and baking, so I buy the Kirkland Signature brand at Costco. I keep store them in the freezer to keep them fresh tasting and pull out what I need when I’m cooking. I hope this helps. Thank you for asking!
Jill says
My ?Mom made this for years with French dressing, no pecans. Mixed it all together and poured it over the top. One of my childhood favorites.
raquel says
what are raisins?
Echo says
I think you may be asking, what are craisins? They are dried cranberries. You can find them on the grocery aisle next to the raisins and other dried fruits. Thank you for asking!
Suz says
This was absolutely divine! My husband swears it is gourmet, 5-star restaurant dining. Thank you so much for this exquisite recipe! I made it exactly as you described – fork tender and simply “moreish “!
Favorite Family Recipes says
So glad you liked this chicken! It’s so fun to see people’s reaction to this recipe because they are like “this is amazing, what’s in it?!” and after we tell them how simple the ingredients are they are always surprised! So easy, right? Thanks for taking the time to comment!