Baked Cranberry Orange Chicken

Baked chicken thighs in a casserole dish with cranberries and rosemary, garnished with orange slices.

5 from 4 votes

Baked Cranberry Orange Chicken

🎉🍊🍗 Want to get in the holiday spirit without making a turkey? This EASY one-pan recipe for baked chicken breasts coated in a homemade cranberry-orange sauce made with Dijon mustard, honey, rosemary, and more is PERFECT! It's wonderfully festive to serve it for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or for holiday entertaining! Tip - It's also a GREAT recipe to use leftover cranberry sauce from the holidays!

Prep Time5

Cook Time45

Course: Dinner, Entrees

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cranberry orange chicken, holiday dinner, Thanksgiving

Servings:

Calories: 288cal

Equipment

Ingredients

6 boneless chicken breasts (with or without skin; or use bone-in breasts, or bone-in/boneless chicken thighs)
1 cup cranberry sauce* read the Tip in the blog post about this; must be cranberry sauce either leftover homemade or canned; don't just use whole cranberries
1 teaspoon orange zest from 1 medium to large orange
½ cup orange juice from the same medium to large orange
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lite soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic or to taste
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary or ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or to taste
½ cup fresh cranberries for sprinkling before baking; optional but recommended
Sprigs fresh rosemary for adding to baking dish or for garnishing; optional but recommended

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F, spray a 9x13-inch baking dish or casserole dish (or similar sized, ~2.5 quarts) with cooking spray, pay the chicken with a paper towel, and place it in the baking dish; set aside momentarily. Chicken Tips - If your chicken is quite thick on one end, and thin on the other (as chicken breasts often are), make sure to pound it to a uniform thickness so it cooks evenly. If your chicken is quite thick in general, pound it so it's thinner so that the interior cooks through before the outside burns.
To the canister of a food processor or blender, add all the ingredients (through pepper), and pulse a few times to combine or blend as desired, leaving as much texture (or not) to the sauce. Taste it, and for your palate, if it needs any seasoning adjustments, i.e. a pinch of sugar, more soy, more garlic, more salt, more rosemary, etc. add it now.
Evenly pour the sauce over the chicken, evenly sprinkle a handful of fresh cranberries in the pan (optional), place a few sprigs of rosemary or thyme in the pan (optional), and bake the chicken, uncovered, for about 40 to 60 minutes. Baking Tips - Chicken is safe to eat when the internal temp has reached 165F. However, depending on if you're using breasts, thighs, boneless or bone-in, baking times may range widely. Therefore, keep an eye on your chicken, and use a digital thermometer to check the temp. I like to pull my chicken at about 160F and then let it rest for 5-10 minutes on the counter, allowing the natural juices to redistribute and the internal temp to come up to a safe 165F. If at any point during baking the cranberry sauce is starting to burn, cover the pan with a sheet of foil.
Allow the chicken to rest for 5-10 minutes before optionally garnishing with additional fresh cranberries, orange or lemon slices, sprigs of fresh herbs such as rosemary, thyme, or sage. Slice and serve.

Notes

Cranberry Sauce: My favorite homemade cranberry sauce to use for this recipe are Red Wine Cranberry Sauce, Cranberry Currant Sauce, or Apple Cider Cranberry Sauce. If you don’t have any on hand, use your favorite store bought canned cranberry sauce.

Storage: Leftovers will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat gently in the microwave, about 30 seconds, or as desired.

Nutrition