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!
Easy Chicken with Cranberry Orange Sauce
If you’re looking for a fast and easy dinner recipe to get you through the busy holiday season, this orange and cranberry sauce chicken is going to become your new favorite!
The sweet yet tangy sauce is made by blitzing a mixture of cranberry sauce, orange juice and zest, rosemary, garlic, and a few other flavorful ingredients in a blender or food processor. The chicken is coated in the sauce and then baked – so simple!
Other reasons to love this straightforward recipe are that it:
- Uses up some leftover holiday ingredients. I always wind up with extra oranges, cranberries, herbs like rosemary or thyme, and cranberry sauce after Thanksgiving and Christmas. This recipe is a great way to prevent them from going to waste.
- Flexible recipe. I tested this recipe with chicken breasts, but the cranberry orange sauce pairs well with different cuts of chicken such as thighs or bone-in cuts of chicken.
- 5 minutes of active prep work. After the sauce is blended together, it’s combined with the chicken and baked.
- One Pan. I love a one pan recipe and I don’t have to do any searing or transferring from one pan to the next.
Ingredients for Orange Cranberry Chicken Recipe
You’ll need the following ingredients to prepare the orange cranberry chicken:
- Chicken breasts – I used boneless, skin-on breasts because I had them on hand, but you can also use boneless skinless breasts, or chicken thighs (bone-in chicken or boneless). Baking times may vary by 5-10 minutes based on the cut of chicken you’re using.
- Cranberry sauce – I prefer whole berry made with my leftover cranberry sauce, but use what you have including canned whole berry cranberry sauce.
- Fresh orange zest
- Orange juice
- Apple cider vinegar
- Honey
- Dijon mustard
- Olive oil
- Soy sauce -I suggest lite or reduced sodium (use liquid aminos to keep this dish gluten-free)
- Garlic
- Rosemary – fresh is recommended but dried is fine
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Fresh cranberries, fresh herb sprigs such rosemary or thyme – optional but recommended for placing in the pan next to the chicken
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Cranberry Orange Chicken
The cranberry orange sauce for the chicken comes together in mere minutes. Once that’s done, the chicken is ready to be baked!
Follow these straightforward instructions:
- To a blender or food processor, add the all ingredients and spices (except the chicken and optional ingredients) and pulse or blend to combine.
- Add the chicken breasts to a 9×13-inch baking dish, pour the sauce over top, and bake.
- Garnish as desired and serve! A sliced orange or extra fresh herbs are lovely as garnishes if you have them on hand.
Side Dishes To pair with Cranberry Orange Chicken
Storage
In the Refrigerator: This recipe will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
In the Freezer: This recipe will keep airtight in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To Reheat: I use my microwave for quickness and ease and reheat my leftovers for about 30 seconds on high, or as needed.
Recipe FAQs
I recommend using whatever leftover cranberry sauce you have. My favorites are my Red Wine Cranberry Sauce, Cranberry Currant Sauce, or Apple Cider Cranberry Sauce. However, if you don’t have any on hand, use your favorite store bought canned cranberry sauce.
A whole berry sauce is nice for a bit of texture, although since you’re blending it for the sauce, it really doesn’t matter too much and jellied cranberry sauce is fine.
Tip: Use any remaining cranberry sauce (canned or homemade) for my Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork Tenderloin.
*Tip: Do not make the mistake of pureeing whole cranberries for the sauce. You want to use cranberries that have already been turned into “cranberry sauce” because it has sugar and without that sugar, the dish will turn out far too bitter!
Yes, you’re welcome to top the chicken with frozen cranberries rather than fresh. Frozen cranberries don’t need to be thawed before being added to this recipe because they’re small enough that they thaw very quickly in the oven.
Yes, but freshly squeezed orange juice will make the best tasting sauce! You also need orange zest for this recipe, which is a crucial ingredient. So since you need a fresh orange anyway, you might as well juice it!
Yes, the fresh rosemary can be replaced with dried. Use half the amount, about 1/2 teaspoon of dried rosemary, since dried herbs are more potent than fresh herbs. You can also add a bit of fresh thyme or fresh sage (or dried versions) too if you have them. This is a very flexible recipe!
In a pinch, you should be fine to replace the apple cider vinegar with white wine vinegar or rice wine vinegar. Neither is a perfect substitute, but the baked chicken should still turn out great. If you knowingly want a more robust flavor, balsamic vinegar is a good option.
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- 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
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Preheat oven to 400F, spray a 9×13-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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 288kcal, Carbohydrates: 29g, Protein: 25g, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 0.01g, Cholesterol: 72mg, Sodium: 745mg, Potassium: 513mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 23g, Vitamin A: 107IU, Vitamin C: 14mg, Calcium: 20mg, Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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