This cranberry chicken recipe is baked in the oven for a festive, show-stopping dinner that takes little effort to prepare! Garlic, rosemary, and tangy fresh cranberries bring boldly aromatic and savory-sweet flavor you’ll love.
This cranberry chicken recipe, with its vibrant red cranberries and golden-brown chicken, boasts the wow-factor of holiday roasts like leg of lamb or whole chicken. But it comes together in under an hour and requires very little tending to. It’s a beautiful centerpiece for a holiday party, but easy enough to add to your weeknight dinner rotation.
To get the best color and flavor, I quickly sear the chicken on the stove. It may seem like an added step (and you can skip it if you’re short on time) but the crispy skin is worth the extra dish. From there, I layer in a baking dish with carrots, celery, and a bright and savory mix of garlic, lemon, rosemary, and paprika.
Simply throw it in your oven and wait as the chicken bubbles, making a delicious sauce with the chicken’s drippings. The cranberries soak up all the flavor, becoming tender and so juicy. Make sure to spoon plenty of sauce over top, and serve with crusty bread or rosemary focaccia for dipping.
Table of Contents
Ingredients for Cranberry Chicken
This cranberry chicken recipe uses easy to find ingredients and pantry staples for a festive holiday dish that doesn’t cost a fortune. Here’s what you need:
- Cranberries: The star ingredient that lends a festive touch, while also adding brightness. I prefer fresh for the best flavor and texture, but you can use frozen cranberries if you’d like.
- Brown sugar: Candies the cranberries, balancing their harsh tartness.
- White wine vinegar: Adds a burst of acidity for a depth of flavor, both in the marinade and the candied cranberries. You can substitute with Champagne vinegar or apple cider vinegar if that’s what you have on hand.
- Chicken: 6 pieces bone-in skin on chicken (I used 2 chicken breasts and 4 thighs)
- Flavor-makers: Garlic, rosemary and sweet paprika bring a bold amount of sweet, savory, and aromatic flavor to the meat. Salt and black pepper enhance the flavor.
- Olive oil: Enriches the marinade. Use a full bodied, high quality extra virgin variety. Any of the oils from our shop would work well, but I especially love the richness and subtle peppery notes of our Greek Private Reserve with this recipe.
- Lemon: I use the whole fruit, with the juice adding acidity and the rind adding an aromatic, slightly bitter quality.
- Fresh vegetables: Onion and celery make for a nice foundational flavor for the broth and aromatics as teh chicken bakes. It’s the same concept as a classic (or Mediterranean-style) chicken soup.
- Broth: ½ cup of liquid in the pan evaporates into steam, tenderizing the chicken as it bakes. Chicken broth (homemade or store bought) will add a fuller flavor, but water works well too.
How to Make This Cranberry Chicken Recipe
Perfectly sweet and tangy cranberries, piney rosemary, and a bold amount of garlic builds loads of flavor without much fuss. Here’s how you make cranberry chicken:
- Make the sugared cranberries. In a small bowl, combine 2 cups of cranberries, ⅓ cup of brown sugar, and 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar. Set aside to soften.
- Season the chicken. Pat the chicken pieces dry, then rub on both sides with 6-8 minced garlic cloves, 1 ½ tablespoons of chopped fresh rosemary (or 1 ½ teaspoons dried), 1 teaspoon paprika, and a good pinch or two of salt and pepper. Lift the skin and push the seasoning underneath the skin.
- Make the marinade. To a large bowl or deep dish, add ⅓ cup olive oil, 3 chopped celery stalks, 1 chopped onion, and 2 tablespoons of the white wine vinegar. Slice a lemon in half and squeeze in the juice, then add both of the juiced lemon halves.
- Marinate the chicken. Add the chicken and use your hands to work everything together. Set aside to marinate just for 15 minutes or so.
- Get ready to cook. While your chicken marinates, preheat your oven to 425°F. Lightly oil a baking dish large enough to hold the chicken.
- Sear the chicken. When your oven is hot and the chicken has marinated for at least 15 minutes, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the chicken, skin side down, and cook until the skin releases from the pan and turns golden brown, about 7 minutes. Flip and brown on the other side, about 5 minutes more. Do this in batches if necessary to avoid overcrowding the pan, adding the seared chicken to the prepared baking dish as you go.
- Layer. To the baking dish with the chicken, add the onions, celery, lemon halves and any liquid from the marinade. Pour in the chicken broth or water, then top with the sugared cranberries.
- Bake and enjoy. Bake until the chicken is cooked through, 35 to 40 minutes. Serve hot.
What to Serve With Cranberry Chicken
If you're using this cranberry chicken as the centerpiece for a special dinner, kick off the party with blood orange cocktails with vodka and rosemary.
From there, try classic holiday sides with a fun Mediterranean Dish-twist! I would stick to savory dishes to complement the sweet and tart notes of the chicken. Shaved brussels sprouts salad, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and stuffed onions with fragrant rice and pine nuts all come to mind.
And, whether you’re outfitting a weeknight dinner or holiday party, you’ll want some crusty bread, rice, or rosemary focaccia to take advantage of the delicious pan sauce.
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Baked Cranberry Chicken with Rosemary
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh cranberries
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar, divided
- 6 bone-in skin on chicken pieces (I used 2 chicken breasts and 4 thighs, about 2 ¼ pounds in total)
- 6-8 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 ½ tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary (or 1 ½ teaspoons dried rosemary), plus rosemary sprigs for garnish
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for searing the chicken
- 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 1 lemon
- ½ cup chicken broth or water
Instructions
- Make the sugared cranberries. In a small bowl, combine the cranberries, brown sugar, and 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar. Set aside to soften while you prepare the chicken.
- Season the chicken. Pat the chicken pieces dry, then rub on both sides with the garlic, rosemary, paprika, and a good pinch or two of salt and pepper. Make sure to lift the skin and push the seasoning underneath the skin.
- Marinate the chicken. To a baking dish large enough to hold the chicken, add the olive oil, celery, onions, and remaining 2 tablespoons of the white wine vinegar. Slice the lemon in half and squeeze in the juice, then add both of the juiced lemon halves. Add the chicken and use your hands to work everything together. Set aside to marinate just for 15 minutes or so.
- Get ready to cook. While your chicken marinates, preheat your oven to 425°F.
- Sear the chicken. When your oven is hot and the chicken has marinated for at least 15 minutes, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the chicken, skin side down, and cook until the skin releases from the pan and turns golden brown, about 5 minutes. Flip and brown on the other side, about 3 minutes more. Do this in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan, adding the seared chicken to the baking dish as you go.
- Bake. Top the chicken with the sugared cranberries and any accumulated juices, then pour in the broth or water. Bake until the chicken is cooked through, 35 to 40 minutes.
- Serve. Garnish with a few rosemary sprigs, if you’d like, to dress it up a little before serving. Serve hot, spooning the juices and vegetables over top.
Video
Notes
- To use boneless, skinless chicken: I recommend chicken thighs. Begin by browning them for a couple minutes on each side. Adjust baking time; boneless thighs will take about 25 minutes to bake in the oven
- Frozen cranberries option: I love the flavor of fresh cranberries, but feel free to use frozen if you have them on hand.
- Visit our shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients including olive oils, honey, jams, and spices.
Nutrition
* This post first appeared on The Mediterranean Dish in 2019, and has been recently updated with new information for readers' benefit.
We made this last night and it is phenomenal! Highly recommended.
I have made this twice for company in the last month. Everyone loved it. So simple to make, yet such complex flavors. Great recipe for entertaining because it is delicious, beautiful, and cooks while the cook visits.
So great to hear! Thanks, Pat!
Its been a couple years since I first made this recipe and I came back today because I want to make it again. This recipe is delicious. I made it for a Christmas meal in a previous year and it was perfect. The colors are beautifully festive and the flavours are balanced and fresh. I would give it 100 starts <3
Can canned whole cranberries be used instead of fresh or frozen berries?
Would it be possible to use frozen whole cranberries in this recipe (thawed, of course...). I have scrolled thru several pages and have not found this aprticular question. Thank you so much!
Oops, no need to reply... on my third look-through of this recipe I found the info under "Notes"...
Sure! To prepare frozen cranberries, thaw them out ahead of time and be sure to drain them very well. You will not need to use white wine vinegar with frozen cranberries, but you do still need toss them in some brown sugar before using in this recipe.
We didn't like this recipe at all. We were so disappointed.
I absolutely am making this dish ASAP. Fortunately, I just bought a large package of chicken thighs. It looks so delicious and I’m super excited to make it. Thanks for sharing!
Hope you love it, Paula!
Forgot to add, due to busy kids' activities, I ended up making it all the way through #6, then putting it all in the fridge overnight and oven roasting it the next day. This did not hurt it at all!
Thanks for sharing that, Kara!
This was delicious! I sectioned an entire organic chicken for this recipe. Followed as written except thought I'd put it on a sheet pan for the oven roasting; bad idea. Cranberries were still whole and sour. I removed the fully cooked chicken to a plate, scraped the cranberry/onion mix back into the skillet, added a little extra broth and simmered it for 15 min. Perfection!
The chicken came out perfect and was delicious but the cranberries could not be more disgusting and inedible. They did not absorb any sweetness of the brown sugar - just sour + vinegar taste. What did I miss?
Oh, no! It's really hard to say what could have gone wrong exactly without being there. Ovens do vary, so maybe continue to experiment with adjusting the temp or your oven and cooking time?
My husband and I made this last Christmas season and it was one of our favorite dinners! This year we are going to make it for our Christmas dinner party with friends. Can I prep the food (including sear the chicken), put it in the fridge, and then pop it in the oven later on? Thanks!
Hi, Diana, If you are going to prep ahead, but not bake until right before serving, then, I recommend omitting the browning. If you'd like to, you can also completely make/bake this in advance, then cover well and store in the fridge. Take it out of the fridge a few minutes before reheating in the oven at 325 degrees F. I'd add a very little bit of liquid to the baking dish and cover with foil. Uncover and very briefly broil if you feel the skin has lost its crispiness. Enjoy!
There’s no way the prep time is only 15 min—but it was delicious! I browned the chicken in my large cast iron frying pan, then added everything else and cooked it in that pan. I also substituted Truvia brown sugar for the regular kind. I will definitely make it again.
This is going to be one of my 'go to' dinners from now on!! It was one of the tastier chicken dinners that I have ever eaten, and my husband, who can be rather picky at times, LOVED IT!! Thank you for another fabulous dinner and for all that have gone before!!
I've finally made this recipe and it was absolutely delicious! I just bought 4 chicken breasts on the bone and they were so good! It was very easy to put together. Thank you for another great dinner!
Looks like Christmas Dinner this year maybe Thanksgiving, I can’t wait to eat it!
This one is perfect for either! Enjoy!
Can I make this recipe ahead?
Love your recipes!
Hi, Bev. If you'd like to, you definitely can make this in advance, then cover well and store in the fridge. Take it out of the fridge a few minutes before reheating in the oven at 325 degrees F. I'd add a very little bit of liquid to the baking dish and cover with foil. Uncover and very briefly broil if you feel the skin has lost its crispiness. If you're worried about it drying out, though, you could try preparing everything the day before, but waiting to actually bake until just before serving. Hope you enjoy it!
If prepping ahead, would you omit browning? Mary
Hi, Mary. If you are going to prep ahead, but not bake until right before serving, then, yes, I would omit the browning. If you'd like to, you can also completely make/bake this in advance, then cover well and store in the fridge. Take it out of the fridge a few minutes before reheating in the oven at 325 degrees F. I'd add a very little bit of liquid to the baking dish and cover with foil. Uncover and very briefly broil if you feel the skin has lost its crispiness. Enjoy!