Who doesn’t love a skillet full of seriously easy, seriously tasty chicken? Bring the “Wow!” to your dinner table year-round with this fast and easy Baked Cranberry Orange Chicken. Fresh cranberries not in season? Frozen cranberries work just great, so stock up around the holidays and you can serve this deliciousness up any time of the year! Cranberries deserve so much more than just their 15 minutes of fame over the holidays.
Brown the chicken, whip up the tart-yet-sweet sauce, and then let the oven do the hard work of getting this fabulous Baked Cranberry Orange Chicken ready for your hungry crew.
Baked Cranberry Orange Chicken
Author: Carrie Brown | Prep time: 15 mins | Cook time: 30 | Total time: 45 mins | Serves: 4
What You Need
- 2 TBSP avocado oil
- 8 skin-on chicken thighs
- ½ tsp. sea salt (For the best salt and a 15% discount use code: carriebrown)
- ground black pepper
- 1 oz / 30g butter
- ½ cup / 4 fl oz. balsamic vinegar
- 3 TBSP sugar-free maple syrup
- 1 TBSP dried thyme
- 12 cloves garlic, skinned & roughly chopped
- 1 orange – zest removed and orange sliced
- 6 oz / 170g fresh or frozen cranberries
What You Do
- Pre-heat your oven to 350 F.
- Add avocado oil to a cast iron (or similar oven-proof) skillet over medium-high heat and heat until oil is shimmering.
- Season the chicken thighs with sea salt and ground black pepper and carefully lower them one at a time skin side down into the hot oil using tongs.
- Cook chicken until the skin is nicely browned – about 5 minutes – and then carefully remove the chicken and set aside.
- Turn the heat to low, add the butter, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, dried thyme, chopped garlic, and orange zest and stir well, scraping the bottom of the skillet, until well mixed.
- Add the cranberries and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thick.
- Add the chicken pieces skin side up in one layer and arrange the orange slices between them.
- Carefully place the skillet in the center of the oven and bake for about 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through completely.
- When serving spoon sauce, cranberries and orange slices over each piece of chicken.
Top Recipe Tips
- Make Thanksgiving super simple by replacing the chicken with skin-on turkey drumsticks. Increase the baking time by 15 minutes to ensure the meat is thoroughly cooked.
- If you prefer to use fresh thyme, chop finely and sprinkle over the chicken after removing the skillet from the oven.
- Orange not your favorite? Worried about that extra orange carb or two? Replace the orange with lemon! Another winning combination with chicken and cranberries.
- No balsamic vinegar in your collection? Balsamic vinegar a little too carby? Replace with the same amount of apple cider vinegar and add 1/4 cup allulose or xylitol.
- Check out the Ingredients Guide for information on ingredients.
- Where Are The Macros and Nutritional Info?
Helpful Cooking and Recipe Links
- More cranberry recipes
- More chicken recipes
- Come laugh and learn with us over at The Kitchen Podcast
- Come hang out in The Keto Kitchen Facebook Group
- For lots more great recipes check out our scrumptious cookbooks!
- Check out the categories and tags at the top of the post to help you find more recipes using certain ingredients or from certain categories.
- Discounts on great keto products and resources.
Podcast Episodes and YouTube Videos
- Watch Yogi’s Cooking Videos
- Watch Carrie’s Cooking Videos
- Watch our Cooking Tips and Tricks Videos
- How and Why to Measure Food
- Where Are The Macros and Nutritional Info?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! YOU MAKE ALL THINGS POSSIBLE.
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