Cranberry Chicken
Juicy baked chicken thighs in a sweet and tangy cranberry sauce with fresh cranberries, balsamic vinegar and thyme. An easy, high-protein chicken dinner that's perfect for Christmas or a cosy family meal.
Servings: 3 servings
Calories: 543kcal
Ingredients
- 900 g of Chicken thighs - bone-in, skin on (about 150g/5¼oz each)
- 180 g of Cranberry sauce
- 150 g of fresh cranberries
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 10 g of Fresh thyme
- 2 tablespoons of Olive oil
- 80 ml of Balsamic vinegar
- 120 ml of Chicken stock use gluten-free stock if needed
- 2 tablespoons of Maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon of Fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon of Ground black pepper
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat your oven to 190°C/170°C fan/375°F/Gas 5.
- Brown the chicken: Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the chicken thighs, skin-side down, and cook for 3 minutes. Turn them over and cook for another 2 minutes to brown both sides.
- Make the cranberry sauce: Add the cranberry sauce, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, garlic, chicken stock, salt and pepper to a blender. Blend until smooth.
- Add the sauce: Pour half of the cranberry sauce mixture into an ovenproof dish.
- Add the chicken: Arrange the browned chicken thighs in the dish in a single layer.
- Add the sauce and cranberries: Add the remaining cranberry sauce, fresh cranberries and thyme around the chicken, spooning some sauce over the meat.
- Cook: Bake for 25–30 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked. The thickest part of each thigh should reach 75°C/167°F, without the thermometer touching the bone. Larger thighs may need longer.
- Allow to rest: Leave the chicken to rest for a few minutes, then serve with the cranberry sauce spooned over the top. Remove any woody thyme stalks before serving.
Notes
- Choose your cranberry sauce - Smooth or chunky cranberry sauce both work because the sauce is blended before cooking. Homemade cranberry sauce is fine too.
- Balance the sweetness - Taste the blended sauce before adding it to the chicken. If your cranberry sauce is very tart, add a little more maple syrup to taste.
- Add orange zest - A little finely grated orange zest blended into the sauce gives this cranberry chicken an extra festive flavour.
- Swap the herbs - Fresh rosemary works just as well as thyme. You could also use a mixture of the two.
- Use reduced-salt stock - Chicken stock adds flavour, but vegetable stock works too. Reduced-salt stock is a useful option if you are serving younger children.
- Brown the chicken first - This gives the skin more colour and flavour. You can skip this step and cook the chicken entirely in the oven, but the skin won't brown as well and the cooking time may be longer.
- For more golden skin - Try to keep some of the sauce around the chicken rather than completely covering the skin. Once coated in sauce, the skin will naturally soften.
- Check the temperature - Chicken thigh sizes vary, so use a meat thermometer to check that the thickest part has reached 75°C/167°F. Don't rely on the colour of the cranberry sauce or juices.
- If the sauce is too thin - Transfer the finished sauce to a small saucepan and simmer for a few minutes to reduce it. For a thicker gravy, stir in a little cornflour mixed with cold water and simmer until thickened.
- Watch the sauce towards the end - Cranberry sauce and maple syrup contain sugar, so check the dish towards the end of cooking, especially if your oven runs hot. If the sauce is reducing too quickly, add a splash of stock.
Nutrition
Serving: 2thighs + sauce | Calories: 543kcal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 44g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 207mg | Sodium: 457mg | Potassium: 724mg | Fibre: 3g | Sugar: 34g | Vitamin A: 270IU | Vitamin C: 26mg | Calcium: 75mg | Iron: 7mg
See this recipe on the site by scanning this QR code:
