Tuesday, December 9, 2025

Gradual Cooker Cranberry Hen – My Baking Habit


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Simple cranberry hen is made within the sluggish cooker for a low-effort weeknight dinner. Serve this candy and tangy hen over rice or mashed potatoes for a meal your loved ones will ask for time and again.

Close up of cranberry chicken in a white serving bowl.Close up of cranberry chicken in a white serving bowl.

This time of 12 months is completely sluggish cooker season, proper?

The sluggish cooker is the place it’s at once I need dinner to already be completed on the finish of the day. Plus, so many sluggish cooker meals are simply so comforting and comfy.

A few of our favorites are sluggish cooker beef and barley stew, crockpot taco soup, crockpot spaghetti sauce, and this sluggish cooker cranberry hen.

Cranberry chicken plated with mashed potatoes and broccoli.Gradual Cooker Cranberry Hen – My Baking Habit

What’s cranberry hen?

This cranberry hen is a recipe that we received from my husband’s grandmother. She’s been making it for therefore lengthy that nobody remembers the place it initially got here from. Most definitely, she clipped it out of {a magazine} or the newspaper or one thing like that.

It is a tremendous easy 4-ingredient recipe which you could throw within the crockpot within the morning and dinner will likely be prepared whenever you get dwelling from work.

Hen will get cooked in a mix of tangy salad dressing, onion soup combine, and cranberry sauce. The ultimate sauce tastes a bit tangy, a bit savory, and a bit candy. It’s additionally an effective way to make use of up leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving dinner!

It’s a completely shocking mixture of flavors that all of us love!

Fork holding up a bite of cranberry chicken.Fork holding up a bite of cranberry chicken.

Find out how to make this cranberry hen recipe

Components you’ll want

You solely want 4 components to get this cranberry hen stepping into your sluggish cooker:

  • 1 cup Catalina or California French salad dressing
  • 1 (1-ounce) packet Lipton onion soup combine
  • 1 (14-ounce) can cranberry sauce (or 1 ½ cups do-it-yourself cranberry sauce)
  • 2 kilos boneless/skinless hen breasts or thighs
Ingredients for cranberry chicken arranged on a countertop.Ingredients for cranberry chicken arranged on a countertop.

Catalina dressing, generally known as California vinaigrette, is just like vinaigrette however has extra ketchup in it and has a thinner consistency. You undoubtedly need to use Catalina dressing on this recipe, not common vinaigrette, particularly because it serves as the principle liquid for cooking the hen.

You should utilize any cranberry sauce you want or have readily available. I like utilizing an entire berry cranberry sauce or my do-it-yourself cranberry sauce, however jellied may also work!

Be at liberty to make use of hen breasts or thighs; both one works nice.

Making this recipe

This is very easy, you barely want a recipe for it.

Add the salad dressing, dry soup combine, and cranberry sauce to a 3-quart sluggish cooker and stir to mix. Should you’re utilizing jellied cranberry sauce, you might need to drag out a whisk to get it to combine with the dressing.

Add the hen to the crock and ensure it will get coated with the sauce.

Cowl and cook dinner on excessive for 4 hours or on low for 6-7 hours. It’ll even be okay for as much as 8 hours.

Shredded cooked cranberry chicken.Shredded cooked cranberry chicken.

As soon as the hen is cooked, shred it and add it again to the sauce. And that’s it! You’re able to serve your cranberry hen.

We prefer it as-is, however be at liberty to present it a style and add some black pepper or a pinch of salt for those who really feel it wants it.

Shredded cranberry chicken with sauce in a white bowl.Shredded cranberry chicken with sauce in a white bowl.

Serving ideas

So how precisely will we prefer to take pleasure in this cranberry hen?

Our favourite method is to serve it with loads of sauce over cooked rice or garlic mashed potatoes. Make some air fryer inexperienced beans or honey glazed carrots to go along with it and also you’ve received a brilliant simple weeknight meal!

You might additionally serve it within the fashion of sluggish cooker pulled pork or crockpot pulled hen and switch it right into a sandwich. High it with slightly simple slaw and you could possibly even serve this as a part of a game-day unfold!

Storage

Retailer leftover cranberry hen in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 3 days.

You may as well retailer it in a freezer-safe container and freeze for as much as a month. I like to recommend freezing it in particular person parts utilizing Souper Cubes. Then you possibly can take out as a lot as you want for a fast dinner or lunch!

Overhead view of two plates of cranberry chicken with mashed potatoes and broccoli.Overhead view of two plates of cranberry chicken with mashed potatoes and broccoli.

Continuously requested questions

Can I bake this within the oven as an alternative of creating it within the sluggish cooker?

I’ve tried making this cranberry hen in a baking dish the oven as an alternative of the sluggish cooker and I actually don’t suggest it. The hen doesn’t find yourself as moist or flavorful.

Cooking the hen slowly makes the meat retain its juices, so it doesn’t dry out even for those who use hen breasts. It’s value pondering slightly bit forward to make it in your crockpot, belief me!

  • Add dressing, onion soup combine and cranberry sauce to the sluggish cooker and blend till mixed.

    1 cup Catalina or California French bottled salad dressing, 1 packet Lipton onion soup combine, 1 can jellied or complete berry cranberry sauce

  • Add within the hen and coat with the sauce combination.

    2 kilos boneless/skinless hen breasts or thighs

  • Cowl and cook dinner on excessive for 4 hours or on low for 6-7 hours.

  • Shred hen and serve with sauce over rice or mashed potatoes.

My do-it-yourself cranberry sauce works nice on this recipe instead of the canned cranberry sauce.

Energy: 621kcal, Carbohydrates: 63g, Protein: 50g, Fats: 17g, Saturated Fats: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fats: 1g, Monounsaturated Fats: 2g, Trans Fats: 0.03g, Ldl cholesterol: 145mg, Sodium: 1609mg, Potassium: 918mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 48g, Vitamin A: 111IU, Vitamin C: 4mg, Calcium: 24mg, Iron: 1mg

Diet info is mechanically calculated, so ought to solely be used as an approximation.

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