Quick and Festive Cranberry Onion Chicken Breasts

Easy to make, delicious to eat

My Aunt Chris introduced this dish to me on a visit to her home in Michigan far too many years ago. I was really impressed with the ease of making it and how good it tasted. Since then, I’ve made it too many times to count. It's definitely one of my go-to meals. If you Google cranberry onion chicken, you will see that it’s a really popular recipe and once you try it, you’ll know why.

Because you use prepared ingredients to make this main course, it’s not exactly scratch cooking. You will need whole berry cranberry sauce, either from a can or homemade (I will share my favourite cranberry sauce recipe here soon). You will also need onion soup mix. I buy mine in bulk without MSG, but you can use an envelope of any onion soup mix you have on hand. Originally, I made this with Catalina or California salad dressing, but it works equally well with French or Russian dressing.

This recipe makes a good deal of delicious sauce so be sure to serve it with plenty of rice or mashed potatoes. To me, it’s comfort food at its best.

Here’s to you Aunty Chris!

MA's Cranberry Onion Chicken Breasts

Preheat oven to 350° F.

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups (1-16 oz can) whole berry cranberry sauce
1 ounce (1 envelope) onion soup mix
1 cup Catalina, French or Russian salad dressing

Place chicken breasts into a 13” x 9” baking pan.

Mix together cranberry sauce, onion soup mix and salad dressing. Pour over chicken breasts. (You can put this together to this point, cover and refrigerate for several hours. Be sure to add a little extra cooking time if you do this.)


Bake for 50 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Serve hot.


Printable Recipe for MA's Cranberry Onion Chicken Breasts