4-Ingredient Crock Pot Cranberry Chicken With Catalina Dressing

This Crock Pot cranberry chicken is one of those “how is this so good?” dinners, because you only need four ingredients and you end up with tender chicken covered in a sweet, tangy sauce that’s perfect over rice. And it is like a flavor explosion in your mouth! I’ve made this many times, and the Catalina makes a big flavor difference in this recipe because it gives you that little zip that keeps the cranberry sauce from tasting like dessert (although that’s not a bad thing, is it)?

 

Prep Time	Cook Time	Servings	Prep Level
5 minutes	7-8 hours	2	Beginner +

What You’ll Love About This Recipe

It’s not fancy. It’s not complicated. It’s just reliable. You can easily double it for more people.

You add chicken, sprinkle on onion soup mix, pour in Catalina dressing, and spoon on cranberry sauce. Then your slow cooker does allllll the cooking while you go do literally anything else.

And when it’s done cooking, you’ve got a mouthwateringly flavorful cranberry-red sauce that’s sweet, tangy, and a little savory from the onion mix. It smells amazing when you lift the lid. Just brace yourself because you will be addicted!

Julie’s Ingredient Notes From My Kitchen

Catalina dressing is usually sitting right beside French dressing at the store, and they look similar at a glance. Catalina is the one you want for this version.

Whole berry cranberry sauce gives you little pops of berry in the finished sauce, plus it “melts” into the dressing as it cooks. That texture is the whole point. And yes, the onion soup mix goes in dry, straight from the packet. No mixing it with water first.

How To Make Crock Pot Cranberry Chicken

You’re going to love how straightforward this recipe is.

Add the chicken to the slow cooker and sprinkle the onion soup mix over the top. I usually get the store-brand. You don’t need to spend extra for brand-name because store-brand tastes just as good.

Pour the Catalina dressing over the chicken.

Open the can of cranberry sauce and take a knife and cut it up a little inside the can to break it up a little. Spread it onto the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours. The time variation is there because some Crock Pots will cook it in 7 hours. When it’s finished, the chicken should be very tender. You can serve the breasts whole, or shred them right in the slow cooker so every bite gets coated in that sauce.

There are a few ways you can serve the chicken, but I like to serve it with rice or some homemade mashed potatoes. You can also top egg noodles or add it to slider buns to make sandwiches. I like to add these homemade dinner rolls on the side to sop up some of the cranberry sauce, and you can use these to make sliders, also!

Make-Ahead, Storage, Reheating, And Freezing

If you want to make part of it ahead of time, you can add all of the ingredients to a large Ziplock bag and let it marinate overnight. Then, slide it all out into the Crock Pot the next morning and start cooking.

If you have leftovers, add them to an airtight container and refrigerate for 3 to 4 days. This recipe is great for leftovers, because the flavor gets even better after it sits in that sauce.

To reheat, add the chicken to a saucepan over medium-low heat or in the microwave in short bursts, stirring the sauce in between. Add a tiny splash of water if the sauce thickened up too much in the fridge.

You can freeze the chicken! You will want to freeze the chicken with the sauce in a freezer-safe container for up to 2 to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then reheat gently so the chicken stays tender.