Cranberry Chicken Casserole has been a favourite dish in our family for generations (well three anyway). It uses cranberry sauce, adding some sweetness so that children will love it too
Cranberry Chicken Casserole
The recipe calls for red wine but, as the alcohol burns off in the cooking, it's still okay for kids. The rest of the secret of the sauce comes from a tin of condensed tomato soup. Believe me, it all works together to make a great-tasting casserole, fit to serve to guests.
I first made Cranberry Chicken Casserole in my I-love-spending-time-cooking days, and I used a whole chicken which I would cut into joints. Fast forward to Everyday Cooking and I buy packs of boneless thighs and breasts and the most I do is to take off the skins and cut the breasts in half
I sometimes make a variation on this casserole, which uses tomato puree as well as tomato soup. Just double the quantities of chicken, onions, mushrooms, lemon juice and cranberry sauce. Use one can of condensed soup and one small can (140g) of tomato puree with 250ml wine. The method is the same, but this version is slightly less sweet.
I tend to make this second version most of the time as it freezes really well and I can feel virtuous that I have a special meal in the freezer. As it's a favourite with all my children, stepchildren, etc. I always have this in the freezer for a pre-Christmas meal.
If you do make a large batch of Basic Chicken Casserole, you could jazz that up with shallots, mushrooms, cranberry sauce and tomato puree instead of cooking it all from scratch.
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Cranberry Chicken Casserole
Ingredients
- 200 g button mushrooms
- 200 g shallots, or onions
- 4 chicken thighs
- 2 chicken breasts, large
- 2 tablespoons oil (30ml)
- 1 jar cranberry sauce (250-300g)
- 1 tin condensed soup (300g)
- 150 ml red wine
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (30ml)
Equipment
Instructions
Preparation:
- Clean and trim the mushrooms
- Peel the shallots or onions and finely chop
- Remove the skin from the chicken
- Cut the chicken breasts in half
For the Cranberry Chicken Casserole:
- Heat the oil on medium-high in a very large saucepan or stockpot
- Cook the shallots (or onions) and mushrooms until golden (about 10 minutes). Remove from the pan with a fish-slice or slotted spoon and put aside on a plate
- Put the chicken in the pan and brown on both sides (5-10 minutes)If your pan isn't big enough for all the chicken at once, do this in batches
- Remove the chicken from the pan and add the condensed soup and the cranberry sauce with some of the wine. Stir until the soup is smooth, then add the rest of the wine with the lemon juice and bring to the boil
- Put the chicken, mushrooms and shallots back in the pan. Season with salt
- Bring to the boil then turn the heat down to low and simmer for 45 minutes. Taste and add pepper and more salt if needed.
Chris Jones says
I have made this a few times now and the family love it, However I do prow in a small hand full of dried cranberry's (Craisens I think they are called) and serve it up with either plain boiled potatoes or herby dumplings, or even both. Fantastic on a cold day.
Susie Collings says
Hi Chris, Good idea! I might pinch that one 🙂