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11.05.17

Paleo Orange Cranberry Chicken {Whole30 Option}

Whole 30 Nut Free

We take crisp, savory spiced chicken thighs and a healthy, refined sugar free orange cranberry sauce and bake them together to delicious perfection!  This Paleo Orange Cranberry Chicken is easy to make, gluten-free, dairy-free, and has a Whole30 friendly option.

We take crisp, savory spiced chicken thighs and a healthy, refined sugar free orange cranberry sauce and bake them together to delicious perfection!  This Paleo Orange Cranberry Chicken is easy to make, gluten-free, dairy-free, and has a Whole30 friendly option.

Until now, I never made a one-pan chicken with cranberry sauce but I’m definitely glad I tried it out.

This orange cranberry chicken is SO good, and it also happens to be really easy to make too – ready in under 30 minutes without much prep at all.

After making the muffins I posted yesterday, I still had the cranberry orange on the brain but wanted to take a different angle – and make something that my family would (hopefully) eat for dinner.  Treats are optional, dinner – not optional!

We take crisp, savory spiced chicken thighs and a healthy, refined sugar free orange cranberry sauce and bake them together to delicious perfection!  This Paleo Orange Cranberry Chicken is easy to make, gluten-free, dairy-free, and has a Whole30 friendly option.

Since I typically like to make sure my dinner recipes have a Whole30 compliant option, I tested this cranberry sauce both with maple syrup (not Whole30) and with date paste.

There wasn’t a noticeable difference in flavor since the orange and cranberries, plus spices really take over to flavor the dish.  Whether you use maple syrup or decide to go with date paste, you get just enough sweetness to balance the tart and savory flavors in the sauce and chicken.  You can also adjust the sweetness to preference – just don’t burn yourself while tasting the sauce!

(By the way – if you want to make the date paste, I provided instructions in the “notes” section of the recipe box.)

We take crisp, savory spiced chicken thighs and a healthy, refined sugar free orange cranberry sauce and bake them together to delicious perfection!  This Paleo Orange Cranberry Chicken is easy to make, gluten-free, dairy-free, and has a Whole30 friendly option.

As for the chicken, I went with boneless, skinless chicken thighs, since they happen to be a favorite in my house and I love that they’re less expensive than the breasts but have more flavor.

That said, you can make this with chicken breasts as well if you prefer them!  Just watch the baking time to make sure you don’t under or overcook them – juices should run clear with no pink in the center.

You can probably also make this with pork chops or even pork tenderloin following the same instructions, just watching/adjusting the baking time depending on the thickness of the meat.

We take crisp, savory spiced chicken thighs and a healthy, refined sugar free orange cranberry sauce and bake them together to delicious perfection!  This Paleo Orange Cranberry Chicken is easy to make, gluten-free, dairy-free, and has a Whole30 friendly option.

So, the result for my family was a total win – and I’ll be honest – that surprised me!  My two younger kids are still very picky eaters and my expectations for them eating new dinner recipes are low, to say the least.

Not only did they like this (and say they’d eat it again!) but my older daughter (the “paleo” kid) ate the leftovers cold for her snack after school the next day.  When she does that, I know the recipe must be good 🙂

I hope you’re ready to get cooking!  This one will be a breeze – hope you enjoy!

Paleo Orange Cranberry Chicken {Whole30 Option}

We take crisp, savory spiced chicken thighs and a healthy, refined sugar free orange cranberry sauce and bake them together to delicious perfection!  This Paleo Orange Cranberry Chicken is easy to make, gluten-free, dairy-free, and has a Whole30 friendly option.

Paleo Orange Cranberry Chicken

We take crisp, savory spiced chicken thighs and a healthy, refined sugar free orange cranberry sauce and bake them together to delicious perfection!  This Paleo Orange Cranberry Chicken is easy to make, gluten-free, dairy-free, and has a Whole30 friendly option.
Author: Michele
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 6
Print this Recipe
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5 from 7 votes

Ingredients

For the Chicken:

  • 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • 2 tbsp ghee preferred, or coconut oil for browning
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/8 tsp pepper
  • 3/4 tsp onion powder
  • 3/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp organic poultry seasoning
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon

For the Cranberry Sauce:

  • 1 cup whole fresh cranberries
  • 6 Tbsp orange juice
  • Finely grated zest of one large orange 1 1/2 - 2 tsp
  • 2-3 tbsp pure maple syrup or adjust for sweetness preference or use 2 tbsp date paste for whole 30*)
  • 1/2 tsp tapioca starch or arrowroot powder
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Combine the salt, pepper, and other spices for the chicken in a small bowl. 

  2. Heat a large one proof skillet oven medium high heat and add the ghee or coconut oil.  Rub salt/spice mixture into chicken and place in hot pan, smooth side down.  Brown one side for 5 minutes then flip and add cranberry mixture (see below), place in preheated oven as instructed below.

  3. Either beforehand, or while the chicken browns, combine cranberries, orange juice, zest, and maple syrup (or date paste) in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir and bring to a boil. 

  4. Once boiling, lower the heat and whisk in the tapioca starch, continue to boil and stir until thickened, 1-2 minutes. Stir in the spices for the cranberry sauce, then remove from heat.

  5. Pour sauce over the browned chicken and place the skillet in the oven, bake for 10-15 more minutes until chicken is cooked through and sauce is bubbling.

  6. Spoon any additional sauce with pan juices over the chicken to serve, enjoy!

Recipe Notes

*To make date paste, place a handful of pitted medjool dates (about 1/2 cup) in 3-4 Tbsp of very hot water to soften.  After 5 minutes you can stir to make sure they'e soft, then blend the mixture in  a high speed blender or food processor. Blend until smooth and add water if needed to get the right consistency. 

Nutrition

Calories: 216kcal
Fat: 9g
Saturated fat: 4g
Cholesterol: 120mg
Sodium: 296mg
Potassium: 340mg
Carbohydrates: 9g
Sugar: 6g
Protein: 22g
Vitamin A: 1.4%
Vitamin C: 13%
Calcium: 1.9%
Iron: 5.5%

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @PaleoRunningMomma on Instagram and hashtag it #PaleoRunningMomma

What I used To Make My Paleo Orange Cranberry Chicken:

We take crisp, savory spiced chicken thighs and a healthy, refined sugar free orange cranberry sauce and bake them together to delicious perfection!  This Paleo Orange Cranberry Chicken is easy to make, gluten-free, dairy-free, and has a Whole30 friendly option.

Want More Paleo Chicken Recipes?  Try One of These!

One-Pan Bacon Wrapped Chicken {Whole30}

One-Pan Lemon Garlic Chicken {Whole30}

Creamy Chicken with Brussels Sprouts and Bacon {Whole30}

Chicken and Pork Fried Cauliflower Rice {Whole30}

Paleo “Breaded” Chicken Cutlets {Whole30}

Crispy Chicken Tenders {Whole30, Nut Free}

Chicken Pesto Spaghetti Squash {Whole30}

Tell Me!

Which meat do you cook most often?

Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Paleo Running Momma!

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About Michele

More than a little into running and paleo recipes (yoga now too!) but I'm not here to rain on your grains (or anything else) so come along for the ride! I do a little too much of everything (except cleaning), and I enjoy laughing at myself. As long as I'm the one making the jokes, that is. Just kidding. So bring me your angst, your appetite and your frying pan and climb aboard!

Reader Interactions

Reader Reviews & Comments

  1. Lisa says

    November 5, 2017 at 10:58 am


    What a beautiful fall dish. The colors!! This one’s at the top of my next Chicken dinner.

    Reply
  2. Samantha Ryan says

    November 5, 2017 at 2:01 pm

    This looks amazing! I’ve got a bunch of little mandarin oranges and half a bag of cranberries that I’ve been looking to use up and this looks perfect! Even my non-Paleo dad is looking forward to this!

    Reply
  3. Curtis Michael Rabideau says

    November 5, 2017 at 3:20 pm


    Love the recipes! All my life I have struggled with an addiction to sugar. The more svieet things I ate. the more I wanted. I couldn’t eat just one piece of something without wanting more. Last week I read this book //preview.tinyurl.com/yb5lfrk4
    Since learning about nutrition and the glycemic index, my relationship with food has changed dramatically. I have learned that there are healthy alternatives for sugar, and I can still have delicious desserts and not feel deprived!
    When out to dinner with friends and they order dessert. I am no longer bothered seeing the dessert, because I know I can go home and have something just as delicious that won’t spike my blood sugar and is even good for me!

    Reply
  4. Ann says

    November 5, 2017 at 8:24 pm


    Followed your recipe to the letter tonight & not only does it taste fantastic, but it makes the houae smell really good! Thank you for a fresh idea for cooking with chicken!

    Reply
  5. Leanne says

    November 6, 2017 at 9:24 pm

    This was fantastic! You are fast becoming one of my favorite paleo blogs! Everything has been bang on. It is so helpful to have recipes that use some of the same ingredients so the fresh goods we don’t commonly use don’t wind up going to waste.

    Reply
    • Michele says

      November 9, 2017 at 9:43 am

      So happy you enjoyed this!

      Reply
  6. Suzzannah Gittner says

    November 7, 2017 at 4:42 pm

    I made this with pork cutlets! My kiddos loved it!

    Reply
    • Michele says

      November 9, 2017 at 9:39 am

      So happy it worked out!

      Reply
  7. Christina Graven says

    November 7, 2017 at 8:23 pm


    Wow! We had this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic! We made it with the chicken thighs and put it on top of cauliflower rice and asparagus. It was so delicious! The flavors were really unique and very fall-like. Then my daughter followed it up with your pumpkin snickerdoodle recipe for dessert! Thank you for your wonderful blog and recipes!

    Reply
    • Michele says

      November 9, 2017 at 9:37 am

      That sounds like the perfect dinner and dessert! So happy you enjoyed 🙂

      Reply
  8. Nicole says

    November 10, 2017 at 12:19 am


    Loved it! Do you know if there is a good refined sugar free canned cranberry sauce?
    Thanks!

    Reply
  9. Corrine Greene says

    November 13, 2017 at 12:31 pm


    My family loved this! I made a few mods: bone-in chicken thighs, but skinless; whole bag of cranberries, no starch, maybe 1-1.5c orange juice, quartered clementines, used about 3/4c sugar, no cloves.

    Such a great recipe! My husband asked me to keep this in his favorites! Thank you!

    Reply
  10. Kathleen says

    December 4, 2017 at 1:58 am


    I love using cranberries when I can. This savory recipe looks outstanding, and a little one approves in your house!

    Reply
  11. Kathleen says

    March 7, 2018 at 2:49 am

    This is hands down the best chicken recipe ever! I am so glad I have extra cranberries in the freezer, and found frozen cranberries at the health food store. It’s easy, and I’m asked to make it often. Wonderful balance of flavors, I follow the recipe exactly for best results. Thank you Running Momma!

    Reply
    • Michele says

      March 8, 2018 at 7:51 am

      So thrilled you loved it!

      Reply
  12. Sherry Majeski says

    January 14, 2019 at 7:40 pm

    Excellent!! Super easy and delicious. Used chicken breast, boneless, skinless and they were perfect. I cook them with a meat thermometer, so not sure of time.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Weekend Highlights and Around the Web Round Up - Sweet and Strong says:
    November 20, 2017 at 8:09 am

    […] cooking dinner for my family the week along with Thanksgiving Dinner.  I am excited to try this Cranberry Orange Chicken.  Another of my favorite group dinner recipes is this Walnut Crusted […]

    Reply
  2. Garlic Chipotle Lime Chicken in the Instant Pot {Paleo, Whole30 Option} | The Paleo Running Momma says:
    April 4, 2018 at 9:45 am

    […] Cranberry Orange Chicken {Paleo, Whole30 Option} […]

    Reply

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Welcome!

Hi! I’m so happy you stopped by! My name is Michele and I’m a Paleo eater and recipe creator, runner, mom of 3, and the gal behind Paleo Running Momma! Over here you’ll find real-food, clean eating family favorites that you’ll be excited to share with your loved ones. I hope you stay awhile, eat, savor, and enjoy!

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