This Thanksgiving Chicken Breast Recipe makes the juiciest chicken breast! Smothered in the flavors of thanksgiving like cranberries, fresh herbs, and white wine, this oven baked chicken breast dish has the most flavorful meat. Perfect for an alternative to turkey for Thanksgiving day, or an easy weeknight meal any night of the week.
❤️ Why you will love this recipe
- Easy: No need to marinate the chicken beforehand! All you have to do to make this easy dinner is sear it in an oven-safe skillet or pan, add the rest of the ingredients, and bake.
- Fast: It takes about 30 minutes to make this juicy chicken breast recipe from start to finish.
- Juicy: Did I mention it was juicy? There is not a hint of dry chicken! This meat is so moist and succulent, these are the BEST chicken breasts.
- Perfect For a Smaller Crowd: Not throwing a huge Thanksgiving dinner this year? This baked chicken breast recipe is perfect for 4-5 people to share.
- Enjoy anytime! Although I made this chicken breasts recipe for Thanksgiving, you can really enjoy it anytime. It’s perfect for weeknight dinners on busy weeknights as it comes together so quickly and goes with pretty much any side dish. This easy recipe is also great for a date night at home!
🗝️ Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- Chicken: I used boneless skinless chicken breasts for this recipe, however, skin-on bone-in breasts or chicken thighs would also be great choices of meat.
- Wine: Some dry white wine makes this chicken recipe so special! It also helps keep the chicken nice and moist.
- Cranberries: Either fresh or frozen are ideal. I have added dried cranberries before and they do work, but I prefer fresh.
- Fresh Herbs: Fresh garlic and rosemary. You can substitute a teaspoon of garlic powder and dried rosemary if needed.
- Simple seasoning: I threw together a seasoning blend made of simple ingredients: salt, ground black pepper, onion powder, and a couple of pinches of chili powder. Substitute cayenne or skip the heat if desired. There’s not much heat in this spice rub though. The chili just adds a little warmth.
🥣 How to make Thanksgiving Chicken
1. Preheat the oven: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/ degrees F.
2. Heat the skillet: Heat an oven-safe skillet on the stove over a high temperature with olive oil. I used a cast iron skillet as it gives a great sear and is perfect for baking in the oven.
3. Pat the chicken: Pat the chicken dry with paper towels.
4. Season and sear: Mix the salt, pepper, onion powder, and chili powder together in a bowl and sprinkle half of the seasoning over the chicken breasts. Using a pair of tongs or a fork, carefully add the chicken breasts to the skillet and spread them out evenly in a single layer.
5. Turn: After 4 minutes, turn the chicken over and season the other side.
6. Add the other ingredients: Mix the white wine and honey together and add it to the skillet along with the garlic, cranberries, and rosemary.
7. Bake: Bake chicken breast for 25-30 minutes, until they are heated through.
8. Test: Make sure the chicken is cooked properly, particularly in the thickest part of the meat. Ideally, stick a meat thermometer into the meat. If It reaches 165°F it is ready. An instant-read thermometer is the easiest to use but I have a dial one that works well too.
9. Let the chicken rest: For best results, rest the boneless chicken breasts for 5 minutes before serving. This step is crucial to locking in the delicious juices to make the juiciest chicken breasts.
10. Serve: Serve the chicken with any extra jus from the pan, along with your favorite side dishes. I’ve listed my favorites below!
🫙 Storage Instructions
- Store: Store any leftover chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Reheat: Reheat the chicken in the microwave or oven until piping hot. If you’re reheating them in a baking dish in the oven, cover the dish with aluminum foil to keep them moist. Add a little water to the dish as well.
🪄 Recipe Notes & Tips
- Make gravy: I love a good gravy, especially with holiday dinners. You can turn any extra juices left over in the pan into a gravy. Begin by setting the chicken breasts aside and straining the juices so the extra bits of rosemary and cranberries are removed (you can discard these). Return the jus back to the pan or a saucepan over medium heat. Add 1-2 cups of chicken stock (as much as is needed). Stir until well combined. Make a cornstarch slurry by adding a teaspoon of cornstarch to a small bowl along with a tablespoon of the jus. Mix them together making a paste, and slowly add more jus until you can pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Mix well and continue stirring until it thickens.
- Cooking times: Cooking time will depend on your oven, the size of your chicken breasts as well as the thickness of the chicken breast
- Safe temperature: It’s very important to make sure the inside of your chicken breasts has reached a safe temperature for eating. The best way to check the internal temperature is by inserting an instant read thermometer into the thickest part of the breast. Once it reaches 74°C/165°F it is ready to rest and eat.
- Even cooking: If you want to make sure this easy chicken dinner cooks evenly, you can pound the chicken breasts with a meat mallet or rolling pin until they have even thickness. I found this wasn’t necessary.
- From frozen: I’ve tested this recipe out with both fresh and frozen chicken breasts. The frozen doesn’t quite have the same punch of flavor, but it’s still delicious nonetheless. To cook this Thanksgiving Chicken Breast Recipe from frozen, don’t sear the frozen chicken. Add everything to a baking dish or oven-safe skillet and cover it with aluminum foil. Bake for 25 minutes and then remove the foil. Bake for a further 25 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked all the way through. Rest and serve!
- Make more! This is a great recipe to double for a crowd! If you’re doubling the recipe, sear the chicken as before, but place everything into a large baking dish to cook instead of a cast iron skillet.
🍽️ What can I serve with this juicy baked chicken breast recipe?
There are plenty of options but here are a few of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes:
If you’re looking for even more Thanksgiving side dish ideas, check out my post of 64 Kid-Friendly Thanksgiving Side dishes (perfect for picky eaters!).
😋 More holiday recipes you will love
- Easy Roasted Turkey Recipe
- Christmas Roast Beef Recipe
- Slow Cooker Mulled Wine
- Healthy Candied Walnuts
- Sugar-Free Chocolate Fudge
- Air Fryer Roasted Carrots with Honey Butter
Have you made this recipe? I’d love to know <3 Tag me (@makehealthyrecipes) on Facebook and Instagram, Pin it on Pinterest, and please give it 5 stars with a review below! Don’t forget to subscribe to the email list (top right of this page) for sparkly new recipes in your inbox.
📖 Recipe
Thanksgiving Chicken Breast Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts see note 1
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 cup cranberries fresh or frozen
- 3 sprigs fresh rosemary or 1-2 tsp dried
- 1/2 cup dry white wine I used a chardonnay
- 2 teaspoons honey
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/ 360 degrees F.
- Heat an oven-safe skillet on the stove over a high temperature with olive oil. I used a cast iron skillet as it gives a great sear and is perfect for baking in the oven.
- Pat the chicken dry with paper towels.
- Mix the salt, pepper, onion powder, and chili powder together in a bowl and sprinkle half of the seasoning over one side of the chicken breasts. Using a pair of tongs or a fork, carefully add the chicken breasts to the skillet and spread them out evenly in a single layer.
- After 4 minutes, turn the chicken over and season the other side with the rest of the seasoning.
- Mix the white wine and honey together and add them to the skillet along with the garlic, cranberries, and rosemary.
- Bake chicken breast for 25-30 minutes, until they are heated through.
- Make sure the chicken is cooked properly, particularly in the thickest part of the meat. Stick a meat thermometer into the meat. If It reaches 165°F it is ready. An instant-read thermometer is the easiest to use but I have a dial one that works well too.
- For best results, rest the boneless chicken breasts for 5 minutes before serving. This step is crucial to locking in the delicious juices to make the juiciest chicken breasts.
- Serve the chicken along with any extra jus with your favorite side dishes. I've listed my favorites in the post above!
Notes
- Chicken: You can substitute bone-in skin-on chicken breasts or chicken thighs if desired. They may take a little longer to cook.
- Make gravy: You can turn any extra juices left over in the pan into gravy. Begin by setting the chicken breasts aside and straining the juices so the extra bits of rosemary and cranberries are removed (you can discard these). Return the jus back to the pan or a saucepan over medium heat. Add 1-2 cups of chicken stock (as much as is needed). Stir until well combined. Make a cornstarch slurry by adding a teaspoon of cornstarch to a small bowl along with a tablespoon of the jus. Mix them together making a paste, and slowly add more jus until you can pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Mix well and continue stirring until it thickens.
- Cooking times: Cooking time will depend on your oven, the size of your chicken breasts as well as the thickness of the chicken breast
- Safe temperature: It's very important to make sure the inside of your chicken breasts has reached a safe temperature for eating. The best way to check the internal temperature is by inserting an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the breast. Once it reaches 74°C/165°F it is ready to rest and eat.
- Even cooking: If you want to make sure this easy chicken dinner cooks evenly, you can pound the chicken breasts with a meat mallet or rolling pin until they have even thickness. I found this wasn't necessary.
- From frozen: I've tested this recipe out with both fresh and frozen chicken breasts. The frozen doesn't quite have the same punch of flavor, but it's still delicious nonetheless. To cook this Thanksgiving Chicken Breast Recipe from frozen, don't sear the frozen chicken. Add everything to a baking dish or oven-safe skillet and cover it with aluminum foil. Bake for 25 minutes and then remove the foil. Bake for a further 25 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked all the way through. Rest and serve!
- Make more! This is a great recipe to double for a crowd! If you're doubling the recipe, sear the chicken as before, but place everything into a large baking dish to cook instead of a cast iron skillet.
Hello I was wondering how much rosemary? And fresh or dry? It doesn’t say
Hi there,
I added 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, so 2-3 sprigs are ideal. If you’re using dried rosemary I’d use around 2 teaspoons. Thanks for letting me know, I’ve updated the recipe now =]
Best,
Bethany