Cranberry Catalina Chicken
Dinner doesn’t get much easier than this simple Cranberry Catalina Chicken freezer meal!! Two minutes to toss it all in a bag and you’re done! Don’t let the ingredients scare you – this is a delightful meal that is a great balance of sweet and savory!
Cranberry Catalina Chicken Freezer Meal
This Cranberry Catalina Chicken is my adaptation of a recipe I love, from Pam at Over The Big Moon. Her original recipe calls for French dressing, and I like it, but I somehow never seem to have French dressing on hand when I need it. I’ve seen other recipes floating around in the blog-o-sphere substituting Catalina or Russian dressing, and so that’s how this one was born. I’ve actually made all three variations, and they are all great! Today’s is the Catalina variety, because, well, that’s what I had on hand. 😉
You know how some days you just want dinner to magically appear on the table, without you having to actually cook anything? Yeah, I have a lot of those days.
Dinner time rolls around and I don’t have the mental capacity or the energy to even come up with an attempt at an idea for dinner. But dinner needs to get on the table NOW. And I have 20 minutes MAX or there will be mutiny, or worse, a reenactment of a scene from Lord of the Flies. <–THIS happens way too often. THIS is why I do freezer meals. THIS right here!
When I have slow cooker meals already prepped in the freezer, I can pull them out the night before (or more honestly, the morning of), and it isn’t too early to think about dinner. Or I can even pull them out the morning of, while I’m not rushed and kids aren’t fighting and I’m not hounded teenagers to do their homework or else. In the morning, I can put something in the slow cooker, and then basically leave it until we are ready to eat.
There is really not much to tell you about this one. You’re going to need a few very basic ingredients, and a gallon-size zip top bag. That’s it.
Preparing the Freezer Meal
As freezer meals go, it doesn’t get much easier than this. There is no prep worked involved other than to open a few bottles or cans.
Place all your ingredients into the zip top bag, seal tightly, and label. Then stick it in your freezer. Done. (And I know you already have your own bottle of dry onion soup mix already, but just in case…here’s the link to the recipe if you still have yet to make your own. Go make it. Go now. I’ll wait…)
Cooking Your Cranberry Catalina Chicken
To make, you can either take the bag out of the freezer the night before and thaw overnight in the fridge, then put it in the slow cooker the next morning… OR … (and please don’t laugh, but this is totally what I usually end up doing) pull the bag out the morning of, cut the bag off the frozen cranberry-catalina-chicken ice cube, and stick the entire frozen cube in the slow cooker and set it to cook.
My family likes to have this served over rice, and my husband likes a lot of sauce with his, so I often double the sauce ingredients. Especially if I’m only making one of this meal (which is rare, because I almost always make two at a time), because, what in the world do you do with a half a bottle of Catalina dressing leftover?? (My family will not touch salads if it was the last food on the planet, let alone a salad with Catalina dressing…) I’m open to suggestions on how to use up the leftover Catalina dressing. 🙂
Dinner doesn't get much easier than this simple Cranberry Catalina Chicken freezer meal!! Two minutes to toss it all in a bag and you're done! Don't let the ingredients scare you - this is a delightful meal that is a great balance of sweet and savory! You can substitute French or Russian dressing for the Catalina. They are all great! *I keep 8" round aluminum cake pans around for this very thing - you can find them at Walmart in the wedding craft section if they are not with the normally cooking pans. You can also use stainless steel stackable pots or silicone. Please DO NOT use glass or Pyrex or Corningware as those manufacturers have not rated their products to be used under pressure. If you go with stackable pans, you can cook the rice at the same time. Just increase your time to whatever recipe you use for your rice (it's usually about 12 minutes for white rice) - it won't hurt the chicken to cook a little longer. As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases. Nutrition information provided as an estimate only.
Cranberry Catalina Chicken
Ingredients
Instructions
To make:
To make in the Instant Pot:
Notes
Recommended Products
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6
Serving Size: 6 servings
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 441Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 2gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 129mgSodium: 1020mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 1gSugar: 24gProtein: 48g
JBradley
Thursday 2nd of February 2023
I have made this many times with the catalina dressing and with french dressing and both work great. I adore whole berry cranberry sauce and this dish served on a bed of rice makes me so happy. My picky family likes it too so that is a total success!
Nancy Lee
Thursday 25th of August 2022
I served this to a crowd of about 50 people back in the 80's. It was new to me and couldn't imagine the ingredients called for tasting good, but oh was I surprised when I tasted it. It was fantastic. People were asking for more sauce. I made it with French dressing that time. Well, here it is 2022 and I'm going to serve it again to about 35 people. This is the most delicious way to serve chicken, as far as I'm concerned. This time I'm going to make extra sauce because people will be asking for it. I'll make it at home first with the Catalina to see how it tastes, because I only know and love the French. I'll do that this weekend. Thank you for posting this recipe for us. It is a wonderful, lovely looking meal.
Kelly hanerhoff
Saturday 22nd of February 2020
1 cup Catalina dressing 1/2 cup salsa 1 lb. Ground beef or Turkey Brown the ground meat, drain grease add dressing and salsa. We use this as taco salad meat. Put over lettuce cheese,etc. Then we crush up tortillas chips on the top.
Carrie Bortz
Saturday 21st of July 2018
I'm going to make this and am looking forward to trying it. I wanted to offer a suggestion for the leftover Catalina dressing. It sounds odd, but try it with boneless chicken breast, sauerkraut, and dijon mustard. Layer in the crockpot and cook 4-6 hrs. Ear it like that or shred the chicken for sandwiches. It's very good!
Candi
Saturday 21st of July 2018
Carrie, that sounds really good actually! Thanks for the suggestion!! I love trying new combinations like that. :)
Jean Neuhart
Friday 9th of June 2017
I'm a big fan of the slow cooker and this recipe sounds delicious. Going to give it a try.
Candi
Friday 9th of June 2017
Thank you Jean! I hope you will like it - it is one of my favorites!