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Citrus Garlic Cranberry Chicken

"Here's a new twist on a tasty easy dish with a quick prep time. It's perfect for after work or when you want a home cooked meal but don't have the time or energy for a big production. Serve with a green vegetable and the potato of your choice, and there you go, a quick YUMMY dish. Good for pot luck dinners too. Holds well in a slow-cooker set on lowest setting. And remember, it's not chemistry -- it's fun!"

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and cranberry match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 148 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

The recipe

4 servings
Prep15 min
Cook40 min

Ingredients

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Arrange the chicken breast halves in a 9x13-inch baking dish and season them generously with freshly ground black pepper.

  2. In a bowl, whisk together the Catalina dressing, orange zest, dry onion soup mix, minced garlic, and drained sun-dried tomato matchsticks until well combined.

  3. Add the jellied cranberry sauce to the bowl and mash it with a fork until it is broken up and mostly smooth.

  4. Pour the sauce evenly over the chicken, turning the pieces so both sides are coated.

  5. Bake uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes, basting the chicken once halfway through, until it reaches 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part.

  6. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes, then spoon the pan sauce over each piece before serving.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Chicken + cranberrytop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together148 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Orange + cranberrytop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together230 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Tomato + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together14,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Chicken + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together10,839 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, onion, cranberry, sauce, tomato, garlic, pepper):

  1. Avocadobetter flavor fit
  2. Limebetter flavor fit
  3. Cherrybetter flavor fit
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, onion, cranberry, sauce, tomato, garlic, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).