Place the lid on the slow cooker and set it to LOW heat. Cook for 5 to 6 hours on LOW, or for 2.5 to 3.5 hours on HIGH if you need dinner faster. The LOW and SLOW setting is genuinely preferable here: the longer, gentler cooking produces chicken that is more tender, more thoroughly flavored by the sauce, and far less likely to dry out than chicken cooked quickly on HIGH heat. Chicken breasts are susceptible to becoming dry and stringy when overcooked, and the forgiving nature of LOW heat gives you a wider window of good results. The chicken is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 degrees Celsius) and pulls apart easily with a fork. Resist the temptation to open the lid frequently during cooking — each time the lid is opened, heat escapes and extends the cooking time by 15 to 20 minutes.
Step 5: Serve
Once the chicken is cooked through, you have two serving options. The first is to serve the breasts whole, placed on plates and generously spooned with the sauce from the slow cooker. The second — and the one that the sauce particularly rewards — is to shred the chicken directly in the slow cooker using two forks, pulling the meat apart into generous chunks or fine shreds depending on your preference, then stirring the shredded meat into the sauce until fully coated. Shredded cranberry chicken served over rice or mashed potatoes with a generous ladle of sauce over the top is one of the most satisfying presentations of this dish. The sauce soaks into the rice or gets absorbed into the potatoes in a way that makes every bite equally rich and flavorful.
What to Serve It With
This dish is best served over something that can absorb and showcase the sauce, because the sauce is genuinely excellent and deserves not to be wasted. Fluffy white rice is the most classic and most practical pairing — a scoop of rice topped with shredded or whole cranberry chicken and a generous spoonful of the glossy sauce from the pot is a complete, satisfying dinner that requires nothing else. Creamy mashed potatoes are an equally good choice, with the tangy cranberry sauce serving as a natural gravy. Buttered egg noodles are another option that works particularly well, the slight richness of the noodles balancing the acidity of the cranberry beautifully. For a lower-carbohydrate option, the chicken and its sauce served alongside roasted broccoli, steamed green beans, or a simple green salad works very well — the bitterness of the greens provides a nice contrast to the sweet-tangy sauce.
