Christmas Chicken Thighs
These Christmas Chicken Thighs are a gorgeous alternative to turkey, perfect for when you fancy mixing things up a bit. Packed with reduced-fat sausage meat, dried cranberries, and sage, each bite is bursting with classic stuffing-style flavours. You’ll use cocktail sticks or skewers to keep everything snug in a bacon medallion bundle. The real joy comes when you finally unwrap them with your knife and fork, and serve them with your favourite trimmings!
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NutritionPer Serving
- Calories228
- Carbs7.6g
- Protein35g
- Fat6.3g
- Saturates1.8g
- Sugars4.8g
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For the full list of ingredients and comprehensive instructions, please see the recipe card below. Before you scroll, there’s important stuff in the blurb!
Santa’s not coming to town until Christmas Chicken Thighs are on the menu! This hearty, festive main is a brilliant alternative to turkey. Stuffed with reduced-fat sausage meat, dried cranberries, and sage, every bite bursts with Yuletide joy.
We’ve wrapped each thigh in lean bacon medallions to keep things indulgent and lighter on calories, then brushed them with a juicy layer of cranberry sauce 10 minutes before they finish baking. Trust us—once you tuck into these succulent thighs, you’ll be in roast dinner heaven!
The flavours are versatile enough to pair with all your favourite seasonal veg. Our go-to is a dollop of creamy mash, roasted carrots and parsnips, and some garlicky sprouts.
Looking for more slimming-friendly ideas? Check out our blog on alternative Christmas dinner inspirations!
What diets are these Christmas Chicken Thighs suitable for?
These Christmas Chicken Thighs are suitable for dairy-free diets.
They can be made gluten-free, as long as you use gluten-free reduced-fat pork sausages in the filling.
Please double or triple check all of your ingredients if you’re cooking for people with allergies.
Do you need any special ingredients to make Christmas Chicken Thighs?
You’ll notice we’ve used a short list of simple, festive ingredients to give this recipe its magic.
Make sure you’ve got cocktail sticks or skewers at home, to help keep the filling inside your bacon-wrapped chicken thighs secure.
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Cocktail sticks will keep your chicken thighs wrapped nice and tight.
We’ve used cranberry sauce AND dried cranberries!
How many calories are in Christmas Chicken Thighs?
There are 228 calories per portion in Christmas Chicken Thighs, which means they fall into our Everyday Light category.
To cut down the amount of calories even more, you can simply halve the portion size and serve with a healthy accompaniment!
Christmas Chicken Thighs are perfect if you’re following a calorie-controlled diet, and fits well with any one of the major diet plans such as Weight Watchers.
As a guide, an average man needs around 2,500kcal (10,500kJ) a day to maintain a healthy body weight. For an average woman, that figure is around 2,000kcal (8,400kJ) a day. Obviously, if your goal is to lose weight then you might want to adjust these slightly! You can read more about these recommendations on the NHS website.
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with non-stick baking parchment.
Step 2
Squeeze the sausage meat into a mixing bowl, discarding the casings. Add the sage, cranberries, garlic granules, onion granules and thyme. Mix together (we find it’s easier to use your hands so that you can get everything evenly mixed).
Step 3
Lay the chicken thighs out flat and spread with an even layer of the sausage mixture. Roll up each chicken thigh tightly, and then secure with a cocktail stick or skewer to seal in the filling.
Step 4
Place each rolled chicken thigh onto the lined baking tray and, using half the cranberry sauce, brush the top of each. Lay a bacon medallion on top of each chicken thigh.
Step 5
Place into the oven for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush the remaining cranberry sauce on top of each slice of bacon. Return to the oven for a further 5-10 minutes, until the chicken and sausage are cooked through and the outside is turning golden brown. Remove the cocktail stick before serving.
What could I serve with Christmas Chicken Thighs?
Christmas Chicken Thighs make for a delicious alternative to serving turkey. They go really well with any of these slimming-friendly sides:
How do you know when Christmas Chicken Thighs are cooked?
You’ll need to cook these Christmas Chicken Thighs for around 35-40 minutes in total, until the chicken and sausage are cooked through and the outside is turning golden brown.
What’s left of the cranberry sauce can be brushed on top 5-10 minutes before they leave the oven.
Here in the UK, the standard advice is to cook food until it has reached 70°C and maintained that temperature for 2 minutes. This is to keep you and your family safe!
How long can you keep Christmas Chicken Thighs in the fridge?
This recipe is best made from scratch and served immediately. We wouldn’t recommend saving leftovers in the fridge.
Can I freeze Christmas Chicken Thighs?
This recipe isn’t suitable for freezing.
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Christmas Chicken Thighs
These slimming-friendly Christmas Chicken Thighs are a gorgeous alternative to turkey, perfect for when you fancy mixing things up a bit.
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Prep Time
15 MINS
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Cook Time
40 MINS
- KCals 228
- Carbs 7.6G
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with non-stick baking parchment.
- Squeeze the sausage meat into a mixing bowl, discarding the casings. Add the sage, cranberries, garlic granules, onion granules and thyme. Mix together (we find it's easier to use your hands so that you can get everything evenly mixed).
- Lay the chicken thighs out flat and spread with an even layer of the sausage mixture. Roll up each chicken thigh tightly, and then secure with a cocktail stick or skewer to seal in the filling.
- Place each rolled chicken thigh onto the lined baking tray and, using half the cranberry sauce, brush the top of each. Lay a bacon medallion on top of each chicken thigh.
- Place into the oven for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush the remaining cranberry sauce on top of each slice of bacon. Return to the oven for a further 5-10 minutes, until the chicken and sausage are cooked through and the outside is turning golden brown. Remove the cocktail stick before serving.
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2 comments
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ElaineThursday 5th December 2024
Which book,is the Christmas Chicken Thighs in
HollyTuesday 10th December 2024
Hi Elaine, this recipe is exclusive to our website so doesn’t currently appear in any of our books, hope that helps!
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