Freezer Meal Dump Recipes

With just a handful of ingredients and just a few minutes of your time, you can prepare a delicious freezer chicken recipe that everyone in the family will love. The combination of sweet maple syrup and tangy cranberries creates a flavourful sauce that pairs perfectly with poultry. Once you try this simple one-pot maple cranberry chicken, you’ll be sure to make a double batch the next time you prepare it.

Maple Cranberry Chicken Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 5 large white mushrooms, sliced
• ½ cup maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon rosemary
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

For day of cooking:

• ¼ cup dried cranberries 

Assembly instructions:

1. Place the green onions, white mushrooms, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, rosemary, and minced garlic in a large freezer bag. Pinch the top together and squish the bag to combine the ingredients.
2. Put the chicken breasts in the bag and seal. Be sure to remove all excess air.
3. Squeeze the bag again to coat the chicken in the sauce and seasonings. 
4. Lay the bag flat and freeze.

Serving instructions:

1. Thaw the frozen ingredients completely.
2. Pour the chicken and sauce in a skillet and cook over medium heat until the chicken is cooked through.
3. Halfway through the cook time, add the dried cranberries and stir to combine.

How Do You Prepare Chicken for the Freezer?

Raw chicken is one of the easiest ingredients to prep for freezing! All you need to do is remove it from the package and transfer the chicken to a freezer bag. You can freeze your chicken plain or add a sauce or marinade to the bag to speed up prep time for dinner. Once you have the ingredients added to your freezer bag, make sure to squeeze out as much air as possible before sealing it. This will help prevent freezer burn while your chicken is in the freezer.

How Long Can You Keep Chicken in the Freezer Before Cooking?

If your chicken is frozen properly, you can keep it stored for several months. To ensure your chicken stays safe in the freezer, make sure it stays continuously frozen. Once the chicken is frozen, it can be stored for up to nine months.

How Do You Keep Chicken from Getting Freezer Burn?

Once you have your maple cranberry chicken prepared, you don’t want to ruin it with freezer burn! The key to keeping your chicken from getting freezer burn is to remove as much air as possible from the bag or container first. Then, make sure you maintain your freezer while your food is stored. In addition to keeping the freezer set to the proper temperature, it’s also important to clean the freezer out regularly. An overfilled freezer could cause issues with freezer burn down the road.

What to serve with Maple Cranberry Chicken:

• Couscous Tabbouleh
• Cilantro Corn
• Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes
• Roasted Red Skinned Potatoes with Rosemary
• Crunchy Kale Parmesan Salad
• Firehouse Green Beans with Bacon
• Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes
• Honey Glazed Maple Carrots
• Rice
• Peas

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Maple Cranberry Chicken

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chicken, chicken dump

Ingredients

• 5 chicken breasts boneless, skinless
• 3 green onions sliced
• 5 large white mushrooms sliced
• ½ cup maple syrup
• 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1/8 tsp. rosemary
• 2 cloves garlic minced

For day of cooking:

• ¼ cup dried cranberries

Instructions

Assembly instructions:

1. Place the green onions, white mushrooms, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, rosemary, and minced garlic in a large freezer bag. Pinch the top together and squish the bag to combine the ingredients.

2. Put the chicken breasts in the bag and seal. Be sure to remove all excess air.
3. Squeeze the bag again to coat the chicken in the sauce and seasonings.
4. Lay the bag flat and freeze.

Serving instructions:

1. Thaw.

2. Pour the chicken and sauce in a skillet and cook over medium heat until the chicken is cooked through.
3. Halfway through the cook time, add the dried cranberries and stir to combine.

Featuring a sweet and tangy marinade and quick prep time, citrus chicken is a great choice for freezer cooking. In fact, this recipe is a quick and easy freezer dump meal that’s perfect for a quick dinner. Just toss the chicken thighs in a citrus marinade, store it in the freezer, and heat it up for dinner when you need a quick dump and go meal. Chicken dump recipes are among the fastest freezer meals to make. We enjoy many of these recipes such as our Chili Glazed Chicken, Apple Maple Chicken, and Honey Sesame Chicken.

How to Make Citrus Chicken:

Ingredients:

• 10-12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1/2 cup VH honey-garlic sauce
• 1/2 cup unsweetened orange juice
• 1/4 cup red wine (or red cooking wine without alcohol)
• 1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp ginger powder (or ginger from a squeeze tube)
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy Seasoning
• 3 cloves garlic, minced

Assembly instructions:

1. Place the chicken thighs in a large zip top freezer bag.
2. Add the honey garlic sauce, unsweetened orange juice, red wine, brown sugar, ginger, pepper, Mrs. Dash seasoning, and garlic cloves to the bag.
3. Seal the bag and squeeze it between your hands to mix all the ingredients together.

Serving instructions:

1. Allow the chicken to thaw completely.
2. Pour the ingredients into a skillet and cook over medium heat until the chicken is cooked through.
3. Serve immediately.

Citrus Chicken Recipe Ideas and Substitutions:

This simple freezer dump recipe is quick and easy to prepare and cook. And with these recipe ideas, you can create a delicious meal that’s perfect for your family.

• Use red cooking wine for an alcohol-free marinade. Cooking wine is a simple alternative if you prefer not to include alcohol in your sauce. Use the same amount of red cooking wine to traditional red wine as listed in the recipe.
• Substitute fresh ginger or squeeze ginger for ginger powder. Add more ginger flavour with the help of freshly grated ginger. Or make your prep work even easier by adding squeeze ginger to the recipe in place of fresh ginger.
• Serve over rice. Once you have your chicken prepared, you’ll need to come up with some side dishes to enjoy! Try serving your citrus chicken over rice to round out your dinner.

How Do You make Freezer Dump Meals?

Freezer dump meals are one of my favourite types of recipes. In addition to be super easy to cook, dump meals are also so easy to prepare! Dump meals get their name because all you need to do is dump the ingredients into the bag! To make freezer dump recipes, just:

1. Combine the ingredients in a freezer bag. With this citrus chicken recipe, simply add the chicken and marinade to the bag.
2. Seal and freeze. Let the extra air out of the bag and place it flat in the freezer for easy storing.
3. Thaw and cook. Allow the dump meal to thaw complete, then dump the ingredients into a pan or slow cooker and cook.

Side dish suggestions for citrus chicken:

• Cilantro Corn
• Brown or Wild Rice
• Rice Pilaf
• Crock Pot Cornbread Dressing
• Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes

Print

Citrus Chicken Recipe

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chicken, chicken dump

Ingredients

• 10-12 chicken thighs boneless, skinless
• 1/2 cup VH honey-garlic sauce
• 1/2 cup orange juice unsweetened
• 1/4 cup red wine or red cooking wine without alcohol
• 1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp ginger powder
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy Seasoning
• 3 cloves garlic minced

Instructions

Assembly instructions:

1. Place the chicken thighs in a large freezer bag.

2. Add the honey garlic sauce, unsweetened orange juice, red wine, brown sugar, ginger, pepper, Mrs. Dash seasoning, and garlic cloves to the bag.
3. Seal the bag and squeeze it between your hands to mix all the ingredients together.

Serving instructions:

1. Allow the chicken to thaw completely.
2. Pour the ingredients into a skillet and cook over medium heat until the chicken is cooked through.
3. Serve immediately.