Duck Breast Recipe Cranberry

Duck is my go-to meat for any special occasion. It's easy to cook and looks amazing on a holiday table. While I love tocook the whole duck, cooking duck breast is much easier and quicker time-wise.

This recipe will make a perfect main dish for any special night, anniversary celebration, or holidays, especially Christmas or New Year's Eve.

While duck meat on its own has a lot of rich flavor, it always tastes better when paired with a nice fruity sauce. There are lots of fruit-based and berry-based sauces sold in many grocery stores specifically intended to be served with all kinds of meat (including duck), but my favorite sauce for duck breast is undeniably this simple homemade cranberry sauce that has only 3 ingredients: honey, balsamic vinegar, and dried cranberries.

Duck Breasts Recipe With Port And Berry Sauce

When you combine these 3 ingredients together and heat them up, something magical happens. The sauce thickens up, it becomes both sweet (honey) yet somewhat tart (balsamic vinegar), the dried cranberries puff up and become thick and juicy, yet retaining their sweetness and a touch of tartness. The sauce is so good, I had a hard time not eating half of it as I was cooking it. You might have to double your cranberry sauce ingredients - it's that good!

If you want more ideas for side dishes, you can tryGarlic and Bacon Green Beans, orRoasted Brussels Sprouts, Cinnamon Butternut Squash, Pecans, and Cranberries.

I also have a recipe-tutorial with lots of photos describing pretty much this whole process of cooking duck breast in photos, but without the cranberry sauce:how to cook duck breast. You might want to check this tutorial as it will help you visually see all the steps.

Duck With Cranberry Mostaza Recipe

Duck Breast with Cranberry sauce will make a perfect main dish for any special night, anniversary celebration, or holidays, especially Christmas or New Year's Eve.

The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Tried this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and provide a Star Rating below - I love your feedback and try to respond to every comment!This duck breast recipe comes together so easily with just a few simple ingredients using a quick pan sear method on the stove top. Learn how to cook duck breast with this impressively elegant yet effortless recipe. Perfect for a special dinner at home or to serve a crowd!

Duck Breast With Cranberry And Wine Sauce

Then, I went to a farmers market one weekend with a friend, stumbled upon a local duck farm stand and ended up bringing home two duck breasts.

Meals I’ve made in a long time – a simple pan seared duck breast with a crispy, golden brown skin and perfectly pink and juicy interior.

Duck breast is the kind of dish that’s perfect for when you want a special dinner at home or a meal to impress some guests.

Duck Breast With Blackberry Sauce

This crispy duck breast recipe utilizes a simple pan-sear method on the stove top using just some kitchen basics – salt, pepper and a hot cast iron skillet. It’s almost the exact same method used on wild woodcock and one to get familiar with if you hunt or cook wild game.

Part of the beauty of duck breast versus other poultry like chicken or turkey is the gorgeous slab of fat on one side of the breast. It will vary by type of duck but it’s sometimes as thick as the meat itself!

The trick to scoring is to score deep enough to go through the fat but not too deep in that you hit the flesh of the duck breast.

Pan Seared Duck Breast

Let it sear for about 5 minutes on the fat side until the fat has become crispy and turned a nice deep golden brown color.

You’ll be most accurate using an instant read meat thermometer to determine doneness. But, if you don’t have one on hand, the above mentioned times are pretty on target for

While duck is a type of poultry, it’s considered red meat when cooking so don’t be worried about eating it medium-rare. If you order it out at a restaurant this will be how it’s served.

Duck Breast With Cranberry Orange Chutney » Cranberry Marketing Committee

Of course, if you prefer your duck more well done, you can cook it in the pan a little bit longer for a paler pink result.

I say the same when it comes to almost any wild game like this venison backstrap which can also be cooked using this pan sear method if preferred and my juicy elk burgers.

Transfer the cooked duck to a cutting board or plate, cover and let it rest for at least 5-8 minutes before slicing to let the juices settle and redistribute back into the meat.

Pan Seared Duck With Cranberry Sauce

I’m sure you’ve heard of duck fat fries or duck fat potatoes before and there’s good reason people specify the fat used in those kind of recipes – its flavor is delicious!

You’ll probably be left with about 3 tablespoons to 1/4 cup of duck fat in the skillet after pan searing the duck breasts. Transfer it to a glass jar and save it for later use.

But, it makes a noticeably delicious difference even in something as simple as your breakfast sweet potato hash or asparagus omelette soufflé.

Bacon Wrapped Duck With Cranberry Sauce Recipe

And if all that wasn’t reason enough to get into duck fat, it’s also got a high smoke point compared to other fats making it great for an array of cooking methods.

Often times on a restaurant menu you’ll see some sort of fruit sauce or reduction accompanying a duck entree. There’s good reason for that – it’s a delicious pairing!

But this maple cranberry sauce comes together in the same amount of time the duck pan sears in the skillet and it elevates the perfectly cooked slices of duck in a simple and elegant way.

Duck Breasts With A Honey Raspberry & Cranberry Sauce

Turn off the heat and let it sit until the duck is rested and ready to serve. The cranberry sauce will thicken further as it cools.

It’s a lot like making any other cranberry sauce except with a few additional flavors to add some dimension to the finished dish.

Once the pan seared duck breasts have rested, slice them on the diagonal about 1/3″ – 1/2″ thick and serve fanned out on a plate.

Roast Duck Recipe With Cranberry Sauce

I love the contrast of a refreshing and crisp salad like this radicchio endive fennel salad or this pickled fennel citrus salad next to the savory duck.

Since the cranberry sauce makes this more of a winter themed duck recipe, this winter chopped kale salad or roasted winter root vegetable salad are also great options.

It’s worth quickly noting that you may find different types of duck breast in the store or at your local farmers market.

Duck Breast In Maple Syrup And Peppery Cranberry Sauce

This article gives a great run down on some of the more common ones you’ll see and how best to cook them.

While the cranberry maple sauce takes the dish to the next level, even if you were to enjoy this pan seared duck breast by itself, it’d still be an outstanding meal.

Whether it’s a New Year’s Eve or Valentine’s celebration at home, a feast with some friends or, just because you’re in the mood to make a striking dish for the fun of it, a perfectly cooked duck breast will never disappoint!

Recipe: Crispy Seared Duck Breast

This duck breast recipe comes together so easily with just a few simple ingredients using a quick pan sear method on the stove top. Served with a 10-minute cranberry maple sauce.

Serving: 1 SERVING Calories: 258 kcal Carbohydrates: 7 g Protein: 28 g Fat: 12 g Saturated Fat: 3 g Polyunsaturated Fat: 8 g Cholesterol: 154 mg Sodium: 275 mg Fiber: 1 g Sugar: 4 g

Gina Matsoukas is the writer, founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients as much as possible. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.

Roast Duck With Cranberry Glaze

©2024 Running to the Kitchen®. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy • About • Contact • Work With Me • Newsletter • Powered by CultivateWP.