Skinny Orange Chicken

…unless you eat more than one serving.

Okay, I found this little gem on Pinterest. Now, sometimes you run into a recipe that is just garbage, likely because some bored jackass felt like getting his jollies off making people taste shitty food. I prefer to witness events that I place in motion, but that may just be me. Regardless, this recipe actually checks out because I’ve made it twice now. The second time I had to tone down the spices a bit and add more liquid, but I’ll explain that below.

Skinny Orange Chicken

This is supposed to be healthier than the restaurant version. Not sure if that’s exactly true, but since I use mostly organic items and fresh at that, it very well could be these days.

YIELD: about 4-6 servings
PREP: 10 mins
COOK: 10 mins
TOTAL: 20 mins

INGREDIENTS:

2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp. olive oil
orange chicken sauce (ingredients below)
toppings: thinly-sliced green onions, toasted sesame seeds, orange zest

ORANGE CHICKEN SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

3 cloves garlic, minced (I do pressed; same fucking thing in my book)
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. white pepper
zest of one orange
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

Here’s where I altered it the second time I made it; the sauce. I doubled the orange juice and used only 2 Tbsp. of cornstarch to keep it from becoming too gelatinous, and I held back about half the ginger and white pepper. That way Umi could eat it without gagging. Me too, for that matter. And I only used two boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead of 2 lbs. I also cooked white rice instead of the quinoa below. I may give that a try the next round.

(OPTIONAL: QUINOA INGREDIENTS)

1 cup dry quinoa
2 cups chicken broth

DIRECTIONS:

TO MAKE THE ORANGE CHICKEN:

Season chicken generously with salt and pepper.

Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken and saute for about 4-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is browned and nearly cooked through.

Pour in the orange chicken sauce, and stir to combine. Let the sauce come to a boil, then boil for an additional minute or two until thickened. Remove from heat and serve immediately over quinoa or rice. Garnish with green onions, sesame seeds and additional orange zest.

TO MAKE THE ORANGE CHICKEN SAUCE:

Whisk all ingredients together until combined. If you would like the sauce to be even sweeter, add an extra 2-4 tablespoons of honey.

TO MAKE THE QUINOA:

You can see Ali’s step-by-step photo tutorial for how to cook quinoa here.