Spicy Orange Chicken recipe ~ Quick and Healthy

spicey orange chicken recipe

Spicy Orange Chicken recipe ~ Quick and Healthy 

Serves 8 generously

Ingredients

  • 5 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized chunks
  • 2 tablespoon peanut oil
  • 2 tablespoons garlic, minced
  • 1 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce {add more if you like it to bite back!}
  • 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 3 cups jasmine rice, cook per packaged directions

Directions

1. Wash and pat dry chicken breast, cut into 1 inch chunks or desired sized pieces.

2. In a large wok, heat oil. Add chicken and garlic, cook on high heat until juices run clear. Drain off any juices left in wok. Reduce heat to medium.

3. Add the following to wok, frozen orange juice concentrate, brown sugar, soy sauce, honey, chili garlic sauce {add more if you like it to bite back!}, fresh cilantro and ground ginger; stir continually until well combined. Add cornstarch to thicken sauce, cook, stirring continually for about 2-3 minutes, or until sauce slightly thickens. Serve over jasmine rice.

To prepare as a frozen meal: Wash and pat dry chicken breasts, cut into bite sized chunks. Fry as directed, draining juices. Let chicken chunks cool completely. In a medium sized bowl, combine orange juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, honey, chili sauce, cilantro and ground ginger, whisk; set aside. Combine the cooled chicken chunks along with the sauce in a gallon sized Ziploc bag, seal and freeze.

Bring frozen Ziploc chicken chunks and sauce bag to room temperature by thawing over night in the refrigerator. Place ingredients in a wok and cook on high heat until heated through, stirring continually. Add 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch to thicken sauce. Serve over jasmine rice.

Additional notes: I have noticed that by freezing this recipe the flavors have a better chance to marry. When I don’t prepare this as a frozen meal, I will remove the chicken and sauce from the heat and let it set for 30 minutes, then reheat. This technique allows the flavors to marry if not using the freezer technique. If you don’t own a wok, that’s okay! Just use a heavy duty, large skillet. Coach and I have kicked this up a notch by adding up to 4 teaspoons of the garlic chili sauce. Yeah, this much sauce bites back, but a good bite! We tend to like it spicy. But we have found that 1 teaspoon is tolerable for the younger ones on our end. Enjoy!

 

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