Happy New Year’s, everyone!
Is your 2015 off to a good start? Make any big resolutions?
Well, whatever your plans for the new year may be, I figure we’re all going to need some protein-packed meals to make ’em happen. So as is my tradition here on the blog, we’re kicking off this January with an entire month of healthier recipes on the blog. I have a bunch of quick and easy weeknight dinners ready to share with you, some winning game-day appetizers, a few healthy snacking options, and — yes — even some healthier desserts. So if one of your goals for the new year is to spend more time in the kitchen, let’s do it together!!
To kick off the new year, I thought I would start with a simple sweet and savory meal that’s sure to please a crowd. And since it only requires about 20 minutes of prep and cook time, I’d say it’s sure to please the cook as well. It’s sauteed, not fried. It’s naturally sweetened with honey. And it is crazy good.
I’m calling it Skinny Honey Lemon Chicken.
Actually, this recipe is a follow up to the wildly-popular Skinny Orange Chicken that I posted last New Year’s Day on the blog.
It’s basically a quick chicken stir fry that is tossed in a naturally-sweetened honey lemon sauce. I kept it simple with just chicken, and served it over protein-rice quinoa instead of rice. But this recipe is meant to be more of a “base” recipe, and is perfect for adding in your favorite vegetables, or some cashews, or substituting in any other proteins that might sound good.
To make it, begin by marinating some chicken with some soy sauce and rice vinegar. (If you are making this gluten-free, be sure to use GF soy sauce.) Then saute it up, while whisking together the ingredients for your sauce. Transfer the chicken to a separate plate, and then cook the sauce until it’s nice and thick. And then toss it all together.
And then you can serve it however you’d like! I was craving traditional rice, so opted instead for some protein-rich quinoa. But you could serve it over vegetables, noodles, in a salad, or whatever sounds great.
Feel free to also adjust the sauce to your desired level of sweet-and-sour-ness. Everyone has different preferences with lemon and sweeteners, so once you have made the actual sauce, feel free to add in extra lemon juice or honey to taste.
All in all, it’s a quick, flavorful, easy, and healthier base recipe that I love tinkering around with. So play with it and make it your own, and hopefully can serve as some delicious fuel for the new year.
Cheers to 2015!
Honey Lemon Chicken
Ingredients
Honey Lemon Chicken Ingredients:
- 1.5 lbs. boneless, skinless (raw) chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce (if making this gluten-free, be sure to use GF soy sauce)
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Honey Lemon Sauce (see below)
- optional toppings: toasted sesame seeds, thinly-sliced green onions, extra lemon zest, lemon slices
Honey Lemon Sauce Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup chicken stock
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons honey (or more/less to taste)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- zest of 1 lemon
- pinch of ground ginger
- (optional: sriracha, for heat)
Instructions
- Combine the chicken, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar to a large ziplock bag, and toss until the chicken is evenly coated. Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes, or up to 8 hours.
- When you are ready to cook the chicken, drain and transfer it to a separate plate. Season the chicken on both sides with a few generous pinches of salt and pepper. And in a separate bowl, whisk the honey lemon sauce ingredients together until combined.
- Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and saute for 5-7 minutes or until it is cooked through and no longer pink inside, stirring and turning the chicken occasionally for even cooking. Transfer the chicken to a separate (clean) plate with a slotted spoon.
- Pour the (whisked) honey lemon sauce into the empty saute pan. Cook over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes, or until the sauce reaches a low boil and thickens. Add in some sriracha if you would like for extra heat, to taste. (Feel free to also season with extra salt and pepper, or extra honey or lemon.)
- Add the chicken back into the pan and toss until it is evenly coated with the sauce. Remove from heat and serve the chicken immediately, topped with optional toppings if desired.
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
woow! I have done but without honey,I did not had it, with a bit of sugar, it is very good!
Thanks Selene, we’re glad you enjoyed it! :)
Just pinned this recipe–it looks SO SO fantastic! Orange chicken used to be one of my favorites–lemon chicken is delicious too!
Thanks Cassie, we hope you’ll enjoy this! :)
This was SO good and the kids loved it to! I used low sodium chicken broth, low sodium soy sauce and used rice vinegar instead of rice wine vinegar.
Thanks Jamie, we’re happy this was a hit with your family! :D
Omg, can’t wait to try this tonight. I am not a great cook but I think I can handle this one… sounds so good I’m hoping to make this a regular in my rotation!
Thanks Michelle, we hope you enjoy it! :)
Please add nutritional information! There are easy calculator plugins that will do the work for you. Really like your site but without nutritional info it’s nearly impossible to evaluate recipe, your audience wants this as you can see from the comments above. Some people in the food community seem to have a “relisipis” approach to not showing nutritional information which is insane because it’s basic information that is needed regardless of what eating plan one is following. I follow many sites like this one but will only make recipes with nutritional information.
Hi Jay! We appreciate your input, but the reason we currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site, is the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate. We never want to publish anything that might be misleading, especially for those with health issues, such as diabetes. A lot of people seem to love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so please feel free to try that for an estimate.
Okay so, I’m not that great of a cook. I guess I’m mostly just not a great creative cook (where my husband is excellent at cooking anything). Since he’s out watching Star Wars and I’m at home with the kiddo, I figured I’d give this a try.
It came out SO GOOD!!! This will definitely be a go-to dish for us in the immediate future. Thank you so much for sharing! :D
Yay, we’re so happy you enjoyed this Lauren, thanks for letting us know! :D
Hey! So I have a question, i tried this recipe, but I live in France and i’m not sure that the chicken stock is the samething that We have here. Because it was sooo salty, you can even imagine! So i look at the info, and for only 2 tablespoon represented 33% of sodium. So i don’t know, if you Can five me the name of the brand that you use, or something.:)
Thanks you!!!
Hi Manon! Thanks for commenting. We appreciate you trying the recipe, and are sorry this came out too salty for you! :( Chicken stock or broth can be used in this recipe, and we usually can find a less/low sodium type in most grocery stores. Maybe the American store-bought brands have a little less salt than the French brands? Or maybe in France, chicken broth is different and less salty than the chicken stocks there? The American store-bought ones are pretty interchangeable. The brands we typically use are: Swanson, Pacific Foods, or Kitchen Basics. This is the best we can think of. We hope this was helpful, at least somewhat!
I think cause the word marinade is used instead of lemon sauce that is why people are asking what to put in pan. Please don’t reuse marinade from chicken unless u wanna get nice and sick :)
Should you wiped the remaining cooked marinade from the pan before adding the honey lemon mixture or cook it all together?
Hi Donna, we’re not really sure what you’re asking. First you’ll marinate the chicken, then drain it (as stated in the directions). Then. in a separate bowl, you will make the honey-lemon sauce to cook the chicken in (in the sauté pan). We hope you enjoy!
what is the nutritional values?
Hi Kerry! We’re sorry but we are unsure of the nutrition facts/amount of calories in this recipe. We currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site, as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!