Happy New Year’s, everyone!
I hope that your 2014 is off to a terrific start. And hopefully, a delicious and healthy start!
So for all of you new years resolution folks who are out there scanning the world wide webosphere looking for lighter recipes after a holiday season full of sweets, you’ve come to the right place. Because I am dedicating the entire month of January this year to sharing healthy recipes with you. And I am stoked to kick things off with a lightened-up Chinese food classic — Skinny Orange Chicken.
This version packs all of the amazing sweet and savory orange flavor of the restaurant-style version, but with only a fraction of the calories and fat. And it is naturally sweetened with honey. And it can be served over rice or (my favorite) quinoa. And it can be made in just 20 minutes from start to finish.
Interested? You should be. :)
The main key to lightening up this restaurant classic is that we simply saute the chicken instead of fry it. The chicken is sauteed until golden and drenched in an orange chicken sauce anyway, so I guarantee you won’t even miss the frying! Plus, it saves us lots of unnecessary fat and calories in an already delicious dish.
And as I said, this skinny orange chicken recipe can literally be made in about 20 minutes. So here’s what you need to make it happen.
First, begin by cutting your chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces. Mine were roughly 1-inch cubed. Then season them with lots of salt and pepper for extra flavor.
Next, we make the rockstar of this recipe — the orange chicken sauce. This sauce really could not be simpler. Simply whisk all of the ingredients together along with some cornstarch (for thickening), and you’re ready to go.
Chicken + Sauce. Done.
Next, saute the chicken in some olive oil until it is nearly cooked through. Be sure to let it rest in the pan a bit while cooking so that the sides can get nice and browned.
Then pour in the sauce, which should come to a boil within a minute or so. Let it boil for about 1-2 minutes, or until it’s nice and thickened.
Then top the chicken with some extra orange zest, green onions and toasted sesame seeds, and you’re good to go!
If you want to go the traditional route, you can serve this orange chicken recipe over rice. But I’m a big fan of eating stir-fry recipes with quinoa. So I whipped up a quick batch for this recipe, made (as always) with chicken broth for extra flavor.
I mean, really, just look at that gorgeous dish!
So much great flavor, and so little unnecessary fat and calories from frying the chicken. I’m pretty positive that even your friends or family members who usually prefer the fried version will go “poco loco” over this dish. :)
Stay tuned for more healthy recipes to come this month on Gimme Some Oven. And cheers to a great 2014 ahead!
Skinny Orange Chicken
Ingredients
Orange Chicken 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
- 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
(Optional: Quinoa Ingredients)
- 1 cup dry quinoa
- 2 cups chicken broth
Instructions
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 my step-by-step photo tutorial for how to cook quinoa here https://axis-sanctum.live/how-to-cook-quinoa-recipe/%3C/a%3E.%3C/div%3E%3C/li%3E%3C/ul%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
Be sure to also check out these related recipes:
How To Cook Quinoa (A Step-By-Step Tutorial)
Hi Ali,
I love fried rice and orange chicken but never tried. I will definitely trying this out. I have one question, I remember reading somewhere that its not good( healthwise ) to boil honey. Is it true?
Hey there! We’ve found a few articles/websites that say it can be toxic if added to hot or boiling water, however, they all note this is something that hasn’t been scientifically proven. We weren’t able to really find any trustworthy, reputable sources that back that theory up. Therefore, it’s totally up to you, but honestly we’ve found this recipe works out just fine (it doesn’t alter the taste or anything), and we’ve never had any issues. We hope this helps!
I made this and it was delicious. Will definitely be making it again. It was also really easy and fast to make, so my question may seem silly.
I am making freezer meals for my sister. Could the ingredients be frozen and thrown into the crockpot?
Hi Angie! We’re so glad to hear you enjoyed this! While we think you could probably make this in the crockpot, we wouldn’t advise freezing the ingredients beforehand. We’ve learned that putting frozen ingredients in a slow cooker (especially frozen meats) isn’t the safest thing to do. Slow cookers often can’t get frozen meats up to a safe temperature in time, which means your meat will spend too long in the “danger zone” – 40-140 degrees).
Do you have the nutritional info for this dish?
Hi Toni! 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!
I’ve made this recipe several times now and it is EXCELLENT. Each time that I make it, the only thing that I change is that add more veggies, meat, or eggs. I like it nice and hardy so it’s more of a meal than a side dish. Thank you for the great recipe.
Awesome, I’m so glad to hear it! :)
Do you have the nutritional values for this dish? Calories, fat, etc?
Hi Kari! 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!
Made the skinny orange chicken tonight, We really liked it Thank-you for sharing.
You’re welcome Angie, we’re so glad you enjoyed it! :)
The Skinny Orange Chicken is absolutely delicious!! Sadly, I didn’t have white pepper and ground ginger. I served the orange chicken on a bed of fried rice. I will definitely make this recipe again, and hopefully, I will have ground ginger and white pepper available. This is the first recipe I made from your blog. Thank you, Ali!!!
Thanks LaTrice, we’re so happy you liked it — thanks for giving the recipe a try! :D
Making this with the fried rice today. Can’t wait to try. Thanks so much.
Wonderful, we hope you enjoy it Dianne! :)
These really looks delicious and with th sesame seeds on top I’m sure these smells good too.
Thanks Christina, we hope you enjoy it!
What can be replaced for the honey? I am a diabetic and have really adverse effects to honey.
Hi Megan! We would suggest agave, because it’s lower in carbs and lower on the glycemic index than honey, and you don’t have to use as much of it since it’s sweeter/more concentrated (but you really should check with your dr. first). We hope this helps!