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)
I have never left a comment a blog before, but this recipe was so good I had to come back and say thank you!!! It seems every Asian chicken recipe I come across is loaded with sugar. Loved that this one only had honey as a sweetener. I cut the honey in half and it was still delicious. Thank you so much for sharing this yummy goodness with the world!! I served it over this fried “rice” and there was nothing left.
This has been a staple in my household for years now! Haven’t had this in a bit and just made it tonight for dinner. My husband could not stop raving about it – he said whoever created this original recipe is just on point with the sauce! Lol. I paired it with your fried rice recipe as well. I just love your blog, you have the best recipes! :)
This is fantastic and so fast and easy to make. I wished I had added fresh pineapple chunks because that would have added even more flavor. Thank you for a recipe that will go into my monthly rotation.
I made this recipe last night & my family & I LOVED it!!! I loved that this was simple for me to prep & cook! Plus, the meal was very satisfying to eat; slightly sweet & savory with a lot of lean protein. This is definitely a keeper!
I prepared the Skinny Orange Chicken for dinner last night. It was the first time I tried the recipe. The authors statement that it is a quick and easy recipe caught my attention. Normally, when a recipe reads quick and easy, it takes me twice as long as the recipe states. Not only was the time very close, the Orange Chicken turned out perfect.
My family’s only complaint was I didn’t make enough. I saved this in my quick & easy meals. I cut up 1 chicken breast per person. There was enough for seconds, but no leftovers.
Aw, yay!! So happy to hear it!
I don’t know why I doubted this recipe. Maybe because it looks so fast and easy to make, but Oh My God. This was so amazing! Best orange chicken I ever had. It was fresh and light and full of flavor. Everything went together perfect. My boyfriend loved it as well. I will never order orange chicken out again! I am now going to explore other recipes on your blog since this was such a hit. Thank you!!
YAY, so happy to hear it! :)
Second time I have made, green light to make again
Shared with the bestie! Thanks again :)
Yay, so happy to hear it! :)
I never thought I orange chicken would pair well with quinoa. But OMG it was amazing. Family loved it. We will be cooking this more often. Thank you for sharing this recipe!!!!!!
I’ve made several orange chicken recipes and this is my favorite. It’s so light and zesty and goes great with rice or quinoa. So quick and easy too. I’ve made it following the instructions exactly and have even substituted when I didn’t quite have everything. I had a champagne vinegar that I used instead of rice wine vinegar and that really kicked it up a notch.
Awesome, so happy to hear it!
This was SOOO INCREDIBLY DEEELICIOUS!!! Best orange sauce I have ever had!
My taste buds thank you for the AHHHMAZING healthy orange chicken recipe! :)
Will def. be making again and again. My daughter gave me the idea to add pineapple chunks to it. We sure loved the pineapple addition! :)
Thank you, Laura, we’re so happy you and your family loved it! :) And we bet pineapple would be a yummy addition to this!