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)
Love this recipe!! Have made it three time and it amazing! I serve with brown rice and broccoli and it is WAY better than take out!
Thank you so much for sharing!
Thanks, Kelli! We’re so happy you love it. : )
I love all your recipes! If I wanted to throw in some veggies like broccoli or peppers/mushrooms/onions, where in the cooking process should I add them? Thanks!
Thanks, Allison! We’d say it’s probably best to steam or sauté them (separately), then you can toss them with the chicken and sauce, when they’re finished cooking. Depending on how many vegetables you add, you also might want to make a little extra sauce (1 1/2 – double the amount.) We hope that helps – enjoy!
I made this recipe tonight for supper and it was AMAZING!! Full of flavour, healthy and my hubby and I had the feeling we were eating real chinese from a restaurant :-D thank you so much for the recipe! I will keep it on my favourites!
Thanks for sharing, Donna! We’re so happy you and your husband enjoyed it!
I made this for supper tonight. We really liked it. I am not sure about the Quinoa. I left it in the rinse water so it was a little wet. Not your fault. Next time I will just rinse it. It will certainly be made again.
Thanks for sharing !!!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe! And ah yes, next time just let the quinoa drain after rinsing. :)
I used two tablespoons honey 2 cups orange juice. Soooo yummy!! Ty!!
So glad you liked it, Jamie!
this is one of the best pinterest recipes I have found! thick delicious sauce, sweet but not overly so. this is definitely something I plan to make again and again
things I did differently:
black peper (did not have white)
Apple cider vinegar (what I had on hand)
no orange zest (I dont own a zester)
Thanks, Kimmie!
Finally got to try this last night… my daughter was craving a certain fast food chinese meal and I was hoping this would satisfy her craving in a healthier way and it did the trick! This was delicious and easy. It’s definitely going in her binder to take back to schooling the Fall! Thanks again Ali!! PS I did have some Blueberry Crisp topping left, so I bake up another single serve for dessert! ; )
That’s great to hear, Ellen, thank you for sharing! And so glad you liked the blueberry crisp too! : )
hello i love your recipes many thanks i am looking for a recipe that i buy from my local takeaway it has
broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, red capsicum, chicken and a white/slightly see through sauce on it, its just called chicken vegetables, i am looking for the sauce recipe that goes with it as the restaurants wont tell me whats in the sauce, even for allergy reasons, i cant even find a photo that closely resembles the meal i might have to snap a pic myself
Thanks Sherry! I’m really not sure what that sauce could be though, that’s puzzling!
this was really yummy! Definitely going to make again. I’m curious what the nutritional info is so I can add it to my points tracker.
Thanks Marianne, I’m glad you liked it! I’m sorry but we actually are not publishing nutrition facts on the site at this time. The nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, many of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. I hope that is helpful! : )
Second time making this. It is my yummy. I shared it with my diet group. The three who made it loved it as welll. It’s hard to quit eating it, even after a serving, because it is so delicious. I love the orange flavor so I use orange concentrate. Thank you for creating this delightful dish.
Thanks SP, so glad you enjoyed it!