Sweet, spicy and flavorful – this makeover Asian Orange Chicken is a lighter and healthier alternative to the popular Chinese fast food take-out dish and it’s quick and easy to make!
Orange Chicken Makeover
Orange Chicken MakeoverI love taking popular American-Chinese fast food dishes and making them over! You have so much more control of what you’re consuming when you cook your own food. A few favorite fast food makeovers are Chicken and Broccoli, General Tsos Chicken and Pepper Steak.
Orange Chicken is usually battered and deep fried. To be honest, this is not a dish I would order because I’m not a fan of battered sweet Chinese dishes, but I was happy to tackle a lighter version. My solution was to skip all that frying, and make a flavorful orange sauce. The outcome was great, and my husband even gave it two thumbs up!
Asian orange sauce is super easy and simple to make. It’s certainly a healthier option than using a bottled orange sauce with unknown ingredients and higher sugar content. To make this Asian orange sauce you’ll need fresh squeezed orange juice, chicken broth, soy sauce, a bit of sugar, rice wine, rice vinegar, sriracha, corn starch and some white pepper. You can even put this sauce over a white fish like Tilapia or over some sauteed veggies.
I served this over Cauliflower “Fried Rice” but you could even saute some bell peppers, snow peas, broccoli or asparagus and add them at the end.
Orange Chicken Makeover
Ingredients
For the Orange Sauce:
- 1/3 cup freshly-squeezed orange juice
- 1/4 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
- 2 tbsp soy sauce, Tamari for gluten-free
- 2 tbsp raw sugar
- 1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
- 1 tbsp sriracha, or more to taste
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
For the chicken:
- 20 oz skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into small cubes
- kosher salt, to taste
- 1 1/2 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 1- inch grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
- 2 tbsp chopped scallions
- 1/2 tsp sesame seeds, for garnish
Instructions
- Mix the orange sauce ingredients and set aside.
- Season the chicken lightly with salt and coat evenly with corn starch, set aside.
- Heat a wok on high heat, add 1 teaspoon of sesame oil and add half of the chicken. Cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side until well browned, set aside.
- Add 1 teaspoon of oil and chicken and repeat cooking 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Set aside with the rest of the chicken.
- Add remaining teaspoon of oil and quickly stir-fry the minced garlic and ginger until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add the orange zest then return the chicken to the pan.
- Quickly stir the chicken then add the orange sauce and cook until the sauce thickens,about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Divide between 4 plates and garnish with the scallion and sesame seeds.
Last Step:
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