Orange Chicken

Ohhh....Orange Chicken...MMMMMmmmmmmmm.... If you've had tasty orange chicken before, you know what I'm talking about! There's just something special about crispy, crunchy, fried little pieces of chicken in mouthwatering sweet, orange-flavored chili sauce. Our fam loves it, but since it's not the healthiest choice on the menu, we don't order it often. I made a sauteed version of orange chicken and it turned out really good. The boys gave it a double thumbs up.

It's all about the SAUCE!

Browning nicely...

We LOVE veggies!

I went easy on the sauce and it turned out great!

Orange Chicken

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/4 c cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2-3 tbs oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
• 1 small red bell pepper, diced
• 1 small orange bell pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 green onions, sliced

Sauce:

• 1 c fresh orange juice
• 3/4 c water
• 2 tbs lime juice
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 2 tbs rice wine vinegar
• 3- 2" strips of orange zest (I omitted)
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ginger, minced
• 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 3-4 dried red chilis, sliced (or crushed red pepper)
• 2 tbs cornstarch and 2 tbs water to thicken sauce

Directions:

1. Wash and dry chicken breasts and cut into bite-sized pieces.
2. Mix cornstarch, salt and pepper. Put chicken in ziploc bag and add cornstarch mixture. Toss to coat.
3. Heat a little oil in large saute pan. Add veggies and garlic and saute 3-5 mins. Set aside in bowl when done.
4. Heat remaining oil in same pan at med-low heat. Add chicken in single layer of pan and brown about 3-4 mins. Carefully, turn chicken over and brown other side. Continue to turn chicken gently until all sides are browned.
5. While chicken is browning, prepare sauce. Combine all sauce ingredients in sauce pan EXCEPT cornstarch/water mixture. Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium-low and reduce sauce.
6. In small bowl, mix cornstarch/water mixture. Pour into prepared sauce and whisk until sauce thickens. Take sauce off heat.
7. When chicken is full cooked and evenly browned, add veggies back into pan. Spoon *sauce over chicken/veggie mixture to coat (more or less depending on sauce preference). Stir and heat through.
8. Serve with rice and garnish with sliced green onions. Add crushed red pepper to taste.

Note: *Save remaining sauce in airtight container and keep in fridge. Reserve for another orange chicken dish or use sauce for veggie stir fry. 

Suggestions: Serve with rice or chow mein noodles, potstickers, salad or hot and sour soup.

Source: Adapted from Evil Shenanigans