Healthy Orange Chicken

One of my favorite foods of all time is Orange Chicken. But have you ever seen the nutritional information that most places offer this dish?! It's crazy how bad it is for you. The sodium is high, the sugar is intense, there are tons of added preservatives and additives that are just bad for you. Even though it tastes amazing, really there isn't anything healthy about it. So my first challenge was to make a healthier clean version. This is what I came up with. So far it's been a hit with those that have tried it. This is a clean, gluten free (depending what soy sauce you use), no additives, no preservatives, made with natural sugar version of orange Chicken.

Healthy Orange Chicken

Prep time: 2 hours – 1 day                         Cook time: 45 min

Servings: 2                                                   Calories: 570 per serving

Ingredients:

2- 6 ounce Chicken boneless skinless breast cut cubed (organic if possible)

4 – Medium sized oranges fresh squeezed (should make 1 2/3 – 1 ¾ cups)

1 cup of fresh steamed brown rice

3 cups of broccoli

2 cups of sliced carrots

2 cups of snow peas

1 ½ cup of bean sprouts

½ cup of diced green onions.

1 cup of sliced mushrooms

Half can of 12oz frozen concentrated Orange Juice

2 teaspoon of fresh ginger (fresh minced preferred), dry is ok too. 1tsp will be used for marinade

3 teaspoon of fresh garlic (minced) 1½ tsp will be used for marinade

1 ½ tablespoon of crushed red peppers

1 tablespoon of honey

¼ teaspoon of black pepper

¾ teaspoon of sesame seem oil

1 ½ teaspoon of low sodium soy sauce ( or gluten free soy sauce)

1 pinch of pink sea salt

Sesame seeds.

Dash of Cayenne pepper for kick.  

Preparation:

1.  Get chicken breast and cut into ½” - ¾” cubes.

2.  In a medium sized bowl mix fresh squeezed orange juice, honey, garlic as listed, ginger as listed, dash of black pepper and dash of salt.

3. Add diced chicken into marinade and make sure marinade is covering the chicken. If not fully covered add a little more orange juice. Let set in marinade for 2 hours or up to a whole day. The longer the better.

4. When ready to start meal, start making the sauce. Before making sauce, start rice, follow directions for cooking rice. In a small sauce pan place half can of the frozen orange juice concentrate. Place pan over burner on light-medium heat closer to medium. Once juice starts to melt watch and let come to a light boil. Make sure to stir frequently, the sugars will start to thicken and caramelize and cause it to burn.

5. When sauce becomes thick, a syrup like consistancy, turn the stove to simmer and add the following ingredients; garlic, soy sauce, sesame seed oil, cayenne pepper, crushed red peppers, salt, pepper, and ginger. Mix well, taste for flavor. If desired, add more soy sauce or sesame oil for flavor. If desired more spicy, add more crushed red pepper or cayenne pepper.

6. While sauce and rice are cooking, start to steam broccoli, carrots, snow peas. You can either steam your own mixture, or in the fresh produce you can buy bags of pre-mixed fresh veggies and put the bags in the microwave to steam them.

7. In a large skillet over medium-high, you’re going to start to sauté your chicken. Don’t worry about adding marinade to the chicken. While cooking the chicken, it will sweat out the marinade and begin to caramelize the chicken. The chicken should take about 10-15 minutes to fully cook through depending on the kind of stove you have. When chicken is close to finish, add mushrooms to lightly sauté.

8. Once chicken is done cooking, pour sauce over chicken and toss together.

9. On a plate, add ¼ cup of cooked rice and plate veggies and bean sprouts over rice. When done, add chicken mix over veggies and rice. Lightly sprinkle green onions and sesame seeds over dish.

Enjoy!  Please leave comments on what you think of this dish or if you have an questions.