Better Than Takeout: Healthy Orange Chicken Recipe (2024)

Ingredients

Sauce

• 3 cups organic orange juice (reduce for 20-30 minutes prior to starting recipe)
• zest of 1 large orange
• 5 tablespoons oyster sauce (look for a brand without monosodium glutamate)
• ¼ cup sugar (or honey if you prefer that instead)
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• ¾ teaspoon red pepper flakes (increase to 1 teaspoon for extra spiciness)
• ¼ teaspoon plum vinegar (like this)
• 1 ½ tablespoons chicken bone brothor chicken stock

Chicken + Veggies:

• 2 pounds boneless, skinless organic chicken breasts (thigh meat would work too)
• 4 cups broccoli florets
• 3 medium carrots
• 2 tablespoons butter or refined coconut oil

Rice

• 1 cup jasmine rice (like this)
• 1 cup chicken bone broth or chicken stock
• ½ cup water
• 1 tablespoon butter

Instructions

1. Prep the orange juice: In a large Dutch oven, bring 3 cups of orange juice to a slow boil and let simmer for about 20-30 minutes until the juice has reduced to roughly about ¾ - 1 cup and begun to thicken in consistency. You can tell when this happens because the juice will leave a little bit of a trace behind as it leaves your spoon.
2. Start the rice: In a medium saucepan, combine 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 cup of jasmine rice, 1 cup of bone broth or chicken stock, and ½ cup water. Bring to a boil, cover, and then reduce to low heat for 15-20 minutes. Once the rice has completed cooking, remove from the heat leaving the top on to let sit on the counter until serving time.
3. Prep the veggies: Cut the carrots into thin rounds and cut the tops of the broccoli separating or cutting the florets into bite size pieces.
4. Prep the chicken: Cut the chicken breast into bite-sized pieces.
5. Prep the sauce: add the orange zest, oyster sauce, sugar, ginger, red pepper flakes, plum vinegar and 1 ½ tablespoons of bone broth to the reduced orange juice mixture, and let the sauce cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside. I recommend giving it a taste before cooking it longer than 3 minutes, as you don't want to reduce it too much.
6. Cook the chicken: In a large pan over medium-high heat, add about 1-2 tablespoons of butter. Add the cubed chicken and brown the chicken for about 6-8 minutes until all sides are lightly browned. Once the chicken has browned and is about 75% cooked, add the chicken into the Dutch oven containing the sauce, while avoiding the addition of any liquids that have accumulated in the chicken pan while cooking.
7. Cook the veggies: Using the same pan that you cooked the chicken in, add the broccoli and about ½ cup of water and cook at high heat, stirring frequently while the steam softens the veggies. After about 5 minutes, add the carrots and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, adding additional water if needed. Do not overcook the veggies, as they will cook a few more minutes in the sauce.
8. Then add the veggie mixture to Dutch oven containing the chicken and sauce. Let everything cook together for an additional 2-4 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened and coated the veggies. Do not over-reduce the sauce. It will be way too strong!
9. Serve with the bone broth flavored rice for a real nutrient dense dinner.