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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!
This homemade orange chicken recipe comes together in just 20 minutes, and is a crazy delicious! (And healthier than the restaurant version!)
Ingredients
Scale
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.
Ack way too sweet! And I didn’t even put in the full 1/2 cup of honey. This definitely has potential. I will make this again with way less honey – maybe like 1/8 of a cup for me. And I used white vinegar instead of rice vinegar. Apple cider vinegar would not be a good idea.
Mine did not taste “orangie” enough. I think the honey overpowered the orange juice. And I used apple cider vinegar instead of rice wine vinegar, I don’t if that affected the overall taste as well… But for sure, I’ll do this again.
Made this tonight as we wanted a quick meal and I had chicken in the fridge. I had no ginger but had everything else. I wasn’t sure but my oh my. This was so delicious. You don’t miss the fried coating at all. I served it with broccoli and brown rice and everyone loved it. I will add ginger next time and there WILL be a next time. So easy and so delicious. Thank you for posting this.
It would be slightly more bitter, so I would definitely add more sweetener and/or less lemon. I’m working on a new lemon chicken recipe, though, so stay tuned! :)
As I calculate this receipe it is nearly 2000 calories (total), without the quinoa. However, if you replace the olive oil with cooking spray, and reduce the honey to 1/4 cup it is much better! Remember, honey is 2X sweeter than sugar.
If we are serving 4 people it will equate to 366 calories per serving with these modifications. Much better!!
I tried it before and the whole family loved it! My husband cannot stop talking about how delicious it is. I did not have all the ingredients so I did leave a few things out but it was still amazing. Thank you for sharing, I am trying it again tonight.
Delicious! Thank you. Reduced the honey, used fresh ginger, and added a splash of sesame oil. Terrific served with steamed rice (will try it with quinoa another time!) and broccoli. Yum.
I just made this tonight for supper, and it tastes amazing! Next time I make it, I think I’ll probably use a little bit less cornstarch. It seemed to me like it thickened up too much.
OK I made this tonight and it was a total fail. The sauce turned to tar in the pan immediately..I think you’re supposed to reduce the heat a bit first.I guess?
I tried this today and love it! So easy but so flavorful – this will become a new weeknight staple for me. I also just saw your lemon honey chicken, I gotta try that as well. Happy new year and thanks for the great recipes!
I made this tonight and it was AMAZING!!! I added blanched broccoli to the pan to get coated in the sauce too– served it with a brown/wild rice Birdseye steamer bag! Thank you for the great recipe!
Made it and it was great. Instead of honey used agave nectar (not as sweet) and instead of soy sauce used coconut aminos (not as much sodium) Turned out delish!!!
This was the worst recipe I have ever made. I was ashamed that I actually served it to my family. Once we tried it and realized how bad it was, I put the chicken in a strainer to wash off the sauce and my kids still would not eat it. Too much orange and too sweet. It was like chicken floating in orange marmalade. And bad orange marmalade at that. I followed the recipe exactly. I’m sorry for the bad review but good lord this was barely edible.
-Low Sodium soy sauce
-No salt added to the chicken, just pepper
-Slightly less than 1/2 cup of raw honey
This worked out really well and I didn’t feel like it was too sweet, maybe because I didn’t use a full 1/2 cup of honey? I also served it over buckwheat soba noodles tossed in the orange sauce from the pan. Yummy!
For an enhanced flavor experience, try black pepper instead of white, orange marmalade instead of honey, and add fresh broccoli when you add the sauce. That broccoli steamed in that sauce, it’s great!
I loved this made it for me and a friend. Going to make it again tonight for me and my partner. Can any one tell me how many calories is in this though please.
Hey Danielle! So happy you liked this recipe — thanks for checking it out! Unfortunately though, we aren’t currently publishing nutrition facts on the site. The nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. But many of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. I hope that helps!
Hey Jaime, I’m sorry but we currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site. The nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, several of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. I hope that helps!
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 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! : )
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
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! ; )
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)
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 !!!
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!
Hayley —
Thanks for sharing, Donna! We’re so happy you and your husband enjoyed 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!
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
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!
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!
This recipe is delicious, but isn’t it pretty high in sodium?
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Thanks, we’re glad you like it! We actually aren’t sure of the nutrition content, but if you’re concerned about the sodium, you could always use less sodium soy sauce, and less sodium chicken broth. We hope that helps!
Tasted delicious, the entire family ate it. Not orangey enough, definitely not the orange chicken i thought of and my sauce did not look anything like the photo but yummmmy will cook again, sharing in my mommy groups
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Thanks Shannon, we’re glad you and your family enjoyed this! To get more of an orange kick, you can try adding more orange juice and zest, (if you add a significant amount of juice, we’d suggest upping the cornstarch amount as well.) We hope that helps!
This is the first recipe of yours I tried and it will NOT be the last! My only complaint–my boyfriend wouldn’t stop eating it and now I don’t have enough for dinner tomorrow. :-P I thought the level of sweetness was spot-on, though I did add a tiny bit of onion powder to the sauce and little extra OJ. Thanks!!
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Thanks Meredith, that’s such a nice compliment! We’re so happy you and your boyfriend loved it! :)
This was excellent! I’m making it for the second time tonight. The first time I was out of honey so I just used a bit of orange marmalade instead. Super delicious. Thank you!
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Thanks Emily, we’re so happy you liked it! Also, great call on the orange marmalade, we bet that was serendipitous! :)
I made this tonight for my family. It was a hit! I loved it! Even my picky 2-year old ate it. This recipe is great and I’m looking forward to trying more of your recipes!
Made this today for lunch, and had extra for other meals. I love this recipe! My friend made it at her house one night and I had to make it myself. did not have rice wine vinegar so I used apple cider but I didnt notice a taste difference. Also added some red pepper and cayenne for a little kick.
Has anyone tried making a large batch of this in a crock pot???
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Thanks Kristy-Lee, we’re so happy you and your friend enjoyed it! That’s also good to know apple cider vinegar works well in this! :)
i can’t have soy sauce. what is the subsitute for soy sauce?
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Hi Pamela, you could try a mix of these ingredients: https://chinesefood.about.com/od/sauces/r/soy_sauce_sub.htm or fish sauce, or coconut aminos. We hope this helps!
Ack way too sweet! And I didn’t even put in the full 1/2 cup of honey. This definitely has potential. I will make this again with way less honey – maybe like 1/8 of a cup for me. And I used white vinegar instead of rice vinegar. Apple cider vinegar would not be a good idea.
Mine did not taste “orangie” enough. I think the honey overpowered the orange juice. And I used apple cider vinegar instead of rice wine vinegar, I don’t if that affected the overall taste as well… But for sure, I’ll do this again.
Made this tonight as we wanted a quick meal and I had chicken in the fridge. I had no ginger but had everything else. I wasn’t sure but my oh my. This was so delicious. You don’t miss the fried coating at all. I served it with broccoli and brown rice and everyone loved it. I will add ginger next time and there WILL be a next time. So easy and so delicious. Thank you for posting this.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this outstanding recipe! My husband and I both loved it. Absolutely no tweaks or adjustments were necessary. Yum!
this is such a good recipe! fast, and very delicious, thanks for sharing :)
Where is the calorie content?
Great recipe! Do you think it might work with lemon as well?
Thanks!
It would be slightly more bitter, so I would definitely add more sweetener and/or less lemon. I’m working on a new lemon chicken recipe, though, so stay tuned! :)
~Ali
Perfectly balanced flavors! Delicious.
As I calculate this receipe it is nearly 2000 calories (total), without the quinoa. However, if you replace the olive oil with cooking spray, and reduce the honey to 1/4 cup it is much better! Remember, honey is 2X sweeter than sugar.
If we are serving 4 people it will equate to 366 calories per serving with these modifications. Much better!!
Great Recipe!
I tried it before and the whole family loved it! My husband cannot stop talking about how delicious it is. I did not have all the ingredients so I did leave a few things out but it was still amazing. Thank you for sharing, I am trying it again tonight.
Delicious! Thank you. Reduced the honey, used fresh ginger, and added a splash of sesame oil. Terrific served with steamed rice (will try it with quinoa another time!) and broccoli. Yum.
I just made this and it is so good! I sauteed some broccoli too! I am definitely making this again :)
Wonderful!
Skinny orange chicken
Made it for dinner, I added some roasted veggies
Great recipe
It’s a saver!
I just made this tonight for supper, and it tastes amazing! Next time I make it, I think I’ll probably use a little bit less cornstarch. It seemed to me like it thickened up too much.
OK I made this tonight and it was a total fail. The sauce turned to tar in the pan immediately..I think you’re supposed to reduce the heat a bit first.I guess?
I’m going to try this tonight, looks and sounds delish. I really like your blog and your blog name is so cute! I’ll be coming back for more “oven.” ;)
I tried this today and love it! So easy but so flavorful – this will become a new weeknight staple for me. I also just saw your lemon honey chicken, I gotta try that as well. Happy new year and thanks for the great recipes!
Hey! Can you post how many calories this orange chicken recipe has? Thanks!
This was a great recipe my family loves Orange Chicken and this was a hit!
The only change I made to this recipe was substituting the 1/2 cup honey and orange zest with a 1/2 cup of Smucker’s Orange Marmalade.
I made this tonight and it was AMAZING!!! I added blanched broccoli to the pan to get coated in the sauce too– served it with a brown/wild rice Birdseye steamer bag! Thank you for the great recipe!
Made it and it was great. Instead of honey used agave nectar (not as sweet) and instead of soy sauce used coconut aminos (not as much sodium) Turned out delish!!!
I made this last night and it was a hit! I might cut back on the honey next time, maybe 1/3 cup. Other than that, perfect!
This was the worst recipe I have ever made. I was ashamed that I actually served it to my family. Once we tried it and realized how bad it was, I put the chicken in a strainer to wash off the sauce and my kids still would not eat it. Too much orange and too sweet. It was like chicken floating in orange marmalade. And bad orange marmalade at that. I followed the recipe exactly. I’m sorry for the bad review but good lord this was barely edible.
This recipe is SO GOOD! Couple of changes I made:
-Low Sodium soy sauce
-No salt added to the chicken, just pepper
-Slightly less than 1/2 cup of raw honey
This worked out really well and I didn’t feel like it was too sweet, maybe because I didn’t use a full 1/2 cup of honey? I also served it over buckwheat soba noodles tossed in the orange sauce from the pan. Yummy!
So yummy!! We made it tonight and it was quick and delicious!! We added lots of veggies and used brown rice instead of quinoa. Thanks a for sharing!!
Thanks Monica, I’m glad to hear you liked it!
For an enhanced flavor experience, try black pepper instead of white, orange marmalade instead of honey, and add fresh broccoli when you add the sauce. That broccoli steamed in that sauce, it’s great!
I added the juice of half an orange upped some of
the spices, it was pretty fantastic. Served it over brown rice.
Nice additions Steph, glad you enjoyed it!
I made this last night and it turned out great!
Yay! So glad to hear it!!
I loved this made it for me and a friend. Going to make it again tonight for me and my partner. Can any one tell me how many calories is in this though please.
Hey Danielle! So happy you liked this recipe — thanks for checking it out! Unfortunately though, we aren’t currently publishing nutrition facts on the site. The nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. But many of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. I hope that helps!
Do you know the calories to this dish ?
Hey Jaime, I’m sorry but we currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site. The nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, several of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. I hope that helps!
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!
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! : )
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!
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! : )
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!
I used two tablespoons honey 2 cups orange juice. Soooo yummy!! Ty!!
So glad you liked it, Jamie!
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 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 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!
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 have to give honor to whom honor is due.
I made this for dinner. My husband ate my plate and the restof mine. I took it to work and was asked to make this for lunch for the staff.
Thank you for posting.
That makes us so happy Becca, thanks for sharing! We’re so glad it was a hit with your husband and your co-workers!
This recipe is delicious, but isn’t it pretty high in sodium?
Thanks, we’re glad you like it! We actually aren’t sure of the nutrition content, but if you’re concerned about the sodium, you could always use less sodium soy sauce, and less sodium chicken broth. We hope that helps!
Tasted delicious, the entire family ate it. Not orangey enough, definitely not the orange chicken i thought of and my sauce did not look anything like the photo but yummmmy will cook again, sharing in my mommy groups
Thanks Shannon, we’re glad you and your family enjoyed this! To get more of an orange kick, you can try adding more orange juice and zest, (if you add a significant amount of juice, we’d suggest upping the cornstarch amount as well.) We hope that helps!
This is the first recipe of yours I tried and it will NOT be the last! My only complaint–my boyfriend wouldn’t stop eating it and now I don’t have enough for dinner tomorrow. :-P I thought the level of sweetness was spot-on, though I did add a tiny bit of onion powder to the sauce and little extra OJ. Thanks!!
Thanks Meredith, that’s such a nice compliment! We’re so happy you and your boyfriend loved it! :)
My boyfriend and I love this recipe!
Thanks, we’re happy to hear that! :)
Thanks, we’re so glad to hear that!
This dish was amazing! Absolutely delicious!!
Thank you Erin, we’re so glad you enjoyed it!
This was excellent! I’m making it for the second time tonight. The first time I was out of honey so I just used a bit of orange marmalade instead. Super delicious. Thank you!
Thanks Emily, we’re so happy you liked it! Also, great call on the orange marmalade, we bet that was serendipitous! :)
I made this tonight for my family. It was a hit! I loved it! Even my picky 2-year old ate it. This recipe is great and I’m looking forward to trying more of your recipes!
Thanks for sharing Saaliha, that’s awesome! :)
Made this today for lunch, and had extra for other meals. I love this recipe! My friend made it at her house one night and I had to make it myself. did not have rice wine vinegar so I used apple cider but I didnt notice a taste difference. Also added some red pepper and cayenne for a little kick.
Has anyone tried making a large batch of this in a crock pot???
Thanks Kristy-Lee, we’re so happy you and your friend enjoyed it! That’s also good to know apple cider vinegar works well in this! :)
i can’t have soy sauce. what is the subsitute for soy sauce?
Hi Pamela, you could try a mix of these ingredients: https://chinesefood.about.com/od/sauces/r/soy_sauce_sub.htm or fish sauce, or coconut aminos. We hope this helps!