Need an easy, healthy weeknight dinner recipe? I’ve got you covered with my delicious, nutritious, and satisfying Orange Chicken and Vegetable’s recipe. This easy weeknight meal is one the entire family will love! The other fantastic thing about this recipe is that it can be food prepped the evening before for dinner ready the next day! With loads of fiber from the veggies, fresh ginger and orange juice in the sauce, and organic cubed chicken, this is one recipe you won’t want to miss!
PROTEIN AND VEGGIES MAKE THE PERFECT DINNER COMBO!
One of my favorite meal recipes to make is one that includes protein, vegetables, and carbs. The wonderful thing about my Easy Orange Chicken And Vegetable’s recipe is that it gives you a full serving of veggies, a full serving of protein, and a full serving of carbs in one meal. This all-around healthy meal is similar to that famous restaurant that sells their infamous orange chicken, but my version is a healthier spin!
LET’S PREP THE CHICKEN
The first step in creating this delectable recipe is to prep the chicken. I bought organic chicken breasts for this recipe and cut them into cubes. Next, add the cubed chicken to a small mixing bowl and season with black pepper, Himalayan sea salt, paprika, and garlic salt. Coat the chicken and flour and set the chicken aside while you prep the orange chicken sauce. You will also need corn starch later in this recipe.
IT’S TIME TO GET SAUCY
The next step is to create the orange chicken sauce and for this, I used freshly squeezed orange juice, fresh ginger, honey, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and coconut aminos. I also added fresh garlic and corn starch to help thicken the sauce. Add all of the ingredients to a saucepan over low heat and simmer for 5-minutes until the orange sauce begins to thicken. You can add more corn starch, depending on how thick you want your sauce. We are opting for honey instead of white sugar but we want this to be a healthier version of orange chicken so we are using honey instead. I also added some fresh orange zest at the end while the sauce thickened to really give the sauce that zesty and vibrant flavor.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE VEGGIES
The next step is to heat a pan with vegetable oil and heat the oil up. Next, add the coated chicken to the oil and cook the chicken in the oil until the chicken starts to brown. For my vegetables, I used pre-cut bags of carrots, broccoli, celery, red bell pepper, fresh cilantro, and fresh chopped garlic. Add the prepped veggies to the chicken and saute everything together until the veggies start to soften. Next, add the orange chicken sauce to the veggies and chicken and cover the pan. Simmer everything together for 7-10 minutes over medium heat.
While the veggies, chicken, and sauce simmer together, prep the rice. I always keep and cook Jasmine rice in our household because it’s our favorite. Cook the rice according to package directions. Remove the prepped veggies and chicken from the heat. Scoop some rice into bowls and top with the orange chicken and vegetables. Add fresh cilantro for even more of a delicious kick!
IT’S TIME TO EAT!
This easy weeknight meal is fun to make and so colorful! It’s a wonderful addition to add into your weeknight rotation and makes a wonderful weekend dinner too. My Easy Orange Chicken and Vegetables also makes fantastic leftovers.
Have you ever made orange chicken? Are you excited to try this delicious version?
Easy Orange Chicken
ingredients:
- 2-cups freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1-cup honey
- 1-cup soy sauce
- 1-cup coconut aminos
- ¼-cup rice wine vinegar
- 1-tablespoon freshly chopped garlic
- 1-teaspoon chopped ginger
- 2-teaspoons cornstarch
- 1-teaspoon orange zest
- 1-pound organic chicken, cubed
- 1-teaspoon black pepper
- 1-teaspoon Himalayan sea-salt
- 1-teaspoon paprika
- 1-teaspoon garlic salt
- 1-cup flour
- 1-cup vegetable oil
- 1-cup chopped celery
- 1-cup sliced carrots
- 1-cup chopped broccoli
- 1-cup sliced red bell peppers
- 1-teaspoon freshly chopped garlic
- 1-package of Jasmin rice
- 1-cup freshly cilantro
instructions:
How to cook Easy Orange Chicken
- In a small saucepan, add the orange juice, honey, soy sauce, coconut aminos, rice wine vinegar, chopped garlic, and ginger and simmer over medium heat.
- Add the cornstarch to thicken the sauce and simmer on low heat for 10-minutes until the sauce becomes nice and thick.
- Add some a teaspoon of orange zest to bring out the flavor.
- Set the sauce aside.
- In a small mixing bowl, season the chicken with the black pepper, sea salt, paprika, garlic salt. Coat the chicken with the flour.
- Heat a pan over medium heat and add the vegetable oil.
- Pour in the chicken and brown on each side cooking over medium heat.
- Next, add freshly chopped veggies one at time. Add the celery, carrots, broccoli, bell peppers, chopped garlic and simmer on medium heat for 5-minutes.
- Next, pour in the prepared orange sauce to the pan and simmer the chicken, veggies, and sauce together for 10-minutes over low heat.
- While the veggies and chicken are simmering together, cook the Jasmin rice according to package directions.
- Once the rice is finished cooking, grab some serving bowls and fill them with the rice.
- Top with the orange chicken and veggies.
- You can drizzle more orange sauce on top of the dish and add fresh cilantro for even more flavor.
Calories
901.02
Fat (grams)
47.22
Sat. Fat (grams)
5.63
Carbs (grams)
97.41
Fiber (grams)
4.01
Net carbs
93.40
Sugar (grams)
64.51
Protein (grams)
26.74
Sodium (milligrams)
3680.49
Cholesterol (grams)
71.06
anindya says
Yes the protein and vegetables make the perfect combination and this can be done any night . Thanks for the recipe
Annie says
I adore orange chicken, and really love that your version is healthier than the restaurants!
xoxo
Annie
Rochelle says
My mouth is watering. I absolutely love orange chicken. I cannot wait to make this recipe!. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Kez says
It does look very easy to make! Unfortunately it's too carby for me, but I have a friend who would love this!