Amazingly Easy and Delicious Orange Chicken

Let me start by stating that if you are looking for an orange chicken recipe that involves coating and frying the chicken, this may not be the one for you. 

However, if you are looking for a quick, easy versatile meal that can easily adapt to feed everyone in your family, you may have hit pay dirt! Setting the stage...we were looking for an easy way to bake up some chicken thighs. I remembered seeing a recipe of interest, so I gravitated that direction - finding at least a half-dozen that were pretty much identical. It was the leftover chicken from that meal that launched this one.

I am not joking when I saw this is an easy dish. In fact, if you do some prep work ahead of time, this can be finished in the time it takes to make rice. And if your rice just needs to be heated...well, be ready to set the table when you throw the first veggies in the skillet.

I start the sauce first. Not because it is difficult or takes a lot of time, but because it is quick and easy and you can be done and get on with other things. Just mix equal parts of Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce and orange marmalade with some soy sauce and heat over low.

 

 Doesn't that look tasty! You can make extra and keep it on hand for even quicker meals later :)

 I pre-sliced my onions and orange peppers. Why orange peppers? It's what I had! If I'd had yellow and red, I would have thrown those in, too. At this point I thought to myself - "I wish I'd prepped some carrots, too!" Maybe next time.

The broccoli can be chopped ahead, too. It gets barely steamed. I over-cooked my original effort and quickly learned my lesson.

 

Another way of making this quick and easy - use leftover chicken or do like I did and pick up a rotisserie chicken on the way home.

I used the entire breast chopped into nice, meaty chunks. You can adjust to suit your taste.

Onions and peppers are crisp-tender.

Time to add the chicken...

And the broccoli... 

 

And mix it all together...

 

Then stir in the sauce.

Serve over rice - then sit down and enjoy!

Amazingly Easy and Delicious Orange Chicken

Makes ~ 4 servings

Sauce:
1/2 c orange marmalade
1/2 c Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce
1 Tablespoon soy sauce

Mix ingredients in sauce pan and heat over low heat. You just want to melt the marmalade and mix it all together. It doesn't need to boil.

Meat & Veggies:
Olive oil
1 sweet onion, sliced
1 medium sweet pepper, sliced
2 bunches broccoli, cut into florets
1 whole chicken cooked breast, skinned and cut into cubes

Rounding it off:
Cooked rice
Red pepper flakes

Heat oil in large skillet. Saute pepper and onion until crisp tender.
While that is cooking, steam broccoli - but just until barely cooked. You want it crisp!
Add the broccoli and chicken to the skillet. Stir to blend.
Add sauce. Stir to blend.

Serve over hot rice.
Those who like things a little spicy with their sweet can stir in some red pepper flakes at the table. We found 1/8 teaspoon per serving gives it a nice bite.

Optional veggies:
Sliced carrots, cooked crisp-tender
Minced garlic
Snow peas
Whatever your family likes!

Alternate meat to try - shrimp! Saute separately right at the end and stir in just before serving so they don't over cook.

Let me know how you like it!