Healthy Orange Chicken Take-out
Been awhile since I have posted a recipe, and I don’t really have a lot of excuses given that our summer plans mostly involved just staying home. We did make it to my husbands family cabin a few times which was a very nice change of scenery. I have to admit that with everything else going on making and posting recipes just seemed so trivial. I also spent most of the time trying to make the summer as fun as could be for my kids. So with that I do have some great recipes I can’t wait to share but I didn’t get to posting anything because I just didn’t want to be sitting in front of the computer. Now that we are back in school and getting somewhat of a schedule down (even though they are still doing their learning online) I plan to spend some time back on here, while they are on their screens doing school work! Lets move on to the good stuff now shall we.
Sometimes you still feel like some good Chinese take-out without the guilt. This recipe hits the spot. It is the perfect amount of sweetness with tang and spice. The coconut flour will brown darker then regular flour but the taste is still delicious. You can also feel better that you know it isn’t full of processed sugar, MSG, and artificial chemicals. You can eat it with rice if you aren’t watching your carbs or have any dietary restrictions, I usually serve my kids with rice and heat up cauliflower rice for me. Costco sells very convenient frozen bags of cauliflower rice that I always have on hand.
Making the recipe
I like to make the Sauce first and then set it to the side, so that it is ready to go as soon as the chicken is done frying. I needed 4 oranges to get 1 cup of juice. You can use no added sugar orange juice but it does taste better using fresh squeezed orange juice and zest. If you don’t have garlic cloves on hand you can use 1/4 t. garlic powder. You can add more or less red pepper flakes to your taste.
When making the chicken try to cut the chicken into identical sizes so that they cook evenly. I like to whisk the arrowroot powder and flour together to ensure that all the clumps are out and it is a smooth powder when dipping the chicken. I use a candy thermometer to heat my oil to 350 degrees, and only fry a few pieces at a time so that I don’t overcrowd my pan and my oil heat drops to low. Once done and I mix the sauce with the chicken I garnish with sliced green onions and additional orange zest but that is completely optional.
Health Benefits
- Coconut sugar is about half the glycemic index as regular sugar, (less of a sugar spike in your blood). It also contains more vitamins and minerals then table sugar.
- Cauliflower is high in Vitamin C and K, as well as high in fiber
- Chicken is low in fat and high in protein
Orange Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken
- 4 boneless skinless chicken cut into bite-size pieces
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup arrowroot powder
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- oil for frying (duck fat, avocado)
Orange Chicken Sauce
- 1 cup orange juice about 4 oranges
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 T. Vinegar
- 2 T. coconut aminos
- 1/4 t. ginger powder
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 t. red pepper flakes
- Orange zest from 1 orange
- 1 T. arrowroot powder
Instructions
Orange Sauce
- In a medium pot, add orange juice, sugar, honey, coconut aminos, ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Heat for about 3 minutes over medium-high.
- In a small bowl, whisk arrowroot and 2 T. water to form a paste. Add to orange sauce and whisk together. Continue to cook for about 5 minutes, until the mixture begins to thicken. Once the sauce is thickened, remove from heat and add orange zest. Set aside
Chicken
- Place four and arrowroot in a shallow dish . Add a pinch of salt. Whisk together.
- Whisk eggs in a separate dish.
- Dip chicken pieces in egg mixture and then flour mixture. Place on plate.
- Heat about 3 inches of oil in a heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Heat to 350 degrees.
- Working in batches as to not over crowd your pan, fry chicken about 2 minutes per side until golden brown all over. Remove and place on paper towel lined plate. Repeat with all chicken pieces
- Toss chicken with orange sauce. You may want to reserve some sauce for serving. Garnish with green onions and additional orange zest.
- Serve over cauliflower rice (or regular rice)
Notes
- Coconut flour will brown darker then regular flour do not be alarmed.
