Quick Chicken A L'Orange Recipe

Fancy enough for company, easy enough for a weeknight

by: Karen Humphrey
Quick Chicken A L'Orange Recipe

Some chefs consider chicken to be bland and boring, but in this recipe it's anything but. After browning the chicken you coat it with a sticky sweet sauce to glaze it up, and then keep it in the oven to let the magic happen. See? EASY! We had this with mashed potatoes and a tossed salad, and my guys completely gobbled it down and asked for more. Even my most picky eater raved about the chicken and insisted I make it again. The most complicated ingredient? Frozen orange juice concentrate. Make sure to buy a really good, 100 % juice brand to have the best flavor.

Ingredients:

4 bone in chicken breast halves
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup thawed orange juice concentrate
1/4 cup honey

  Pre-heat the oven to 375 F. Lay the chicken breasts out on a plate and pat them dry with paper towel. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. 

  Get a large fry pan going on the stove over medium heat and add the vegetable oil to it. When it’s good and hot, place in the chicken skin side down. Let it cook and brown up, about 5 minutes. Remove the breasts to a baking dish skin side up, and set aside.

  In a small saucepan, stir together the orange juice concentrate, honey, ¼ tsp pepper, and bit of salt. I don’t really use salt a lot when I cook-you can judge here. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer until it becomes thick and syrupy.  It should only take a few minutes, so watch carefully and give it a stir now and then.

  Pour half of the syrup over the chicken breasts and bake them for about 15 minutes, then pour the rest of the syrup over the chicken and bake for about 10-15 minutes more, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat registers between 160 and 170 F.

  Remove the pan from the oven and let it sit on the stovetop for about 10 minutes before serving. You can use a knife and fork to pull the chicken off the bone before serving, or serve as is. Skim the fat off the top of the juices and serve alongside to pour over the chicken and mashed potatoes.

Makes 4 servings

Adapted from Ten Dollar Dinners

Category: 
Recipes
Tags: 
quick chicken recipe
easy recipes
chicken dinner recipes
orange chicken recipes
easy chicken a l'orange
chicken a l'orange recipe
Karen Humphrey
Karen Humphrey

She may go by the name Scatteredmom online, but Karen really is anything but scattered when it comes to the kitchen.  Churning out tasty treats within view of the Georgia Strait on Canada's west coast, Karen will hand you an organized weekly meal plan or teach you how to make meals from scratch.  As Mom to a teenage boy, she knows exactly what it takes to keep kids full and happy-which has really come in handy with her job as the Food Editor at Yummy Mummy Club.

A strong supporter of Food Revolution who has been endorsed by Jamie Oliver himself, by day Karen can be found working as a special education teaching assistant, running a kitchen and showing teenagers how to cook nutritious meals for themselves.  By night, when she's not chatting on Twitter and answering cooking questions,  she writes her popular blog Notes From the Cookie Jar, or posting mouthwatering recipes over at Chasing Tomatoes.  Not afraid to give her opinion and passionate about community, Karen spoke at Blissdom Canada 2010 and her writing has been published in Canadian Living magazine, as well as in various online publications. 

Follow Karen on Twitter @scatteredmom