Orange Chicken makes a favorite Chinese dish. Get this lightened up Skinny Orange Chicken recipe which is Paleo-friendly, gluten-free, and grain-free, but definitely not free of flavor!
Orange Chicken has to be one of my favorite Chinese dishes to order when we order takeout or visit a favorite Chinese restaurant. I’ve made it a few times at home, but decided that I wanted to make a skinny orange chicken recipe.
You know, around the first of the year, that’s what seems to be on our minds. This lighter orange chicken recipe, or my Skinny Orange Chicken, is exactly what I had in mind! It’s so full of flavor and a favorite in my family!
Skinny Orange Chicken
How to Make Skinny Orange Chicken
I begin with four skinless, boneless chicken breasts that I slice in half horizontally. You’ll definitely want to make sure you are using a very sharp knife held parallel to the cutting board when slicing the chicken in half. I then cut the halves into bite-sized pieces. I find that they cook a lot more evenly that way and it saves a ton of time when cooking chicken in recipes like this. and I like to pop my chicken into the freezer for about 15 minutes as it makes them perfect for cutting, in my opinion.
I toss my chicken into a skillet with a bit of oil. I use coconut oil as I want to make this recipe as Paleo-friendly as possible, but you can use olive oil, butter, or a combination of the two for a delicious flavor.
While the chicken is browning, I mix together the sauce for the chicken. While traditional orange chicken always calls for frying the chicken bites in a cornstarch batter, I omit that part to reduce a few calories. Believe me, you won’t miss it once you taste the sauce on this chicken!
Once the chicken is browned, I remove it from the skillet as I cook the sauce to reduce it for the dressing. You are going to love the substitutions I made. It tastes so fresh and delicious!
Here’s my Skinny Orange Chicken Recipe. I think you are going to love it. I know we sure do!
Skinny Orange Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1/4 cup chicken stock or broth
- 3 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
- 3 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Sriracha sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds for garnish, optional
- Broccoli recipe
Instructions
- Melt coconut oil in medium skillet over medium heat. Add in chicken pieces and cook until cooked through and browned, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from skillet and set aside.
- While chicken is cooking, stir together chicken stock, honey or maple syrup, garlic, orange zest, orange juice, coconut aminos, Sriracha sauce, ginger and red pepper flakes. Pour into heated skillet once chicken has been removed and reduce to low heat. Cook, stirring often, until sauce has been reduced and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from heat and pour over chicken.
- To serve, spoon chicken over a bed of broccoli and then spoon on additional sauce. Top with sesame seeds, if desired.
Notes
For 1 tablespoon coconut oil, use butter or olive oil or a combination of the two
For 1/4 cup coconut aminos, use 1/4 soy sauce If your sauce does not thicken as desired, you may add the following to assist in the thickening:
Mix 1 – 2 teaspoons of tapioca flour or arrowroot powder, if Paleo OR cornstarch, if non-Paleo, with the same amount of water to form a paste. Stir into the sauce well to thicken.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
Made this today, tasted AWESOME!! But the sauce wouldn’t thicken. So I ended up just putting the chicken back in the pan and cooking it together so the flavor a would blend. Any tips? Will definitely make again!
Hey there, your recipe looks delicious! I was wondering…after the chicken browns, do you think I could just throw everything into my slow cooker for a few hours?? Think there’s enough sauce?
Thanks for your help!
Hi Adam,
I’ve not done it that way, but I think it would work perfectly. It would give the sauce additional time to thicken with the chicken and all of those flavors to become even more pronounced. Let me know how it works for you!!!
Thank you so much for this! This is a great allergy friendly recipe for my son the whole family enjoys! We just leave the hot sauce out because it’s a little too spicy for my two year old.
I’m so glad your whole family enjoy it, Amanda!
Hi, all.
For those of you having trouble with the sauce not thickening, add 2-3 tablespoons of arrowroot powder (a paleo-approved alternative to cornstarch) before adding the chicken. And as Robyn suggests, be sure to keep the heat low. I hope this helps! Other than that, this recipe is delicious! We’ll certainly be making it ahead.
Thank you, Robyn!
How about adding when/where to use the ginger to the recipe?
any nutritional values available?
I recommend using Calorie Count for nutritional values as it will adjust for your serving size and any adjustments you might chose to make.
I’m wondering what would you choose for the sweetener between maple syrup or honey? Do you find one tastes more like it goes with it the asian flavor? Thank you for your opinion because I really want to try this for my family! 🙂
Hi Karly,
I go back and forth between the two, but really think that the honey does lend more of an Asian flavor than the maple syrup. It also tends to make the sauce thicken more quickly when you reduce it. Hope your family loves it!
Robyn, this recipe looks great! I love this dish, but only eat it out. Maybe I’ll try it at home now. Thanks for sharing!
I made this and followed the recipe to the letter. The flavor was amazing! We loved it! But, my sauce never really thickened up, do you have any tips for that? I want to make it again!
Hi Sue,
So glad you loved it! It is now one of my weekly staple recipes! Continue to cook the sauce maybe increasing the temp a wee bit and it should thicken fairly quickly.
Hi!! I made this tonight but my sauce never thickened. I used a stainless steel skillet. Could that have been the problem? Thanks!!
Hey, Laurel! Use 2-3 tablespoons of arrowroot powder (paleo-friendly alternative to cornstarch) before adding the chicken, and that should thicken the sauce for you. We had the same trouble, but this worked for us. Hope this helps!