Orange Honey Sesame Chicken

Sesame Chicken has been a favorite in our house for quite a while now.  It’s a go to dish when we have vegetables to use up that are good in a stir fry, or just as a chicken dish to throw in the weekly meal plan.  I have gotten a ton of oranges lately from Bountiful Baskets and Sunizona FarmBoxes, so I decided to try to incorporate fresh squeezed orange juice somehow.  Also, the Sesame Chicken uses white sugar, but this time I decided to use honey in its place.  I have a lot of honey from a Bountiful Baskets 12 pound bucket to use, plus it’s more natural than the sugar I have.  It turned out really great!  It’s not overly orange tasting, which is what I was going for.  I also added in some fresh grated ginger, which I think I may do with the Sesame Chicken in the future as well.  (Quick tip for ginger, keep it in the freezer to keep longer, then just take it out, grate what you need, and put it back!)

Orange Honey Sesame Chicken

What you need:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1″-2″ pieces
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1/2 tsp dark sesame oil
2 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
1/4 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
Veggies of your choice (tonight I used broccoli and green onions)
Cooked rice

How to make it:

Place flour and chicken in a gallon size zipper bag.  Shake to coat chicken in flour.  Heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken to the skillet in batches and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until white and no longer pink.

Meanwhile, in a medium-sized skillet, combine the soy sauce and honey in the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the honey is mixed well with the soy sauce. Stir in the orange juice, grated ginger, sesame oil and sesame seeds.  Pour over the chicken in the larger skillet and stir to coat.

Add in any chopped veggies you want.  For this batch, I used just broccoli.  Other times I have used different combinations of broccoli, onion, green, yellow, and red peppers, shredded carrots, bean sprouts, snow peas, water chestnuts, and mushrooms.  Cover your skillet and cook until veggies have softened.  I tend to leave the veggies a little crispy still because my husband likes them still crispy.  After other veggies have softened, add the green onions.

Serve over cooked rice.

Note: You can buy toasted sesame seeds, usually with in the section with other Asian grocery items.  If you can’t find them, to toast sesame seeds, place in a dry skillet and toast, shaking the pan, over medium high heat for a minute or so, or until fragrant and lightly browned. Do this first and cook the chicken in the same skillet to pick up more sesame flavor.  Also, if you are using a lot of veggies, you may want to double the ingredients for the sauce so there is some for the veggies.

Tags: broccoli, chicken, ginger, green onion, honey, orange, rice, sesame