Orange Chicken

I needed a simple and easy recipe for dinner the other night and this one did not disappoint. I always have success with recipes from Melanie at My Kitchen Cafe. Everyone, including the kids, ate this dish and cleaned their plates. I will admit telling them Panda Express told me how to make the dish helped with the kids. To make this dish a little faster I used prebreaded chicken pieces, not my favorite thing to do but it really makes the dish a little faster. I also added red pepper flakes to the sauce for a little zing. To see the original recipe click here. Here is my adapted recipe:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Cook 2 lbs breaded chicken tenders in oil over medium high heat until almost fully cooked.

While cooking the chicken, in a medium saucepan combine
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon orange zest
and whisk over medium heat for a few minutes. Then stir in

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon finely minced ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons green onion
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
let it come to a boil.

Then combine
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water
and let it dissolve and add it to the sauce until thickened.

Place the cooked chicken on a baking sheet and cover with about 1/3 of the sauce. Cook in oven for about 10 minutes to glaze one side of the chicken. Flip chicken over cover with another 1/3 of the sauce and cook an additional 5-10 minutes.

Serve, using the remaining 1/3 sauce if desired.