Amy's Spicy Honey Orange Glazed Chicken with Soy Sauce

I have a treat for you all today that I hope you will enjoy: it's another recipe!

My Angry Orchard Beer Bread was received so well I thought that I would try another recipe with you. Today I will be sharing another one of my own recipes: Amy's Spicy Honey Orange Glazed Chicken with Soy Sauce.

I made this for my husband and I back in February and it was a huge hit! I got the idea from a frozen meal that I had eaten at work that was an orange glazed chicken and rice meal. It was actually a really good meal, but I wanted more! So I took down all of the ingredients on the back of the box and figured I could make something even better. I had to do a little bit of recipe searching to figure out proportions to get a glaze but in the end the recipe was my own creation. None of the other recipes I found had everything in it that I wanted. Sweet and Savory. Glazed. Mushrooms, Carrots, and Rice. And I even made it Spicy after my initial trial of the recipe. 

I will be including directions to make yours with or without the spice. Without the spice is how I first intended this dish to be made. The spicy version uses chipotle pepper so it has a smoky spiciness. The original way is sweeter and has stronger flavors of orange and honey. Feel free to play with the proportions of everything to get a flavor that you prefer. But be sure to try it! By the way, it's amazing both ways. :)

(And please excuse the pictures. My camera isn't that great, nor is the lighting in my kitchen.)

You will need (in no order at all): Chicken breasts, OJ, Butter, Mushrooms(I've used canned and fresh), Soy Sauce, Honey, Rice (I used instant), salt, pepper, chipotle pepper, carrots, honey (not pictured) ( and I have onion flakes pictured, but I didn't use them...)

Prepare all of your ingredients first to make your process go more smoothly.

Julienne your carrots and mince your mushrooms, you also want to have your chicken cut into 2" wide strips (so each breast is cut into 3-4 long thing pieces, like tenderloins),

you can prepare your glaze early on if you prefer, but there is time while your chicken cooks. You will have a glaze for your chicken and a very similar sauce for your rice so be sure to prepare them both.

Heat your pan and melt your butter. Add the chicken when the pan is hot. Cook chicken approximately 4 minutes on each side, until seared. At the same time begin cooking your rice.

When your rice is done cooking, add your carrots and mushrooms to steam them, and pour the sauce for the rice over the rice mixture. Keep rice on low heat to help the sauce absorb.

About the same time your rice is getting done (before adding the carrots, mushrooms, and sauce) your chicken should be ready for the glaze. Pour the glaze into your pan and continue to cook on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until glaze begins to thicken. Your glaze should be boiling during this process.

When your rice has absorbed most of the liquid from the sauce and the glaze for your chicken is thick, it's done! Serve chicken over rice and spoon addition glaze over the dish.

I hope you enjoy it!

Here's the recipe: 

AMY'S (Spicy) HONEY ORANGE GLAZED CHICKEN WITH SOY SAUCE

Prep:10 minutes

Cook Time:15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE GLAZE:

1/4c honey

1/3c orange juice

1/4c soy sauce (or 2T for the not spicy version)

1T garlic powder or 1 garlic clove, minced

1tsp chipotle seasoning or your spice of choice (or 1/4tsp for not spicy version)

2tsp celery salt

FOR THE CHICKEN:

1/2tsp salt

1/2tsp pepper

4 chicken breasts, cut into 2" strips

2T butter or margarine

cooking spray

FOR THE RICE:

1c instant brown rice

1c water

1 4oz can mushrooms, minced

10 baby carrots, julienned (about 1/2c)

1/3c orange juice

2tsp celery salt

2tsp soy sauce

2tsp honey

1tsp chipotle seasoning (or leave this out for rice that isn't spicy)

DIRECTIONS

1) Begin by spraying your frying pan with cooking spray, add butter and let melt. Season chicken with salt and pepper. When your pan is hot, add chicken and cook on medium-high heat until seared, about 4 minutes per side.

2) At the same time, prepare your rice as per instructions on the box with the water.

3) While chicken is cooking combine all ingredients for the glaze and whisk. You may need to microwave the sauce for about 10 seconds to get the honey to soften enough to be stirred into the mixture.

4) At this point you can also whisk together 1/3c orange juice, 2t celery salt, 2t soy sauce, 2t honey, and 1t chipotle seasoning to make a sauce for the rice.

5) When the chicken is just cooked through, add the glaze to the pan and continue to cook on medium-high heat until it begins to  thicken, about 5 minutes.

Your rice should also be done by now. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the carrots, mushrooms, and prepared sauce for rice to the saucepan and cover for about 5 minutes to get the vegetables softened and warm up the sauce. 

7) When everything is done, serve chicken over rice and spoon glaze from frying pan onto chicken. 

8) Enjoy!