This easy orange chicken recipe makes a tasty quick and easy meal. You’ll also find a meal plan, tips and a tasty pretzel brownies dessert.
Easy Orange Chicken Recipe, Pretzel Brownies And More
Tips:
- Disconnect a bunch of bananas at the stem to keep them fresh longer.
Cooking Mistakes
- It is a mistake to boil water instead of simmering it. There is a difference. A simmer is where the bubbles are just under the surface of the water with one or two bubbles popping up once in a while. Boiling is when there are a lot of rapid bubbles on the surface. If a recipe says simmer, it is best to simmer. One example where this is important is when you are cooking meat. If you are in a hurry and you boil your meat for 30 minutes and then make it into a soup your meat will be very tough compared to simmering it for a couple of hours or more.
- Another common cooking mistake is undercooking baked goods. When we first start cooking we are usually afraid we are going to burn something so we take it out before it is done. Unless the recipe states otherwise, leave your cakes, biscuits, cornbread and other baked goods in the oven long enough to brown slightly. Even if the toothpick test comes out clean, if it isn’t brown leave it in a bit longer.
Orange Chicken Meal Plan:
Orange Soda Chicken
Brown or Steamed Rice
Peas and Carrots
Pretzel Brownies
Recipes:
Here’s an easy way to make a delicious orange chicken with just a small amount of work! This orange chicken recipe makes a quick and easy meal. I would probably serve with rice and broccoli so it is tasty and easy!
PrintEasy Orange Chicken Recipe
Here’s an easy way to make a delicious Asian style orange chicken with just a small amount of work! This orange chicken recipe makes a quick and easy meal your family is sure to love!
Ingredients
4–5 chicken breasts
1 can diet orange soda
1/3 cup soy sauce
Instructions
- Combine chicken, orange soda and soy sauce in a gallon freezer bag. Refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
- Baste it every now and then while it is cooking.
Notes
- You can also make this recipe in the crockpot. It has a wonderful flavor. To cook in the crockpot, cook on low for 3-4 hours.
- If you like to make it fancier, you can garnish with orange slices and or green onions.
Easy Pretzel Brownies Recipe
Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, melted
3 cups crushed pretzels
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 box brownie mix
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°
- Melt the butter in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
- Stir in the crushed pretzels and sugar and spread on the inside of the baking dish to make the crust.
- Bake for 8 minutes.
- Prepare a brownie mix according to the box directions.
- Pour over the prepared crust.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes. (Do not over-bake.)
- Cool.
- When cooled, melt chocolate chips and peanut butter together in the microwave. Stir until smooth.
- Spread over the top of the baked and cooled brownies.
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I do not use anything with aspertine in it which most if not all diet drinks have. I was wondering if it is ok to use regular orange drink? Sounds nice and easy and good.
Yes you can use regular and I would use regular myself.
Is the DIET orange necessary? And, what do you serve this with?
No you don’t need to use diet. It is just that so many are so concerned about eating healthy that many recipes call for diet this and low fat that. I personally would use regular orange. This is kind of like sweet and sour chicken so you could serve it with something like rice or anything you would serve sweet and sour chicken with.
I like the recipes I see, I’d love to try them!!! Simple and delicious recipes are my favorites!!!!
Thanks. I am making this tomorrow in the crockpot!
That chicken sounds SO good. Will make soon.
Just wanted to thank you for sending me the great book I won in your contest!
Menu/Orange Soda Chicken
Do you pour the marinade into the baking dish with the chicken? Do you cover the dish for baking the chicken?
Re. aspertame. Some diet sodas use Splenda, which I like.
Thank you.
Barbara
Yes you just dump it all into the pan or you can do crock pot. In the pan you bake it uncovered but be sure to baste it with some of the juices once in awhile. If you aren’t going to be there to baste it then cover it and forget it. The skin just won’t be a nice brown or as crispy.
Hi Jill . . . in your reply you mentioned that “the skin” won’t be crispy. Does the recipe mean to say to use 3-4 skin on chicken breasts? Or are we to use skinless chicken breasts. Thank you in advance for your guidance. Love the sound of this recipe.
Mary you can use either. Both ways taste good. With or without the skin
I have downloaded the brownie recipe, sounds different and yummy. We eat a church every week and I have dessert this week and will be making the recipe. Thank you for your newsletter, I enjoy it just haven’t commented before.
I guess I am having a blonde moment, but on the tip for the bananas, do you mean to separate each banana?
Don’t feel bad Loma I have a few of those moments too. Now I not only have blonde moments but senoir citizen moments – lethal combination. : ) Yes you pull each banana off of the bunch. I have tried it twice and it seems to have worked. Even though I buy as few bananas as I can they always seem to ripen faster then I can eat them and doing this actually gave me a few extra days to get them eaten.
Thanks! I love bananas, but I have the same problem with them ripening too fast!
The orange soda chicken sounds really good. I will give that a try this weekend for Sunday dinner. I may add a can of pineapple chunks and a pinch of chopped ginger and maybe some garlic. Makes my mouth water just thinking of it! Thanks for sharing.
Oh all those extras do sound good add to it.
I’m going to make the chicken over the weekend. Maybe I will add some pineapple and garlic. Sounds yummy.
My husband is allergic to soy. Is there anything I can substitue the spy with in the Orange soda chicken.
Also, all cookies bread rolls and biscuits come out of my oven burned on the bottom and the rest undercooked. Do you have any suggestions on how to avoid this.
I’m not sure what you could use in place of the soy sauce Kim. As far as the things burning in your over there could be something wrong with the top or bottom element in your oven. You can though until you get it fixed bake things on a higher rack and not in the middle and see if that helps some.
Braggs Amino Acid is a good replacement for soy sauce.
I had a propane oven doing just that. I placed a pizza stone on the same shelf where the broiler pan is. Unglazed tile would work also. Solved that,it distrubits the heat more evenly.
You could use Marmite, Promite or Vegemite.
Kim, I used to have the problem of things burning or overcooked on the bottom, but on one of the comments on another article someone mentioned using an extra cookie sheet under the pan you are using. Since doing this, I haven’t had anything else burn on the bottom.
As far as the soy sauce substitute, the sauce is mostly a salty flavor, so you can use garlic salt, steak sauce, pickle juice, or even juice or wine. It will taste different, but I’ve used all of these at one time or another when I’ve been out of soy sauce.
There are recipes for Soy Sauce substitutes.
Mock Soy Sauce
4 tablespoons beef bouillon
4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons molasses
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 pinch pepper
1 pinch garlic powder
1-1/2 cups water
In a saucepan over medium heat add all the ingredients. Bring to a boil and let simmer 15 minutes.
Here is an interesting recipe.
Lemon Pepper Chicken
1 cup Italian dressing
2/3 cup powdered lemonade flavor drink mix
2-1/4 teaspoons pepper
3-4 chicken breasts
Mix together the dressing, lemonade mix and pepper. Stir well and pour onto chicken in pan. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight. Take out and bake for about an hour at 350 degrees. Baste occasionally.
Thanks again for another yummy recipe Bea
You’re welcome Jill. Hope you and Tawra have beautiful Mother’s Days. God Bless.
I used to take care of a lady that took her bananas and separated them, wrapped each one in newspaper and put them in the bottom drawer of her fridge. They lasted for a very long time this way.
Bea, I love your recipe for mock soy sauce. I have taken balsamic vinegar, added some brown sugar and ginger and that has been a good substitute too. It cuts down on the sodium (and I need less of that) and yet still gives that great Chinese flavor. I just cook it down until it is the thickness I need. If you want it thinner, add some low sodium beef boullion. Can’t wait to try this orange soda chicken.
That chicken sounds yummy. I’m going to make it on Sunday.
You actually must use diet orange soda sweetened with splenda or stevia in this recipe – you can’t cook with aspartame because it loses its sweetness. As for a sub for soy sauce, you can use coconut aminos.
Your baked goods may be burning because your oven is too hot. Try using a better grade cookie sheet or pan, or putting a second one under the first. You could also test your oven’s temperature, but that requires purchasing a thermometer.
Can I replace the orange soda with Tang or orange juice ? Thank you.
?
I have never tried it with orange juice so I really don’t know. It might not be as tender but you maybe could get by with it.
Bragg liquid aminos is a natural soy sauce alternative.