At my bridal shower last year, my bridesmaids put together a recipe book for me. What was so sweet about it was not the fact that it was just random recipes, but they were favorite recipes from my family and friends.  It’s such a cute book filled with so many great recipes! It was by far my favorite gift that I received at my shower!

Now that I have this blog, I have decided that I really want to try the recipes in this book so I have made it my goal to make at least one recipe from each person that contributed one into the book! Today, I give you P.F. Chang’s Style Orange Peel Chicken from my good friend, Lisa! This recipe was very appealing to me because I love P.F. Chang’s, but because I live in a small college town, there aren’t any around here!! I have made this recipe a couple of times and really enjoyed it so I wanted to make it again, but this time, lighten it up a bit. As is the story with most breaded chicken, the original recipe calls for frying the chicken up in a pan with oil.  I decided to lighten this dish up a bit by using a panko bread crumb and whole wheat flour mixture instead of white flour. And instead of frying the chicken in oil, I baked mine in the oven. Yay for no grease!! This orange peel chicken was so tasty and if you ask me, way better than take out!! Serve it with some steamed rice, quinoa, or more veggies!

Lightened Up Orange Peel Chicken

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

Chicken:

– 4 chicken breasts, cleaned and trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces

– 1 cup panko bread crumbs

– 1 cup whole wheat flour

– 1 egg

– 1 cup milk

– Peel from 1/4 of a large orange, julienned into 1/8-inch strips

– 1 cup sugar snap peas

Sauce:

– 1 tbs. vegetable oil

– 2 tbs. garlic, minced

– 4 green onions, sliced

– 1 cup tomato sauce

– 1/2 cup water

– 1/4 cup granulated sugar

– 1 1/2-2 tbs. oriental chili-garlic sauce

– 1 tbs. soy sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine panko and flour together in a pie dish or bowl. Whisk together milk and eggs. Spray a wire rack with non-stick cooking spray and place the rack into a baking sheet. Dip chicken pieces into milk and egg mixture and then into the flour and bread crumb mixture. Place chicken onto wire rack. Once all your chicken pieces are breaded. Spray them with more cooking spray and bake in the oven for approximately 10 minutes. Gently turn the chicken over, spray with more spray and cook for another 5 minutes. Set cooked chicken aside.

2. Heat vegetable oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add garlic and green onion. Cook for 1 minute. Add tomato sauce, water, sugar, chili garlic sauce, and soy sauce. Bring to a boil. Simmer sauce for 5-6 minutes or until sauce thickens.

3. Heat a large pan or wok on medium high heat, add chicken and orange peel. Heat for 30 seconds, stirring gently. Add the sugar snap peas and the sauce to the pan. Gently toss chicken (you don’t want to knock off the breading) into the sauce and cook for 2 minutes. Serve with rice or additional veggies!

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