I was intrigued and marched up to the crockpot.
During a recent stroll online, I found myself puzzled by a picture of an orange chicken recipe involving orange marmalade and sweet barbecue sauce. Somewhere in the clutter of the daily grind, my mind had just stopped and was desperately trying to comprehend the image before me. Orange marmalade and barbecue sauce. My mind eventually went from a plethora of ideas about the ingredients blend to being placed on a back burner where most ideas begin to simmer out. The idea of dumping these containers into a crockpot had, in good time, transferred from the conscious to the subconscious until Monday.
Somewhere in aisle five, the epiphany that recipe that had stopped scrolling thumbs on a phone was going to be dinner, no matter what. Whether it was the jar of marmalade starring at me eye level on the shelf or just a searcher on a long trek of finding something different to make, I knew it was what I had to do. I already had soy sauce, barbecue and sesame oil at home so all I needed was the orange marmalade and the chicken. With a quick transaction at the register, I was equipped to make orange chicken in hopes that the internet had steered me right with my $11 spur of the moment purchase.
When I got home, I stared at my crockpot and quietly gave the both of us a prep talk that we were going to like this dish. The crockpot first received a layer of olive oil which was quickly followed by the freshly cubed chicken. Then in a separate bowl the jar of marmalade, a bottle of barbecue sauce, two tablespoons of soy sauce and a splash of sesame oil was mixed together before the combination was added to the crockpot. Just for good measure, half a cup of water was added at the end and the machine was set to low. The chicken was cooked on low for 1.5 hours before cooked on high for an additional 1.5 hours. When the chicken was over 165 degrees, I placed the orange chicken on a bed of jasmine rice.
The chicken was a little drier than I anticipated, but the sweet and spicy chicken tasted just like the orange chicken from a restaurant. I had somehow in the mixing of containers found the taste I was searching for although the grams of sugar and the calories were a little higher than what I would have liked. One of my two younger children attempted the chicken and agreed that it was okay. I am on the fence of trying the recipe again, but it certainly worth the try!
