Orange Crockpot Chicken

On the food deliciousness scale of 1 to 10, I have consistently ranked most Chinese food at about a 4. I know there are a handful of quality restaurants (Dim Sum, anyone?!), but on a whole, I've never enjoyed the MSG laden soggy breading, mystery meat, or dry chow mein. Bizarre, I know!

When I found this recipe (along with other traditional "take out" foods), I wanted to give it a shot. Make it in my own kitchen where I can control the salt, sugar, and oil content. The original recipe is for Lemon Chicken, but the only frozen lemonade I could find had ingredients listed that should be found in floor cleaner. I opted for the "100% Juice" orange juice, and changed the name to Orange Chicken. This being said, if you can find a healthy lemonade concentrate, feel free to switch it up!

Orange Chicken ala Crockpot

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 C flour
1 T salt
6 oz. frozen 100% orange juice concentrate, thawed
3 T brown sugar
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
3 T ketchup
olive oil for browning chicken

Directions:

1. cut chicken into strips or large chunks
2. dredge in flour, shake off the excess
3. brown chicken in skillet with olive oil. Do not cook all the way through, just brown the outsides to give it some color and help the flour to stick through the whole cooking process
4. place in crockpot
5. mix all other ingredients in a separate bowl and pour over the top of the chicken pieces
Cover. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. Serve over brown rice, drizzle with any remaining sauce in the crockpot.

YUMMM!!! You will love this!! Enjoy!