Shredded Orange Chicken

I often make a whole chicken in the Instant Pot in the beginning of the week, and am looking for ways to use the chicken throughout the week. This orange chicken recipe may be my family’s favorite dinner I make. My husband and kids DEVOUR it!

I am going to share the recipe to make a larger amount. I normally buy Lakewood Organics orange juice, and when I would just make one serving of the orange sauce, I would be left with half a bottle of orange juice. It would near the end of its shelf life, and I would end up freezing the juice. Then I thought, if I am having to go through the hassle of freezing the juice, why not make a larger portion of the sauce to use up the whole bottle of orange juice, and then just freeze the extra sauce? That way the sauce is ready to go, and all I have to do is throw it in a pot on top of shredded chicken and dinner is done.

Ingredients

32 oz orange juice (I use Lakewood Organics)

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1 and 1/4 cup coconut aminos

1/4 cup maple syrup

6 cloves of minced garlic

1/2 cup arrowroot powder

1/2 cup water

1 lb shredded chicken

3 stalks of green onion

Directions

To a medium sauce pan, add orange juice, rice vinegar, coconut aminos, maple syrup, and minced garlic. Cook on medium heat.

In a separate bowl, add arrowroot powder and water. Mix together until there are no clumps and the powder is fully incorporated with the water. If needed, add a bit more water until the mixture has no clumps. My recipes are all about simplifying steps- DO NOT skip this step! If you put the arrowroot powder directly into the orange sauce mixture, it will clump up and ruin the texture of the sauce.

Add arrowroot powder/water mixture into orange sauce. Allow to continue cooking at medium heat until sauce has thickened. If desiring a thicker sauce, add more arrowroot powder, 1 tbsp at a time. In separate bowl, mix 1 tbsp arrowroot powder with 1 tbsp of water, dissolve, and then add to sauce. It will take a few minutes of cooking for the arrowroot powder to cause the sauce to thicken.

This recipe yields ~4.5 cups of sauce. I use Souper Cubes to freeze mine, but you can even let cool completely and then freeze in Ziploc bags.

Use 1.5 cups of sauce per 1 lb of chicken. If you plan on using 1 lb of chicken at a time, you can freeze two 1.5 cup servings of the sauce and then have 1.5 cups of the sauce left to use at the time of cooking.

Once extra sauce has been removed and 1.5 cups of sauce is left in the pan, add 1 lb of shredded chicken. Stir.

Serve over rice. I like to cook my rice in bone broth for extra nutrition and flavor. Top with sliced green onions, if desired.

Serve with a vegetable on the side, such as steamed broccoli or sautéed zucchini.