Okay, so I decided to tackle that chicken with orange marmalade recipe I saw somewhere. Seemed easy enough, and I had a jar of marmalade just sitting there.
Getting Started
First thing, I grabbed the chicken. Had some boneless, skinless thighs in the fridge, maybe four or five of them. Took ’em out, gave them a quick rinse under cold water, and patted them dry with paper towels. You gotta get them dry, otherwise, they don’t brown properly. I just cut them into bite-sized chunks, nothing fancy.
Then, the sauce. This was supposed to be the easy part. I scooped out a good chunk of that orange marmalade, maybe half a cup? Dumped it into a bowl. Added some soy sauce – just eyeballed it, maybe a couple of tablespoons. Threw in some minced garlic, like two cloves I smashed and chopped up. A bit of ginger too, grated it right in. Stirred that mess together. It looked kinda gloopy, but smelled pretty decent.
Cooking Time
Alright, pan on the stove. Medium-high heat. Added a splash of oil, waited till it shimmered a bit. Then I threw the chicken pieces in. Let them sizzle, didn’t crowd the pan too much. Had to do it in two batches, actually. Flipped them around until they got some nice golden-brown color on all sides. Took maybe 5-7 minutes per batch. Once browned, I scooped all the chicken out and set it aside on a plate.
Same pan, maybe turned the heat down just a touch. Poured that marmalade sauce mixture right in. It started bubbling almost immediately. Scraped the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to get all those tasty browned bits from the chicken mixed into the sauce. Let it simmer for just a minute or two.
Then, I added the chicken back into the pan. Tossed everything together, making sure all the chicken pieces got coated in that sticky orange sauce. Let it all cook together for another five minutes, maybe a bit longer. The sauce thickened up quite a bit, clinging to the chicken. Had to stir it pretty often so it wouldn’t burn on the bottom.
The Result
And that was pretty much it. Pulled it off the heat. The chicken was cooked through, tender, and covered in this glossy, sweet, tangy orange glaze. Looked pretty good, actually.
What I did next:
- Served it straight away over some plain white rice.
- Sprinkled some chopped green onions on top, mostly for color.
It tasted alright! Sweet, definitely got the orange flavor, bit of savory from the soy sauce. Kids ate it, which is always a win. Was it revolutionary? Nah. Was it a decent weeknight dinner? Yeah, pretty much. Quick to make, used up that marmalade. Job done.
