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★ Why You'll Love this Recipe ★
A complete meal in one bowl!
You'll love this super easy and delicious dinner that's inspired by Applebee's crispy orange chicken bowl.
This homemade version is made with crispy chicken and stir-fry vegetables tossed in a simple, sweet and spicy Asian sauce, all served over white rice.
A Quick and Easy Meal
This recipe is very simple to prep when you start with frozen popcorn chicken and frozen mixed vegetables. You can make your own rice or use pre-cooked rice or minute rice.
These simple shortcuts save a ton of time.
Easy Homemade Orange Chicken Sauce
You'll love the sauce. The sweet and spicy orange sauce coats the crispy chicken, vegetables, and rice tying everything together and adding the perfect amount of flavor.
Expand Your Menu
Pair this Crispy Orange Chicken Bowl with some Pineapple-Orange Rum Punch, Ramen Noodle Asian Slaw Salad, and Peach Cobbler for dessert.
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
You'll need just 8 total ingredients to pull this entire meal together!
Here's everything you'll need:
- Popcorn chicken. You can find this pre-cooked chicken in the frozen foods aisle. Just bake or air fry according to the package instructions to heat and crisp the outside.
- Orange marmalade. This sweet and tangy jam adds the perfect amount of flavor, texture, and a touch of sweetness to this dish.
- Yellow mustard. Just standard yellow mustard works or you can try Chinese mustard which is a bit stronger in mustard flavor and has a little spice too.
- Rice vinegar. This adds a nice tang to your sauce that cuts through and complements the sweetness.
- Teriyaki sauce. Choose your favorite brand.
- Broccoli stir fry vegetables. You can use any medley of fresh or frozen vegetables but I really like the stir-fry vegetables with broccoli for this dish. This variety includes baby corn, broccoli, Italian green beans, carrots, water chestnuts, and red bell peppers.
- White rice. I like to cook a big batch of white rice ahead of time and freeze it 2 cups at a time. Just microwave to defrost and fluff with a fork.
For Garnish
- Green onions. This adds a final layer of spice and a little crunch too. These aren't required but add a yummy finish.
- Sriracha sauce. Add to taste for heat. This is optional!
More mild flavor: If you prefer a less spicy, more salty dish, substitute some or all of the Sriracha sauce with soy sauce.
★ How to Make this Recipe ★
This recipe is SO EASY!
Everything comes together in just a few steps making this an easy weeknight dinner.
Here's a snapshot of what's involved:
- Bake frozen crispy chicken.
- Heat and combine sauce ingredients.
- Add and cook frozen stir fry vegetables.
- Layer cooked rice in bowl.
- Add cooked chicken.
- Pour sauce and vegetables over chicken.
That's it! You can precook the rice ahead of time and just heat it up in the microwave or let it cook while you prepare the crispy chicken and sauce with vegetables.
★ Tips & FAQs ★
Yes. This recipe is not exactly the same but is inspired by Applebee's popular chicken bowl made with breaded chicken, a tangy orange sauce, stir-fried veggies and cilantro rice. Applebee's dish is topped with green onion and toasted almonds. So the main difference is that we are using regular white rice and no almonds.
If you'd like to season your rice, simply stir in fresh lemon or lime juice, fresh chopped cilantro and salt after cooking the rice, right before serving.
If you want your vegetable to have some additional snap to them, you can sauté them over medium-high heat before adding them to your sauce. If you do this, you will need about 2-3 tablespoon of any type of cooking oil.
Frozen vegetables save time and offer a convenient option for cooking a homemade dinner quickly on those busy weeknights.
However, you can certainly opt for fresh vegetables. Any vegetable or combination of veggies you'd like to use, works for stir fry.
The key to cooking rice is: don't lift the lid. Cooking rice requires a little pressure and if you release that pressure too soon, then your rice can come out soft on the outside, but still crunchy in the middle. If you cook a lot of rice, you may want to consider a rice cooker or an Instapot which you can use as a rice cooker. However, I just use my dutch oven. I bring rice and water to a boil, cover, then reduce to a simmer. After 20 minutes, I remove the lid and fluff the rice.
★ More Dinner Bowl Recipes ★
Looking for more easy dinner ideas?
Browse all my easy dinner recipes and be sure to Pin your favorites for later!
Crispy Orange Chicken and Vegetable Bowl
Equipment
- skillet or wok
Ingredients
Chicken and Sauce
- 26 oz breaded popcorn chicken frozen
- 1 tablespoon orange marmalade
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard or use Chinese mustard
- ⅓ cup Teriyaki sauce
- ¼ cup rice vinegar more or less to taste
Vegetables
- 20 oz broccoli stir fry vegetables frozen or fresh
Serve with
- 4 cups cooked white rice
Garnish
- 4 green onions finely chopped
- Sriracha sauce (optional) to taste
Mighty Mrs. is a #WalmartPartner.
Instructions
- Crisp chicken. Heat chicken according to package. (Bake or air fry - approx 10 minutes)
- Cook rice. Prepare rice according to package instructions or use pre-cooked white rice and heat according to package.
- Make sauce. While chicken and rice are heating, add orange marmalade, mustard, rice vinegar, teriyaki sauce, and Sriracha sauce to a large skillet over medium/high heat. Bring to a boil, stir to combine.
- Add veggies. Add stir-fry vegetables to sauce. Cook in bubbling sauce for 3-5 minutes or until vegetables are soft but still bright in color. Reduce to simmer.
- Assemble bowls. When chicken and rice are ready, build each bowl by layering cooked rice, cooked popcorn chicken, then pour the sauce over top of the chicken, completely coating it and adding as many vegetables as you’d like. Top with chopped green onions for garnish and Sriracha sauce if you like heat!
Video
Notes
- If you want to crisp your veggies more, you can sauté in 2 tablespoon of oil first, then add them to the sauce.
- For added flavor, add ¼ teaspoon each garlic and ginger powder to the sauce.
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