Easy Orange Glazed Chicken

 7 April 2022

Recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Quick Family Cookbook, 2012, p. 153. 

This was a serendipitous choice for dinner. I was looking for a chicken cutlet recipe, something with a nice crisp exterior and a tasty sauce such as chicken Parmesan chicken cacciatore. While flipping through the Quick Family Cookbook looking for a recipe I happened to spy a recipe for an orange glazed chicken. While it was not quite what I was looking for it sounded good so I decided to make it.

I purchased four chicken cutlets weighing a total of a little more than a pound. The recipe called for about twice this much chicken but I did not halve the amount of sauce. The chicken was browned in a 12-inch skillet until lightly browned. It was then flipped over and a mixture of orange juice, mustard, and apricot preserves was added and simmered for eight minutes. A slurry of corn starch and orange juice was added as a thickener and simmering continued until the chicken registered 160° and the sauce had slightly thickened. Total time was 25 minutes.

This chicken dish was easy to make and good to eat. The chicken was a little overdone, perhaps because it was made with cutlets instead of whole breasts. The sauce was a little thin and had some oil floating on top but was otherwise good. It was well balanced, neither too orangey nor too mustardy nor too apricoty. 

As a side dish we had mashed butternut squash. I used a recipe/method from How to Cook Everything, Mark Bittman, 1998, p. 613. The squash was steamed then pureed in a food processor. This procedure led to a very smooth puree, well flavored with butter, salt, and pepper and better than any I've made before.