Name: Microwave Orange Chicken
Prep time: 2 min
Cook time: 3 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 8 chicken nuggets (, frozen); 1 1/2 tablespoons BBQ Sauce; 3 tablespoons sweet orange marmalade; 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce

Microwave Orange Chicken takes just 4 ingredients including chicken nuggets, soy sauce, bbq sauce and orange marmalade and just 2 minutes in the microwave!

Come on, we all know that famous and addicting orange chicken isn’t doing any favors for your budget. Make this Orange Chicken at home with a side of Microwave Egg Fried Rice.

MICROWAVE ORANGE CHICKEN

Microwave Orange Chicken lets you skip the take-out line by turning ordinary chicken nuggets into a tasty dinner that doesn’t cost you half your tip money.

You can only eat chicken nuggets the same way for so long before you lose your mind and start to throw frozen nuggets at your roommate just to pass the time. Don’t let it get to that point, try this hack first.

Grab some orange marmalade, some BBQ sauce, and some frozen nuggets (or other chicken) and prepare to say see ya later long food court lines. All you need is a microwave safe bowl that won’t explode in the microwave (read: glass or microwave safe plastic. Please no metal!), and you’re good to go*.

*Chopsticks optional. Making eating fun and challenging is up to you.

Not that you need to be told how to eat orange chicken nuggets, but you can top them with goodies to add a little flair (AKA garnish your chicken like you’re a Top Chef). Add some chopped nuts (AKA put some peanuts into a freezer bag and stomp on it a few times) or some finely crushed gourmet red pepper (AKA the red pepper packets from the last pizza you ordered).

WHAT TO SERVE WITH MICROWAVE ORANGE CHICKEN

Try serving your nuggets with Fried Rice or our Microwave Steamed Rice for that full take-out experience in less than 10 minutes. It’s like Panda in your dorm room and you don’t have to interrupt your Netflix binge. You can also serve this with leftovers from the last time you braved the food court (as long as it was within a week). In case no one told you yet, do not reheat leftovers in the styrofoam box they came in.

HOW TO MAKE MICROWAVE ORANGE CHICKEN

Toss all the ingredients together in a microwave safe bowl.
Cover with wet paper towel.
Microwave for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

VARIATIONS

Hot sauce: Sriracha is amazing on Orange Chicken, and it gives it a little bit of a feisty kick to keep things interesting. Don’t make things TOO interesting, start small.
Chicken: You don’t have to just use chicken nuggets in this recipe. Use leftover chicken strips, pre-grilled chicken pieces, that rotisserie chicken you’ve been munching on the last 2 days, or even canned chicken.
Tofu: Swap out baked Tofu for the chicken nuggets. Make sure you get the baked kind, regular tofu will turn into Orange “Chicken” Scramble. (Find it in the produce section.)

SAVE SOME FOR LATER

If you made waaaaay too much Orange Chicken and you regret your decision, you can always save some for lunch tomorrow. Just cover the bowl in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. It will stay good for about 3 days. So don’t eat until you get sick, you can save it for later.

COST FACTOR

$: You really don’t need very much for this recipe, and all of it is fairly inexpensive. Which means you get to eat delicious take-out style food for almost no money, which is the dream.

MICROWAVE TABLE

1,000 watts or higher: Higher wattage, lower cook time. Our microwave is about 1,250 watts, but if you have one with about 1,000 watts you will want to cook for 3:36.
700 watts: Microwaves under about 900 don’t heat things evenly or consistently, so don’t go anywhere while you’re cooking. Cook for 5:09 but keep an eye on it.

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