Honey Ginger Chicken Stir Fry

Every week I sit down, flip through my recipes and cookbooks and come up with some semblance of a meal plan for the week. Well, I try and do this anyways. Usually this works out really well and I'm not stuck trying to figure something out for dinner at the last minute.

Occasionally this backfires a little when there is an abrupt change of plans. Like oh, inviting friends over to dinner in the middle of the week. Don't get me wrong, I love to have people over for dinner, but I don't typically like to serve first-time meals to them. If it's my family, sure, they can be guinea pigs. Friends, it's a little different. I want to make sure whatever it is I'm feeding them is good, because, you know, I'd like them to come back after all.

However, I decided to take a chance with this recipe. All the ingredients were familiar and seemed like they should work well together. I guess sometimes risks pay off. It was delicious. Sweet with a little bit of bite from the ginger. Not to mention fairly easy to pull off.

Honey Ginger Chicken Stir Fry
Adapted from: Allrecipes.com

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 cups fat-free, low sodium chicken broth, divided
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup long-grain white rice
1 tablespoon oil
4 cups washed baby spinach

Place chicken in a medium bowl. Season chicken with garlic powder, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine remaining tablespoon soy sauce, 1 cup broth, cornstarch, honey, and ginger; set aside.

In a small saucepan, bring the rice and remaining 2 cups broth to a boil. Cover and lower heat to medium-low for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, fluff with a fork, recover and let sit for 5 minutes.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook chicken for 5 minutes, or until cooked through. Stir in baby spinach; cook 1 minute, or until wilted. Stir broth/cornstarch mixture, then add to skillet. Cook, stirring constantly until sauce is thickened and translucent. Serve chicken and spinach over rice.

Serves: 4

After our success with the meal the first time around, I decided to make this again a couple weeks later to get some pictures. And I promptly forgot to make the rice with chicken broth. I think that one little step makes a huge difference in the overall flavor of the dish. So don't miss it! Other than that this meal is quick and easy and makes a nice light weekday dinner.

We served this with Sichuan Green Beans, which complemented the meal quite nicely.

Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 478	Calories from fat 110
% Daily Value
Total Fat 12.3g	19%
Saturated Fat 2.9g	14%
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 101mg	34%
Sodium 1204mg	50%
Total Carbs 51.2g	17%
Dietary Fiber 1.6g	6%
Sugars 9.3g
Protein 38.6g
Vitamin A 57%	Vitamin C 15%
Calcium 6%	Iron 25%