Braised Honey Chicken and Broccoli Fried Rice

I recently discovered Pinterest, and it has been a lifesaver this holiday season.  Obviously year round it is a great place to discover new things, but even without that aspect, it has been a wonderful way to keep track of recipes I want to try, and more significantly, specific recipes I want to make for various holiday dinners (for example, I kept almost my entire Thanksgiving menu there).  This braised honey chicken (pinned as a crockpot recipe but I converted it) is the first recipe that I made from Pinterest.

In its first incarnation, just braised chicken, it was very good.  I added frozen broccoli at the very end and then served it over Jasmine rice. However, it was too rich to eat multiple nights in a row like this (for me anyway).  So I chopped it up and added it to fried rice and oh my, if it was very good in its first incarnation, it was fantastic in this later guise.  The rich, intensely flavored chicken and broccoli made an excellent flavoring for fried rice.

If you are interested in following me on Pinterest, just follow this link:

If you do not have a good Chinese fried rice recipe, here is one you could use.  Take out the bacon, add the chopped chicken and broccoli from this recipe, and use whatever other veggies strike your fancy.

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Braised Honey Chicken and Broccoli Fried Rice

Recipe adapted from mmmcafe

Course: Entree

Cuisine: Asian fusion

Keyword: broccoli, chicken, honey, rice

Author: TheSpicedLife

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 - 2 lbs chicken pieces I used boneless, skinless thighs and bone-in, skin-on breasts
• 2 T vegetable oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3/4 cup honey
• 3 T Chinese light soy sauce
• 3 T Chinese dark soy sauce
• 2 medium onions chopped
• 3 T ketchup
• 1 T vegetable oil more if using all boneless, skinless breasts
• 6-8 cloves garlic minced
• red pepper flakes to taste/heat tolerance
• 1 bag frozen broccoli I prefer all florets
• toasted sesame oil

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 275 F.
2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and let stand for 10 minutes. Heat the 2 tablespoons of oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. When it shimmers, add the chicken in batches to brown it on all sides. Remove the chicken to a plate and then add the onion with a pinch of salt. Stir occasionally. While the onion is browning, whisk together the honey, soy sauces, ketchup, 1 tablespoon oil, and pepper flakes. Add the garlic to the onions once the onions are golden brown. Cook the garlic for 1 minute, stirring.
3. Add the chicken back into the Dutch oven with the onion and garlic. Pour the honey soy sauce over the chicken. Cover the Dutch oven with a heavy lid and place it in the oven. Let it braise for 5 hours, then add the broccoli. Let it cook until the broccoli is hot, about 10 minutes. Drizzle with toasted sesame oil and serve with Jasmine rice.