SRC: Chile Honey Chicken

It is Secret Recipe Club time already. It feels like there is no way that another month has gone by, but the calendar begs to differ. Our group has a new host this month, Jane from The Heritage Cook, so a huge thank you to her for helping to organize all our delicious posts!

My blog assigment this month Phemomenon. I was crazy excited about this assignment because Holly's blog is one of the first I started reading before I ever started my own. In fact, one of my very first posts was a Cookie Carnival week that she hosted (please forgive these early blog pictures!). Holly has established a great blog with tons of awesome looking dinners and desserts from posts for different cooking groups. In choosing a recipe for this group, I wanted to pick an original recipe to give her a little more of the spotlight, and this search led me straight to this chile honey chicken recipe. 

While I haven't made an Asian-inspired dish in quite some time, my husband is definitely a fan of Chinese food. Combine that with one of Holly's recipes, and my odds were good that this would be a hit. As it turns out, I should have placed a few bets on those odds because this was really good! My only change from the way she originally made it was to follow her stir-fry directions. One of the advantages of making Chinese food at home is that it gives you the freedom to turn it into a healthy meal, so I never bread nor fry my chicken when making it at home. As she notes, the dish turns out being a little sweet from the addition of the honey, however one could easily up the heat-factor by adding a little more crushed red pepper - as I have found out the hard way in previous Asian dishes. Two tablespoons really is too much! :)

I know both of us cleaned our plates with this one. Yum! Be sure to check out the other great SRC recipes below. Enjoy!

(Printable Recipe)

Chile Honey Chicken
From PheMOMenon

Ingredients:
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenderloins
1/3 cup Ponzu sauce
1/4 cup sweet chile sauce
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 cup fresh sugar snap peas

Sauce:
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sweet chile sauce
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 Tbsp. water
1 garlic clove, minced
pinch (or more) crushed red pepper

Trim and cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and place them in a large ziptop bag with the ponzu sauce and 1/4 cup sweet chile sauce. Mix the bag to cover the chicken pieces and let marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Begin preparing rice or noodles if using to serve with the chicken.

While the chicken is marinating, make the sauce by whisking together the honey, remaining 1/4 cup sweet chile sauce, butter, water, garlic, and crushed red pepper in a small bowl. Set aside.

Drain the marinade from the chicken pieces and discard. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large frying pan or wok over medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering. Add the chicken and stir-fry until cooked through. Place the cooked chicken aside in a bowl, leaving an empty pan. Reduce the heat to medium and pour in the prepared sauce. Using a wooden spoon, stir the sauce and let it boil for approximately 1 minute. Return the chicken pieces to the pan and stir to coat. Add the sugar snap peas and stir to coat. Bring the mixture back to a simmer and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until everything is hot. Serve over rice or noodles.