A Quick and Healthy Dinner Recipe for Busy Families: Orange Chicken

Our days seem to be getting busier, and it’s often difficult to have a healthy and quick dinner recipe on the table at a reasonable hour. Family dinners are an important part of the day and it’s worth planning ahead to make sure a healthy recipe for a quick dinner is available. Finding healthy recipes that are quick and easy can be a challenge, but with a little planning, cooking dinner can be a breeze.

Plan a week’s menus in advance and shop using a list. This will save you money on impulse items and you’ll have a quick menu planned for each night of the week. When planning, be sure to factor in regular weekly activities, like little league or dance lessons. Sometimes a crock pot meal or make ahead entree is just the thing for these nights.

Here’s a quick and healthy dinner recipe that’s simple to make, then cooks up quickly in just 15 minutes in the oven while you make a box of rice pilaf and green vegetables. This healthy quick dinner recipe will help solve tonight’s dinner crisis and provide you with a perfect main dish for a company meal. As a bonus, it can be halved or expanded to fit the number of servings needed and uses just one bowl and baking dish, so cleanup is easy.

If you’re a fan of dark meat, you could also use chicken thighs and legs for this recipe, but you’ll need to adjust the cooking time accordingly.

Quick and easy healthy orange chicken dinner 4 chicken breast halves, skinless and boneless

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled

pinch of black pepper

1 cup of orange juice

grated skin of 1 orange

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Arrange chicken breasts in a 13x9x2″ baking dish.
3. Drizzle chicken with melted butter and sprinkle with paprika.
4. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over chicken.
5. Bake uncovered 15 minutes, until tender, basting occasionally with pan juices.

Serving Suggestion: Serve with a wild rice and green bean pilaf or a salad.