Hands-on Time: 25 minutes
Total Time : 30 minutes
Serves 4
- 1 c long grain-white rice
- 18 oz frozen chicken nuggets
- ½ c apricot preserves
- 2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp cider vinegar
- 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 1 Tbsp canola oil
- 4 stalks celery, thinly sliced – optional
- ½ lb snow peas – optional
- 1 chili pepper, seeded and sliced – optional
- ½ c roasted cashews – optional
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced – optional
- Cook the rice according to package directions. Meanwhile, cook the chicken according to the package directions. (If there’s a frying pan option, choose it; otherwise, bake.)
- In a small bowl, make the sauce; whisk together the preserves, soy sauce, vinegar, and ginger; set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the celery and cook, tossing, for 2 minutes. Add the snow peas and chili pepper and cook, tossing, until the vegetables are just tender, 1 to 2 minutes more.
- Add the chicken, sauce, and cashews and toss to coat. Serve over the rice and sprinkle with the scallions.
A dissappointing Real Simple find. I don’t recommend this recipe. At least not the way I made it. First off, yes, I did omit everything I tagged above as optional. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a veggie lover so why waste them, right? And I don’t think that leaving those items out was the error.
I believe the real issue was with the chicken nuggets I used. You may or not be able to tell from the pictures but mine are your run of the mill, frozen, plainly breaded chicken nuggets. And they did not come with a frying pan option.
I would only try this recipe again if I could find a McDonalds-esque chicken nugget. Their breading is closer to that of Chinese take-out Sweet and Sour Chicken morsels. Oh and I would also just use store-bought sweet and sour sauce. That would be so much easier!
We did end up with leftovers but, no surprise, those went untouched and got tossed on trash day.