Erin and I have been having a moment with sweet chilli sauce.
We’ve been putting that red and sweet sauce on pretty much everything. Have you tried it? It’s addictive. I had never thought to make my own before. I mean, why would I when the store bought variety is so darn delicious. But then I came across this recipe and it just looked too good and too easy to pass up.
Now, you are probably asking the same thing I did – why make it myself? When you make this sauce from scratch you can control the sweetness. So you don’t have to use a boat load of sugar – here we use a mere half cup of honey to add that familiar sweet flavour. Now don’t misunderstand me – honey and sugar – the same thing. Your body processes all sugar in the exact same way. Sugar is sugar people! My point is that you can control how much of the sweet stuff you add, just like you can also control the heat in this recipe. So if you like things super spicy, throw in a little extra red pepper flakes. If it’s too much, dial it back. That’s the benefit of the “make your own” category – you know exactly what’s going in it and you get to have full reign over the finished product. The type A dietitian in me likes this very much!
So now that you’ve made a quick and delicious homemade sweet chilli sauce, we’re going to pour it all over some diced chicken breasts, zucchini, and eggplant. Now chicken breasts can be tricky – they have a tendency to dry out pretty darn fast. So that’s why we are baking them at high heat for a very short period of time and turning the broiler on for the last little bit so you still get that crispy texture and brown colour without ending up with rubbery and flavourless chicken. Because that is no fun.
I love Japanese eggplant and zucchini in my traditional stir fry, but you can use other quick cooking veggies like green beans or peppers. Make sure to cook up a batch of quinoa or rice to go with this chicken. You need something to soak up all that delicious sauce you just put your blood, sweat, and tears into, right?
Did I tell you this was a one pan wonder? My other new obsession. Two thumbs up for less clean up.
Dara
Oven Baked Sweet Chili Chicken with Eggplant & Zucchini
Serves | 4 |
Meal type | Main Dish |
Website | Adapted from Sallys Baking Addiction |
Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cut into cubes)
- 2 zucchini (sliced)
- 2 Japanese eggplant (sliced)
Sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
- 2 Cloves garlic (minced)
- 2 Tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 Tsp sriracha
- 1/2 Tsp salt
Note
You can prepare the sauce a day or two in advance if you would like. Red peppers or onions would work well in place of the zucchini and eggplant. If you don't want it too spicy, reduce the red pepper flakes to 1 tsp.
Directions
1. | Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. |
Sauce | |
2. | In a small sauce pan whisk together all sauce ingredients. Bring to a simmer and continue to whisk, for about 3 minutes, or until thickened. Set aside. |
3. | Place chicken, zucchini, and eggplant in the prepared baking dish. Spoon sauce over top until all the chicken and vegetables are evenly coated. |
4. | Bake for 25 minutes, until vegetables are soft and chicken is mostly cooked through. Switch oven to broil and cook for another couple minutes, until chicken and vegetables begin to brown. |
5. | Remove from oven and serve chicken and vegetables with sauce over your grain of choice to soak up all that delicious sauce. |
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peggy says
reduced the honey but still found it a bit sweet but liked the spiceness.Next time would reduce honey to just about 1/4 cup .
squirted juice from half a lemon over chicken once it was cooked. the meat was very tender and the vegetable got a brown once I dish under broiler, thanks for a simple and tasty meal
howt1653 says
Thanks for sharing Peggy. Love the lemon idea! I am going to try that the next time I make this dish!