Easy Mandarin Chicken

When I got married, I knew that my husband didn’t like Chinese food. On the other hand, I love it. I like to follow Bobby at Blog Chef. This site really specializes in Chinese food at home. I couldn’t resist giving some of the recipes a try like this Mandarin Chicken. The thing is, my husband has enjoyed every single Chinese dish I have made from this site.
Now granted, I know that there are some dishes my husband would never eat. I have made sweet and sour chicken along with orange chicken and he ate them up. I knew when I saw Bobby’s recipe for mandarin chicken, I could get him to eat that too. It was delish and the whole family loved it.
With the weather being so nice right now in Utah, we cooked the chicken on our outdoor grill. I made 1 1/2 recipes to feed my family of 5. Next time, I think I’ll double the recipe so I can have some leftovers for lunch. It appears the best way for me to enjoy Chinese food is to make it myself.

Mandarin Chicken
Real Mom Kitchen
Ingredients
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- ½ Tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- Mandarin Sauce-
- ⅔ cup sugar
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp fresh garlic minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger minced
- ¼ cup water
- 4 tsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Pound chicken breasts with a mallet to an even thickness and season both sides with sugar, salt, and garlic powder.
- Grill chicken 4-6 minutes on each side or until no longer pink inside. Remove from grill and cut into bite sized strips. Set aside.
- In a wok or sauce pan, combine sugar, soy sauce, lemon juice, garlic and ginger. Heat the mixture until almost at a boil. In a bowl, combine cornstarch and water. Once the sauce starts to boil add the cornstarch mixture and stir until thickened.
- Add grilled chicken to the wok/sauce pan and coat with the sauce. Simmer until heated thoroughly. I served it over cooked rice. Serves 4.
This is the original photo from this post. The above photo was updated in July 2018.
I am definitely making this one as soon as the weather gets a bit warmer. I can’t wait!
I am definitely making this one as soon as the weather gets a bit warmer. I can’t wait!
I tried this recipe, but had to substitute powdered ginger for fresh. When it was finished, it tasted more like a standard soy-sauce based stirfry than Mandarin Chicken. Do you think the ginger substitution could have caused this? If I use fresh next time, will it taste more like Mandarin chicken? (I’m just learning to cook, so I’m not always sure how important various ingredients vs. their substitutes are.) Thank you for this blog! It helps rookies like me.
I tried this recipe, but had to substitute powdered ginger for fresh. When it was finished, it tasted more like a standard soy-sauce based stirfry than Mandarin Chicken. Do you think the ginger substitution could have caused this? If I use fresh next time, will it taste more like Mandarin chicken? (I’m just learning to cook, so I’m not always sure how important various ingredients vs. their substitutes are.) Thank you for this blog! It helps rookies like me.
This looks delicious, and I bet even my little ones would like it! Thanks for sharing!
This looks delicious, and I bet even my little ones would like it! Thanks for sharing!
This would be a great rice bowl. My husband loves Chinese and so do the kids. I think they will love this at home version. Better on the pocketbook too!
That chicken look really tasty!
That chicken look really tasty!
That look like it is straight from the restaurant. Great job. Looks so tasty!
That look like it is straight from the restaurant. Great job. Looks so tasty!
That looks really yummy Laura! My Hubs doesn’t do Chinese food either – on the rare occasion we go and do a buffet, he eats all the fried stuff, or the other “American” foods most buffets have to accommodate “his kind” LOL.
Thanks for the link I’ll have to check out that website.
Mary
That looks really yummy Laura! My Hubs doesn’t do Chinese food either – on the rare occasion we go and do a buffet, he eats all the fried stuff, or the other “American” foods most buffets have to accommodate “his kind” LOL.
Thanks for the link I’ll have to check out that website.
Mary
OMG, Thanks so much for the recipe and link…I LOVE Chinese food and DH doesn’t. I also DO NOT have a Panda Express 🙁 I am calling my sister and we are going to cook Chinese next weekend…YUM…
OMG, Thanks so much for the recipe and link…I LOVE Chinese food and DH doesn’t. I also DO NOT have a Panda Express 🙁 I am calling my sister and we are going to cook Chinese next weekend…YUM…