Spaghetti Squash Chow Mein with Orange Chicken
I have been in a serious rut lately. I didn’t know I was in a rut, but I was. The warning signs were all there. I was cooking the same foods each week. I wasn’t letting me creative culinary juices flow. This is a big problem for me because I cannot teach you how to be fun and creative with your meals if I am in a stagnant pool of sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts for dinner every single night.
*Disclaimer, I LOVE sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts and will continue to have them at least once a week. But I like to challenge myself and my clients. I have one rule that I try to live by and I always encourage everyone to implement this rule into their lives.
GOAL: Try one new recipe a week.
Groundbreaking, right? Well, when we were out to dinner and I realized that it had probably been over a month since I played with a brand-new dinner recipe I knew it was time to dig deep and make something awesome.
In keeping with my theme to keep my recipes simple and under a 35-minutes, I decided to push the limits and make some different Asian foods with a twist. I love Chow Mein, but wanted to bump up the vegetable content, so I made it with a spaghetti squash base. I topped it with an orange chicken, that turned out looking a little more brown than anticipated, but it was still amazing!
Keep in mind that I cooked these two separate recipes together to save time & dishes so it does go back and forth between the two recipes. Individual directions for each recipe can be found at the bottom of the page!
I started by cutting the spaghetti squash in half, which is always a struggle. I cleaned out the seeds and put the two halves in the microwave (remember, under 35-minutes is always my goal). Surprisingly, the spaghetti squash was perfect with after only 12-minutes in the microwave.
While the spaghetti squash was in the microwave, I started working on the orange chicken by placing cubed chicken on a skillet with coconut oil and cook through.
While the chicken (& spaghetti squash) are cooking, I made the orange sauce by combining bone broth, orange juice, maple syrup, grated ginger, minced garlic, sriracha, and coconut aminos (WHICH YOU CAN BUY HERE).
Once the chicken was done cooking (about 8 minutes), I put it in a bowl and used the same pan to create a reduction orange sauce. Basically, just put the mixture in the pan until it boils so much that it sticks to your wooden spoon.
While this is cooking, your spaghetti squash should be done so you can take it out of the microwave and start scraping the strings out. Be careful, because these bad boys are typically steaming hot. Use an oven glove and a fork to get the job done easily.
Once the reduction sauce is nice and sticky, put your chicken back in the pan and coat well for about 2 minutes. Remove chicken and put it back in your bowl.
Using the same pan (again! Avoiding loads of dirty dishes here!) Put chopped onion and broccoli Cole Slaw into the pan and stir fry until tender (3-5 minutes). While that is cooking, mix together coconut aminos, minced garlic, coconut nectar, grated ginger, & pepper. Once the onion and Cole Slaw mixture is cooked, add in the spaghetti squash and the coconut aminos mixture until well-distributed.
Serve immediately for a happy family or save it for lunch the next day!
Ingredients: Chow Mein (4 servings)
1 Spaghetti Squash
1/2 onion - chopped
2 cups Cole Slaw
1/4 cup coconut aminos
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon coconut nectar
1 tablespoon grated ginger
Pepper, to taste
Nutritionals: 10 grams net carbs
Directions: Chow Mein
Cut spaghetti Squash in half and put in the microwave for 12-18 minutes until soft
Stir fry onion and cole slaw until cooked through (3-5 minutes)
While onion and cole slaw are cooking, combine coconut aminos, garlic, coconut nectar, grated ginger and pepper.
Add spaghetti squash and bone broth mixture to the onion and cole slaw. Combine well.
Ingredients: Orange Chicken (4 servings)
2 pounds boneless chicken breast, cubed
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/4 cup bone broth
1/4 cup orange juice
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1 Tablespoon grated ginger
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
2 Tablespoons sriracha
3 Tablespoons coconut aminos
Nutritionals: 5 g net carbs
Directions: Orange Chicken
Melt coconut oil on medium heat and add the chicken. Cook chicken until white all the way through (8 minutes). Remove from stove and put the chicken in a bowl.
While the chicken is cooking, combine bone broth, orange juice, maple syrup, ginger, garlic, sriracha, and coconut aminos.
Put the bone broth combination on the stove (same pan) and let it boil until it starts to get sticky.
Once sticky, add chicken back and coat well. Serve on top of the Chow Mein for optimum flavor!
Total Meal: 15 g net carbs per serving.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as me and my family did.
