18 replies to this topic

[GSDMom]

Has anyone tried the orange chicken for lunch yet? I didn't evn know it was in since it wasn't on the online choices when I did my menu?

[Blessed4Life2]

I havent yet, but would love to hear some feedback too.

[SciFiWasabi]

I'm having it for lunch today, will report back!

[GSDMom]

I had it for lunch the other day and wasn't wild about it. The chicken in it was good though. I probably won't get it again.

[SciFiWasabi]

Ok, so I just had it for lunch, and here is my quick review:

Pros:
+ Big pieces of breaded chicken (same as the Classico Chicken Parmesan dish, I believe)
+ Broccoli! I love the broccoli in the JC dishes. (again, I think from the Classico chicken parm dish)
+ Rice portion that seems like the same rice and veggie blend from the Teriyaki Salmon entree
+ Large portion, I absolutely felt full after eating.
+ No High Fructose Corn Syrup!

Cons:
- The sauce! It was drippy, and the only flavors I got from it were of orange oil and zest and chili. I wish it had something closer to the thickness of the sauce in the Teriyaki Salmon entree or the Beef Chow Mein entree. REAL disappointment for me.
- Yet another entree comes out that is more fast-food-centric than healthy lifestyle appropriate. These are chemically lightened versions of dining out, which are great when I'm having a specific craving, but eating them every day? That seems contrary to the JC plan.

My Verdict:
Try it. I didn't love the sauce, but it was in NO way a throw-away dish. If I could separate the sauce out, I would probably try to thicken it with a bit of cornstarch and add a little vinegar and garlic (and maybe Splenda), but someone better at cooking and seasoning would probably love to play with it. My husband threw some Panda Express Orange Chicken Sauce on his (35 calories per tablespoon = 1 limited free), and I added some steamed broccoli to volumize mine.

[Blessed4Life2]

Ok, so I just had it for lunch, and here is my quick review:

Pros:
+ Big pieces of breaded chicken (same as the Classico Chicken Parmesan dish, I believe)
+ Broccoli! I love the broccoli in the JC dishes. (again, I think from the Classico chicken parm dish)
+ Rice portion that seems like the same rice and veggie blend from the Teriyaki Salmon entree
+ Large portion, I absolutely felt full after eating.
+ No High Fructose Corn Syrup!

Cons:
- The sauce! It was drippy, and the only flavors I got from it were of orange oil and zest and chili. I wish it had something closer to the thickness of the sauce in the Teriyaki Salmon entree or the Beef Chow Mein entree. REAL disappointment for me.
- Yet another entree comes out that is more fast-food-centric than healthy lifestyle appropriate. These are chemically lightened versions of dining out, which are great when I'm having a specific craving, but eating them every day? That seems contrary to the JC plan.

My Verdict:
Try it. I didn't love the sauce, but it was in NO way a throw-away dish. If I could separate the sauce out, I would probably try to thicken it with a bit of cornstarch and add a little vinegar and garlic (and maybe Splenda), but someone better at cooking and seasoning would probably love to play with it. My husband threw some Panda Express Orange Chicken Sauce on his (35 calories per tablespoon = 1 limited free), and I added some steamed broccoli to volumize mine.

Hum, sounds like an interesting dish......think i will give it a try.

Thanks for taking the time to give us you take on it though

[auntieem]

I had it for lunch on Sunday. The chicken pieces were substantial and tasted really good, as did the rice but the broccoli was watery. I'm glad I didn't mix it all together or it probably wouldn't have had any taste at all. I'm pretty sure that's the mistake I made with the Marsala Chicken. I mixed everything together and nothing had any taste!

I would definitely have it again but would remove the broccoli and add my own.

[HopefulVickie]

I dislked it and I'm sorry that I bought two. All I could taste was orange zest. The sauce had no flavor of it's own.

[SciFiWasabi]

I dislked it and I'm sorry that I bought two. All I could taste was orange zest. The sauce had no flavor of it's own.

I TOTALLY agree! Someone was REALLY heavy-handed with the orange zest in this recipe. I bought three - one for me, one for my husband, and an extra if I liked it. I don't see myself buying it again, but I'm going to use the third one to experiment on later today. I'm going to cook it up per the microwave instructions, and put the chicken and sauce on the stove and add some fun stuff to see if I can improve the flavor without adding extra calories.

[SciFiWasabi]

I bought 3 today! I'm going to try one tomorrow and add a little red curry paste in with the rice & broccoli to give it a little thickness and heat :-)

Omg, if you successfully turn this into a healthy curry chicken, I will be SO thrilled. I am dying for a curry dish, and this will make my day if it turns out! Please please let me know how it goes!

[countstars]

I just tried the new Orange Chicken, and liked the chicken and the broccoli, but not the rice. It has lots of peppers in it and I am not a fan.

I would buy it again for those two things, but would toss out the rice. What would be a good substitution for it though?

Thanks!

[yportia]

I just had this for lunch. I cooked it for the upper range (ex. 4-5 minutes) suggested, in my microwave - 5 minutes, as I always do and boy was it overcooked. If you’re used to using the highest number of minutes suggested – don’t with this one. It looked very unappetizing. If you've ever purchased one of those cheap frozen diners – unknown chunky blobs of something that turned out to be chicken, teeny tiny bits of washed out broccoli and tiny bits of rice, it looked like that. There was some thick sauce stuck to the chicken and it was dry. I can't believe I paid so much for this and I'm sorry I bought 2 of them. I will not buy another.

Portia

[joan719]

Sounds like a slight variance from some of the other recent chicken dishes. Worth a try, but I am planning on buying only one. Testing 1-2-3, Testing 1-2-3, LOL!!

[lillotis]

I am so sad that the orange chicken is gone. This was my favorite lunch. Please bring it back!!!

[robrob]

I like the orange chicken, and also the pasta ole. I always struggled with the lunches, so I'm happy to have these new choices.

[tinkerbell fan]

I didn't like this one bit, the orange flavor was overpowering in my opinion. Will not be ordering it again.

[mmaya]

I thought this one was ok at best. The orange flavour tasted a little to simulated.

[ocmimi]

I thought it was good but agree that the sauce is thin with an orange flavor. It could use something to spice it up for folks who want a more flavorable dish. Nice large pieces of chicken.

[I Called Jenny]

ocmimi, on 11 January 2012 - 07:01 PM, said:

I thought it was good but agree that the sauce is thin with an orange flavor. It could use something to spice it up for folks who want a more flavorable dish. Nice large pieces of chicken.

You know I used to add some orange slices to the dish and it helped a lot.