Bourbon Chicken

This is a recipe that came from Amber over at Amber's Delectable Delights.

We first tried this more than a month ago, shortly after we returned from our honeymoon. We made it again this weekend and we decided that it is seriously one of our favorite recipes ever!

It is the perfect combination of spicy and sweet. It has quite a bit of kick to it, so you should lessen the red pepper flakes if you don't like much spice.

The first time we made it, we made it exactly according to the recipe... just chicken and rice. It felt weird to us to just be eating meat and rice, so we said then that the next time we made it, we would add broccoli into the dish. We added it right into the chicken and sauce mixture, and it was delicious!

Bourbon Chicken
(Source: RecipeZaar.com)

Ingredients:
-2 lbs. boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces (we only used 1 lb., but made the same amount of sauce so that there would be enough to cover our broccoli)
-1-2 tablespoon olive oil
-1 garlic clove, crushed
-1/4 teaspoon ginger
-3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
-1/4 cup apple juice
-1/3 cup light brown sugar
-2 tablespoons ketchup
-1 tablespoon cider vinegar
-1/2 cup water
-1/3 cup soy sauce
-3-4 cups cooked broccoli florets (my addition)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large skillet. Add chicken pieces and cook until lightly browned. Remove Chicken.

2. Add remaining ingredients, heating over medium heat until well mixed and dissolved.

3. Add chicken and bring to a hard boil. Reduce heat and simmer, about 20 minutes. Add cooked broccoli during last 5 minutes of simmering time to coat evenly with sauce and to reheat the broccoli. Serve over hot rice.

(NOTE: Like Amber, I used a slurry (cornstarch and water) to thicken the sauce.)