Operation Fanta Chicken.

Today I have been on the look out for healthy binge foods. They are words that don't often go together. However, I've had this recipe in the back of my mind for months and today was the day for Fanta Chicken. Don't pull a face... I was the same at first. 'How does that work, then?' Well, Fanta Chicken (as well as Diet Coke Chicken) are Slimming World secrets. When the Fanta reduces into a sticky, thick sauce, it tastes just like sweet and sour chicken from the Chinese... except there's no calories in it because it's diet. The benefit of making your own is that you can take out the vegetables you don't enjoy and add more of those you do, whilst knowing that all your ingredients are fresh and not packed full of unknown bulking agents.

Four pieces of chicken with sweet and sour sauce from Panda Express is a whopping 310 calories. That's for just FOUR pieces. Now imagine how many pieces you actually eat when you finish the full portion. This recipe, however, is a grand total of... get ready for it... 700 calories - INCLUDING rice AND chips! And that's around twenty pieces of chicken, vegetables, pineapple, the sauce and the sides. If you took off the rice and chips and just had it on its own, the whole portion of Fanta Chicken would be 460 calories. Now compare that to Panda Express and tell me you don't want to try it.

Ingredients:
1 330ml can of Diet Fanta.
1 tin of pineapple pieces in their own juice.
2 chicken breasts.
1 chicken stock cube.
A handful of frozen mixed peppers.
Herbs to taste - I used a mixture of garlic, pepper and chilli flakes and it was nicely spicy.
Fry light (around 10 squirts in total).
1 potato.
1 serving of rice.

1. Firstly, peel and chop your potato into chips around 1cm wide and thick. Spray them with around five sprays of Fry Light, add a little salt and pepper and put into the oven for the duration of the rest of the recipe. Obviously keep checking and flip them over once. They will be in there for approximately 30-40 minutes.

 

 2. Cube your chicken breasts and cook in the frying pan with a few more sprays of Fry Light to prevent sticking.

 

3. When the chicken is 90% cooked through, add a handful of frozen (or fresh should you have them) mixed peppers and sprinkle the mixture with your herbs. I do find that the garlic and pepper add to the authentic taste.

4. When your chicken is almost all cooked (it doesn't matter much at this stage because it will continue to cook throughout), add your 330ml of Diet Fanta to the pan. Bring the Fanta to the boil and let it boil for around 15 minutes until the water evaporates and you're left with a slightly thicker sauce.

5. When the Fanta is boiling, drain your pineapple from its juice and add the chunks to the pan.

6. As the Fanta reduces, it gets thicker and stickier - so make sure to stir once in a while so that it doesn't stick to the pan.

It has reduced quite a lot if you look at the pictures above in comparison.

 7. Serve up your Fanta Chicken with anything you'd normally like from the Chinese - such as the home made chips, just rice or enjoy it on its own.

 

It's a really delicious dish and is both healthier and cheaper than a takeaway from the Chinese. Let me know what you think of it. :)