Grilled Orange Chicken with Cucumber Orange Salad

Light and flavorful Grilled Orange Chicken with Cucumber Orange Salad.

This healthy meal comes together in just 30 minutes and it’s perfect for the grilling season. A vinaigrette bursting with fresh orange juice, orange zest, and minced thyme, is both the basting sauce for the chicken and the dressing for the salad. Honey adds a touch of sweetness and provides balance for the citrus and white balsamic vinegar. The simple, but colorful, array of orange segments and cucumber ribbons perches pretty as a picture on the side.

Selecting and Preparing Oranges for Grilled Orange Chicken with Cucumber Orange Salad

Selecting – I recommend using a variety of different oranges to create more visual and flavor interest. For my dish, I used navel and blood oranges, and minneola tangelos. You can also use tangerines, cava cava oranges or other varieties you might fancy.

Peeling – If you’ve never cut the peel from an orange and separated it with a knife into sections, have no fear! This video shows a simple, straightforward method for doing exactly that: How to cut peel from orange and cut between orange segments.

Grilling Chicken Fillets

Keep the chicken fillets thin so they require a minimum amount of grill time and stay tender. If you’re starting with a thicker chicken breast, use a long, sharp knife to slice the breast horizontally into two thinner fillets. Grill time for the fillets will vary based on their thickness. The recommended temperature for cooked chicken is 160 degrees. But to be honest, when the fillets are this thin, I cut into the fillet to check for doneness.

Grilled Orange Tilapia

I decided to convert this recipe from fish to chicken for a lunch party with our daughter who’s not keen on fish. If you’d like to try the original recipe from Hy-Vee which uses tilapia, head to this link.

Side Dish for Grilled Orange Chicken with Cucumber Orange Salad

To keep things super easy, I served a store-bought couscous pilaf mix. Then I doctored it up with toasted slivered almonds, fresh parsley, and a generous dab of butter. The citrusy dressing, which is drizzled onto the salad and the chicken, mixed delightfully with the couscous as well.

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Grilled Orange Chicken with Cucumber Orange Salad

Grilled chicken fillets basted with an orange and thyme grilling sauce, served with a light cucumber and orange salad.

5 from 3 votes

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Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 2

Author: Adapted from Hy-Vee Grilled Orange Tilapia with Cucumber Salad

Ingredients

• 2 4 oz. each boneless, skinless chicken breast fillets
• kosher salt to taste
• fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
• * ½ tsp. plus 1 tsp. orange zest divided
• * 2 tbsp. fresh orange juice
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 2 tsp. fresh thyme plus additional for garnish
• ¼ tsp. Hy-Vee Dijon mustard
• ⅓ c. olive oil
• 1 mini cucumber cut into thin ribbons
• 3 oranges segmented

Instructions

• *First zest 2 oranges. Then cut the peel off these 2 oranges, and cut between segments to release orange slices from the membrane (see video link in the post.) Juice remaining orange.
• Combine balsamic vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon orange zest, orange juice, honey, thyme, and Dijon mustard. Whisk in olive oil. (Note – or you can place these ingredients in a jar with a tight lid, or a salad dressing container, and shake to combine.) Season dressing to taste with additional salt.

  Set half aside for vinaigrette. Add 1 teaspoon additional orange zest to the remaining vinegar mixture for grilling sauce.
• Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
• Season chicken with salt and pepper and brush both sides of chicken with grilling sauce.
• Grill 7 to 10 minutes or until the chicken is done, brushing halfway through with additional grilling sauce. Note – cooking time will vary based on the thickness of the fillets.
• Arrange cucumber ribbons and orange segments alongside grilled chicken on 2 serving plates. If desired, garnish with thyme sprigs. Drizzle salad and chicken with reserved vinaigrette.