Confession: I’m not one for spicy food. Since I lived in Louisiana for five years, I’ve gotten more used to spicy ingredients, but I’m that girl who cannot eat past the second batch of boiled crawfish because I won’t be able to feel my lips or hands the next day. Lame, but true.

So when this week’s theme rolled around, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I wanted to do something Louisiana-y, but at the same time, something Asian-inspired sounded good.

I ended up with the following recipe:

Sweet, Sticky and Spicy Chicken (from AllRecipes)
1 t brown sugar
2 t honey
1/4 C soy sauce (I used the less sodium soy sauce)
2 t chopped fresh ginger root
2 t chopped garlic
2 T hot sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 t vegetable oil

Note: I made A LOT of changes to the sauce because I just didn’t have some things lying around. I halved the recipe since I only had two chicken breasts, too. So instead of using ginger root and hot sauce, I added a little bit of water, and about a teaspoon each of Tony’s and red pepper flakes. They definitely gave the sauce a little bit of a kick, and I added a little more brown sugar to balance out the sweet with the spicy.

Mix together brown sugar, honey, soy sauce ginger, garlic and hot sauce in a small bowl.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper before adding the chicken to the skillet, browning both sides. Pour the sauce over the chicken and simmer until the sauce thickens.

Serve over rice.

Was the recipe easy to follow?
Very. It would have been even easier if I had everything in my pantry, but c’est la vie.

Did the dish taste good?
Yes! The chicken is the perfect amount of sweet and spicy, and it tasted great over rice.

Would you make it again?
Definitely! I might want to try it with the original ingredients, since I had to improvise, but it was good as is. And easy to make, too!

Isn’t it pretty? And the good news is, it tasted as good as it looks!