Pan-fried duck breast
This duck breast with orange sauce recipe is very easy to make and is really delicious.
One of my late Dad’s favourite meals was duck breast. I always think of him when I make this. We used to buy fresh duck breasts in the Dutch market on a Saturday and treat him to his favourite dish when he visited.
Orange Sauce for Duck Breast
For those of you wanting to buy some orange sauce for duck, stop here! It is much easier to make it yourself, and this is the recipe.
The orange sauce recipe for this meal is really tasty. You can also make it to accompany chicken if you wish.
Orange is a great accompaniment to duck and you will find them used together a lot.
Duck a l’orange or Canard a l’orange (in French) is a well-known combination of duck and orange.
Although the dish is now thought to be French, the Italians, of course, claim it originated in Italy.
I will not go further into that, except to say that whoever came up with this combination was brilliant!
The nice thing about this orange sauce duck gravy is that it requires very little preparation and is quickly on the table.
The duck breast also does not take long to cook so you can produce this meal in less than 15 minutes.
What to serve with duck breast?
Really you can serve any vegetable that takes your fancy. Here I served up some crispy roast potatoes and baked carrots with garlic (these take a bit longer to cook, of course).
But you may also like to try it with some mashed potatoes or even some honey roast parsnips.
Have a look on my sides page for some other ideas.
You may have to coordinate the timing of the cooking of the accompanying vegetables, depending on what you choose to serve with it.
We are very lucky that we can pick up a few breasts of fresh duck here in our local Aldi for only about 3,50 Euros so we can produce this meal very cheaply.
This is really a mix between pan-fried duck breast and roast duck breast as the same skillet pan goes into the oven to finish off the meat.
I hope you enjoy trying this recipe. If you do, please let me know how you get on in the comments section below!
How to make roast duck in orange sauce
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Duck Breast With Orange Sauce
This duck breast with orange sauce will delight your guests. Easy and quick to make and very tasty.
Ingredients
- 2 duck breast fillets
- Salt and pepper
- For the sauce
- 120ml chicken stock
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- ½ tbsp pureed ginger
- ½ tbsp tomato puree
- 2 tbsp red wine
- Juice of 1 orange
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 200C.
- Score the fat side of the duck breasts with a sharp knife in a criss-cross pattern, with say a 1cm gap between the scores. Season the breast with salt and pepper.
- Put the breasts fat side down into a heated ovenproof skillet and cook on the hob until the fat side is crispy. This should take about 4-5 minutes.
- While pan frying the duck prepare the sauce ingredients by putting the stock, honey, soy sauce, red wine, ginger, orange juice and tomato puree into a measuring jug and whisking together.
- During this time a lot of fat will be released from the duck. Discard the excess fat (or retain for your next batch of roast potatoes) and then turn the breasts over and cook the other side for about 2 minutes.
- Afterwards, again relieve of any excess fat, and place the pan in the oven for a further 2-3 minutes. Remove from the oven, relieve of any fat again, and set the duck breasts aside to rest.
- Then pour the contents of the measuring jug into the same pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for a few minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
- Slice the duck breast and serve up with the orange sauce poured over the slices.
Notes
Serve up with some roasted or steamed vegetables.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 726Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 330mgSodium: 1679mgCarbohydrates: 51gFiber: 3gSugar: 42gProtein: 64g
This nutrition information was automatically calculated by Nutritionix, but may not be 100% accurate.
or perhaps these accompaniments? :
Lelani Döckel
Tuesday 26th of December 2023
I found the soy dominating over the orange in the sauce, so I doubled up on the orange. Maybe I just had small oranges, but it hit the spot. Sauce was perfection personified. To see a 45yr old man finger-paint in his plate is all the evidence I’ll ever need. Thanks for this gem.
Gav
Tuesday 26th of December 2023
Thanks for your kind comments! The sauce is indeed a tasty one! Oranges do indeed vary in size and of course you need to taste the sauce to make sure it is right, as you must have done. Surely everyone has seen the Ratatouille movie?! Glad you enjoyed it!
Su
Wednesday 10th of November 2021
This sauce was so quick and easy to make. I didn’t”t have red wine so substituted port, was delicious!
Gav
Wednesday 10th of November 2021
Ooooh, what a good idea!! I bet it was good. Will have to try that next time! Thanks for your comment :)
Kay
Saturday 16th of October 2021
I have just roasted a crown of duck and used your orange sauce recipe. This is one of the most simplest orange sauce recipes I have cooked. It is brilliant, also I have been trying to find a sauce that I tasted with ham while in France and could not replicate it. I think that I have found it. So, next time I roast a ham, this will definitely be the sauce that will accompany it. Thank you for this recipe, you really have made my day
Gav
Sunday 17th of October 2021
Hey Kay, Glad you liked it!! Thanks for your nice comments!
HAMISH PALMER
Saturday 10th of April 2021
Why on earth would you "discard" the rendered duck fat??? sacré bleu!!!
Gav
Monday 12th of April 2021
Hamish, you are of course correct. Do keep your duck fat for your next batch of roast potatoes. In this case, I did not need it as my tatties were already in the oven. But you are right, duck fat is delicious, and especially good for making crispy roast tatties.
Archie
Sunday 31st of January 2021
What temperature for a fan oven?
Gav
Sunday 31st of January 2021
200C. My own oven is fan assisted and all the temperatures I mention in my recipes are for a fan assisted oven. Thanks for highlighting this.