15-Minute Caramelized Black Pepper Chicken

Who doesn’t love burpees?
Raise your hands up where I can see them.
Oh, wow, that many of you? Really?
Burpees are C-O-O-L! I don’t know why they get such a bad rep.

If you haven’t realized it yet, I love burpees.
I know they’re kind of a nightmare, but that’s the whole point of burpees. They're supposed to feel awful. If they were easy, everyone would do them.
But this full-body conditioning exercise gets you into shape fast, can be performed with very little space and with nothing other than your bodyweight.
You can do it anywhere: whether you’re at home, at the gym, or in a hotel room when you’re on the road; and you don’t need any equipment.
Burpees are a great test of coordination and agility, whilst burning a load of calories. They develop strength, explosive power, and anaerobic endurance.
In other words, they’re totally a win-win-win-win-win-win-win-win-win exercise.

Burpees are proof that your own natural bodyweight provides plenty of resistance.
Throw in some push-ups, pull-ups, dips, planks, crunches, squats and sprints and you’ve got a kick-ass workout, where you're using your weight for resistance and muscle strengthening.

In fact, all of my workouts are bodyweight exercises.
Running, biking, swimming and yoga are all considered body weight exercises.
I like them because it's you against your own body & will.
In a way, bodyweight exercises develop a strong, balanced body that can perform under any circumstance.
If you can run, jump, swim, do handstands, etc. you can push your body far beyond what you believe are your limitations.
Not to mention that cavemen didn’t have weights, neither did the Spartans, neither did the Gladiators, neither did the Samurais, nor the Shaolin fighter monks.
And these a few of the dopest and strongest groups of fighters in the history of mankind. Something to think about.

After a kick-ass workout - especially if you’ve done a LOT of burpees - you do deserve to be good to yourself.
You also want to make sure you're getting the most out of your workout by replenishing yourself correctly. And taste is no small factor.
That’s where this 15-Minute Caramelized Black Pepper Chicken comes into play.
Cooking this chicken takes surprisingly little time. There's no marinating or anything — by the time your oil is heated, you're ready to cook the chicken.
One pan, 15 minutes and voila’.
It's packed with umami goodness, and lots of pepper. Juicy, caramelized and so irresistible!
Perfect after a hard workout!

15-Minute Caramelized Black Pepper Chicken                                         Print this recipe!

Adapted from Food&Wine

Ingredients
Serves 4

1 lb / 453 gr skinless, boneless chicken thighs (or breasts), cut into 1-inch pieces
½ cup / 2.3 oz / 60 gr raw coconut palm sugar (or honey)
4 tablespoons fish sauce (I used Red Boat)
4 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper (or ½ teaspoon finely ground pepper)
2 dried red chiles, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 shallot (or small onion), thinly sliced
Handful fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the coconut sugar, fish sauce, water, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, pepper and chiles and mix until the sugar dissolves.
Heat the olive oil in a large deep skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot and saute’ until softened, about 4 to 5 minutes.
Add the chicken pieces and fish sauce mixture and simmer over high heat until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce thickens and caramelizes, about 10 minutes.
Transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with the cilantro and serve.

Nutrition facts

One serving yields 337 calories, 19 grams of fat, 22 grams of carbs and 21 grams of protein.