Making your own ranch dressing at home is simple and free of the chemicals and preservatives found in many store-bought dressings. If you like, you can use buttermilk in place of the sour cream.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 50 mins |
| Servings: | 2 |
Ingredients
- 2 duck breast halves
- salt to taste
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons orange liqueur (such as Grand Marnier)
- 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Seville orange marmalade, or more to taste
- 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon reserved duck fat
- 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Score duck skin almost all the way through the skin and fat each way on the diagonal in a crosshatch pattern. Generously season with salt and rub salt into each breast. Let rest, skin-side up, at room temperature, for 15 minutes.
- Whisk chicken broth, orange liqueur, sherry vinegar, orange marmalade, orange zest, and cayenne pepper together in a small bowl.
- Pat duck breasts dry with paper towels. Re-season skin-side of duck breasts with salt.
- Heat duck fat in a heavy skillet over medium heat for 2 minutes. Place duck in skillet, skin-side down, and cook for 6 minutes. Flip duck breasts and cook until they start to firm and are reddish-pink and juicy in the center, about 4 minutes more. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 140 degrees F (60 degrees C). Transfer breasts to a plate to rest. Pour any rendered duck fat into a glass jar.
- Return skillet to medium heat and whisk flour into pan; cook and stir until flour is completely incorporated, about 1 minute. Pour orange mixture into skillet; bring to a boil. Cook until sauce thickens and is reduced, 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low. When orange mixture stops bubbling, add butter; stir until butter is completely melted and incorporated into the sauce, about 1 minute. Season with salt to taste.
- Slice duck breasts across the grain, arrange on a plate, and spoon orange sauce over the top.
- You can substitute vegetable oil for the duck fat.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 354 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 15 g |
| Cholesterol | 130 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Protein | 20 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 593 mg |
| Sugars | 12 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Great! Just cut back on the salt. Best orange ever.
Chef John never disappoints.
I’ve been making this regularly as we get delicious d’Artagnan Moulard duck breasts at our markets. I try to find breasts that aren’t too thick, as it cuts down on cooking time. After the saute you have to finish in the oven if they’re too thick. The only thing I add to this recipe is are some fresh orange slices in finishing the sauce. Kudos to Chef John for one of the best recipes ever!
I added apricot jam and plum sauce. Extra garlic. Very good.
Turned out really well. I made it as directed with the exception of using white wine vinegar instead of sherry vinegar. Easy and I would make this again
Prepared this for Christmas dinner some years ago wanting something other than turkey for our meal. So good and well worth the time it takes to prepare. Now this dish is requested every year! Thanks Chef John!
I’ve made this wonderful recipe twice, exactly as described except stopping the duck at 130F rather than 140 – it was still on the medium side of medium-rare, but fabulous nonetheless. In tonight’s attempt, I lost my head and forgot to make the roux before adding the sauce mixture to the skillet, so had to add the flour as a paste after. It still came out great.
no changes. omg good
Excellent. Will definitely make it again.
This is a favorite with my family!! Simply delish and easy. Only thing I do differently is I rinse salt off duck and pat dry before searing as it was too salty for my taste first time I made it. Yummy
First time making this and loved it! It took us twice as long to cook the duck breasts just as another reviewer mentioned. I didn’t have sherry vinegar and used a dry red wine instead. I also used 2 TBSP of the marmalade. I also did not have duck fat and used olive oil instead. We will definitely make this again!
This was my first time cooking duck breast and it came out insanely good! I used plum preserves instead of orange marmalade and the pan sauce was perfectly tangy and sticky. I do think it needed another minute in the pan though.
No changes. Came out great.
Great sauce! I did soak the duck breasts in milk beforehand to make it less gamey, which seemed to work well.
This was good. Loved the sauce. Though after 6 mins on skin side and 4 mins on meat side, the breast was barely 100 degrees. And my stove was on 7/10. I had to cook it significantly longer to get the same result as Chef John. Not sure why. But wow, it was great! Will make again
It was amazingly easy and tasted so good!! My husband thought I bought it! The liquor store didn’t have Grand Marnier, but did have another brand that worked just as good. Will DEFINITELY do it again!
A lotta work.
The orange sauce is more savory than sweet, which is the way I like it.
We have never had Duck before and being a fan of Chef John recipes decided to give this a go. We could only find frozen duck breasts. As you can tell from the rating, we were incredibally satisfied. Followed the directions exactly, and confess that I probably should have cooked the duck a minute longer. The sauce was to die for. Absolutely loved the orange flavor and admit to basically drowning the duck in the sauce as I loved it so much. The meat was moist and tender despite being previously frozen. Will make again.
Very nice taste and crispy skin. Mine needed to be cooked a little longer. Next time I will leave it in the pan at least one more minute.
excellent