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This Orange Chicken recipe tastes just like the popular Panda Express dish, but made with simple ingredients right at home. Tender chicken in tangy sauce beats restaurant takeout any day!
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Orange Chicken takes center stage whenever I decide to have a Chinese food night. This may not be the exact Panda Express Orange Chicken recipe, but our copycat recipe comes pretty close. I rarely get Chinese takeout anymore because it’s so much cheaper to make it at home, and it tastes so fresh.
My favorite part of this meal is the homemade tangy orange sauce. The vibrant orange flavor complements the tender chicken chunks perfectly.
How to Make Orange Chicken
Don’t be scared off by the long list of ingredients. I promise you have most of these on hand.Just a little of this and a little of that adds up to one incredibly easy orange chicken recipe.
- First, trim any fat from the chicken and then cut it into bite size pieces. In a resealable plastic bag or in a bowl, combine the cornstarch, salt, and pepper. Crack the egg into a small bowl. Blend the egg with a whisk. Now dredge the chicken by dipping it into the egg mixture then the coating it with the cornstarch mixture. Dip all the chicken pieces at once and add them to a resealable plastic bag. Coat the chicken by shaking the bag. Or, if using a bowl, after dipping the chicken in the egg, roll each piece in the cornstarch mixture in a bowl to coat it one at a time.
- Next, heat the oil in a deep fryer or wok to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Deep fry the chicken in batches until completely cooked (internal temperature of chicken should be 165 degrees, according to the USDA) and the coating is golden brown. Remove the chicken to drain on paper towels.
- Make the orange chicken sauce by combining cornstarch with ¼ cup water in a small bowl and mixing thoroughly. Set aside. Whisk the remaining 1 cup water, orange juice, lemon juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat for a few minutes. Add in the brown sugar, orange zest, ginger, garlic, and green onion. While continuing to stir, bring to a boil. Slowly stir in the cornstarch mixture until the sauce thickens. Pour the sauce over the chicken.
- Lastly, gently stir the sauce into the chicken until the chicken is coated with the sauce.
Alternate cooking methods
Pan Frying – If you are looking for a healthier alternative to deep-frying, heat a little oil in a large skillet and cook chicken on each side for 5-7 minutes or until cooked through and then add the sauce.
Baking – Fry the chicken until it cooks on the outside, then place it on a baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. You will still get a little bit of a crispy texture and still have all the flavor!
Air Frying – To fry your chicken in the air fryer, you just need to make sure you are coating your chicken with cooking spray before it cooks. All air fryers are different so check the correct temperatures and times for chicken pieces. I cook it at 350 for about 10-12 minutes on each side, spraying any parts of the chicken with dry flour with cooking spray while turning. Just make sure the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F before serving.
Make it Gluten-Free
Because we use a cornstarch coating on our orange chicken instead of flour, this is really close to being a gluten-free recipe. However, as you can see in the recipe below, we use soy sauce in the orange sauce, which contains gluten. The good news is, GF soy sauce is easy to find. Just replace regular soy sauce with a gluten-free brand and you should be good to go. As always, check labels on everything to make sure you’re working with gluten free ingredients.
Frequently Asked Questions
Orange Chicken is a variation of General Tso’s Chicken (which IS an authentic Chinese dish). The dish is definitely “Americanized” and sweeter, using brown sugar and soy sauce. In China, you’ll likely find Orange PEEL Chicken instead of Orange Chicken. This version has a tangier flavor as it’s flavored with orange rinds.
Originally, Orange Chicken wasn’t breaded and the sauce was made with leftover orange and lemon peels. So it was citrusy, but kind of bitter, not sweet like it has become today.
Generally, orange chicken is made with dark meat, which is juicier and more flavorful than white meat. But you can use whichever you prefer when you make it at home.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Please do not reheat in the microwave! The chicken will no longer be crisp. Stir-fry leftovers in a wok or skillet with a little bit of canola oil or sesame oil over medium-high heat. You can also reheat orange chicken in an air fryer for great results!
What to Serve with Orange Chicken
We pull out all the stops when putting together a Chinese feast. Sure, you can make things simple by serving this dish alongside some steamed broccoli or stir-fry vegetables and steamed white or brown rice, but if you’re wanting to wow friends and family with a scrumptious Asian-inspired spread, try a few of these delightful recipes:
Orange Chicken Recipe
Video
Ingredients
Chicken
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts
- 1 cup cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 egg
- vegetable oil, for frying
Orange Sauce
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 ¼ cup water, divided
- 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- ⅓ cup rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons chopped green onion, plus more for garnish
- red pepper flakes, to taste
Instructions
Chicken
- Cut chicken into bite-size pieces. Combine cornstarch, salt, and pepper in a resealable plastic bag. In a small bowl, use a fork to beat the egg until the yolk and egg white are blended.
- Dip chicken pieces into beaten egg. Shake in cornstarch mixture to coat.
- Heat oil in a deep fryer or wok to 375 degrees F. Deep-fry chicken in batches until completely cooked. Remove it to drain on paper towels.
Orange Sauce
- In a small bowl, combine cornstarch with ¼ cup water and mix thoroughly. Set aside.
- In a large saucepan combine the remaining 1 cup water, orange juice, lemon juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Whisk ingredients together over medium heat for a few minutes.
- Stir in brown sugar, orange zest, ginger, garlic, and green onion. Bring to a boil Slowly stir the cornstarch mixture into the sauce until it thickens.
- Place fried chicken in a large bowl and pour sauce over the top.
- Fold the sauce into the chicken or toss gently to coat. If desired, add red pepper flakes and garnish with green onions.
The link for the Restaurant fried – rice did not work. Do you have another link? Thanks!
Here it is: https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/restaurant-ham-fried-rice/
Hi, do you think I could bake the chicken just to cut on the frying and calories ? Thank You
yes, definitely!
Thank you for sharing your recipes, they are so much easier to access this a must try.
Thanks so much! We hope you will keep coming back for more recipes! We will do our best to keep crankin’ em out. 🙂
Great recipe again! As with the Chicken Coconut Curry recipe, we were impressed and are keeping these recipes for the long run! I feel like my chicken wasn’t as crispy as what you would find at Panda Express lol, so maybe next time I might try adding a little bit of buttermilk to the flour to make it crispier (see Pioneer Woman’s fried chicken strips). But the recipe, as is, was great and so yummy! Thank you!
If you use cornstarch instead of flour, your chicken will be nice and crispy
I’ve been collecting orange chicken recipes for a while, and this is the first one I’ve tried- I don’t think I need to try any of the others 🙂 This one was so good! Even my hubby liked it, and he typically doesn’t like sweet/fruity meats.
I made this and used duck…it is soooo good ..poured it over white rice ..I didnt have scallions but I used leeks!!!
Silly question probably, but does the chicken need to be pre-cooked, or can it be raw?
It’s supposed to be raw.. It cooks through in the recipe. 🙂
I’ve made this several times and it’s fantastic!! Thanks!
I just made this last night and it was a hit. I left off the red pepper flakes for my kids and used it for the adults. It was gobbled up.
Sauce is delicious! I kept dipping things into it because it was so good !
It's 1 cup, but if you find that its too thick use 1 1/2.
you say in the recipe to have 1 cup water but below it say 1 1/2 c water. Which is it??
About 6 servings. 🙂
mmmm looks so yummy! how amny people does it serve though?! 🙂
I’m really digging this food blog of yours, this orange chicken dish looks absolutely delicious!
http://preparednesspro.wordpress.com
I made your recipe tonight and it was absolutely delicious!! Thanks again.
YUMMY!
WOW!! This sounds like a GREAT recipe. Delicious, vibrant flavors and the photo speaks even more.. Love your blog just stumbled upon it!
OOOOH! This looks so yummy. I definitely plan to make it. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
This looks so delicious and I’ve been getting so many oranges in my co-op! I can’t wait to make this! Yummy!!