Best Homemade Orange Chicken

Best Homemade Orange Chicken

The meal most frequently requested (read: begged for) in my kitchen little is, without question, my Homemade Orange Chicken. In true “Takeout Fakeout”style, this recipe is a dead ringer for the much loved orange chicken that you’d get from say, Panda Express or the like.

But here, you get all the power – you get to call the shots. You can decide how the sauce should taste and also feed you and yours a much fresher, more more pure version of this Hunan-style meal.

Goodness is this stuff good. Let’s dive just a little deeper into this most recent installment in our Takeout Fakeout series.

What is Orange Chicken?

{Simplified Chinese: 橙子鸡; Traditional Chinese: 橙子雞}

In short: This dish consists of crispy, nugget-style chicken bites that are coated in an addictively delicious salty orange sauce. In our version, we tested a few variations of sauce ingredient combos, and ultimately landed on what we think is the ultimate orange chicken recipe.

The much loved Orange Chicken that we tend to see at fast-casual or takeout Chinese restaurants was popularized by Panda Express in the late eighties and is still going strong. This dish, to me, epitomizes what is commonly referred to as “Americanized” Chinese food. Which is to say, it is meaty, crispy, fried, and saucy. See also: General Tso’s Chicken, Sesame Chicken, etc.

The recipe really doesn’t have any real roots in China, though there may be plenty of chicken dishes that incorporate citrus or orange flavor present in authentic Chinese cooking. The orange chicken to which I’m tipping my hat here today, however, was actually invented by Chef Andy Kao, who was the executive chef for Panda Express. This dish hit the scene in 1987, to be exact.

That’s probably so much more than you ever wanted to know, but alas, here we are.

How Do You Make Homemade Orange Chicken?

The high-level gist is this:

1. Toss chicken in frothy, whipped egg whites.
2. Dredge chicken in a mixture of half cornstarch and half all-purpose flour.
3. Shallow-fry the coated chicken pieces in a neutral-flavored cooking oil (such as vegetable or canola).
4. Prepare the simple sauce by combining the ingredients in a pot, bring to a bubble, and then whisking in a slurry (a thickening paste made from corn starch and water).
5. Toss the crispy, pan-fried chicken bites in the orange sauce, plate over some fluffy Jasmine rice, scatter with scallions, and devour.

What is Orange Chicken sauce made of?

The sauce in this recipe comes together so easily! We love this, always. As I mentioned above, I tested a few iterations of this recipe, to try and determine the very best way to render a homemade orange chicken, and I think that (again, this is subjective to one’s own palate) using fresh ginger and garlic yields the sauce of best fit – it’s got the most punch, the most in-your-face flavor.

Now, you could use ground ginger and garlic powder, absolutely. But if you have a few minutes to grate and chop the ginger/garlic – your sauce will be all the better for it.

• orange juice (I use store-bought, not from concentrate)
• sugar
• soy sauce
• fresh ginger
• fresh garlic
• crushed chili flakes
• corn starch + water (slurry)

Orange Chicken Ingredients

1 cup orange juice (store-bought, 100% juice not from concentrate)

½ cup sugar

2 TBSP rice vinegar (or white distilled vinegar)

3 TBSP soy sauce (or Tamari)

1 TBSP freshly grated ginger

3 garlic cloves, minced or grated

1 tsp crushed red chili flakes

Zest from one orange

½ cup + 1 TBSP cornstarch, divided

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

3 egg whites, beaten until very frothy

½ cup all-purpose flour

Vegetable oil, for cooking

Orange Chicken Step-by-Step

1. Begin by making the sauce. In a medium pot over medium heat, add the orange juice, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, chili flakes, and orange zest. Bring to a light bubble, and simmer until the sugar has fully melted. 
2. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 TBSP of the corn starch and 2 TBSP water. Add this slurry to the sauce, whisking, and bring up to a boil. Reduce the heat to low (it should be thickened now) and keep warm while you prepare the chicken.  
3. Set a large heavy-bottomed frying pan over med-high heat and add enough oil to fully coat the bottom (you can add more oil in between batches of chicken). Bring the oil to a temp of 350 degrees F or just heat until it shimmers. Toss the chicken pieces in the egg whites and then dredge through the cornstarch mixture, ensuring they’re fully coated. 
4. Working in batches so as to not over-crowd the pan, fry the chicken until golden brown and crispy on both sides; about 1.5 to 2 minutes per side (it goes fast). Transfer the cooked chicken to a paper towel-lined tray to drain. Wipe/clean out the pan and add the chicken back, along with the orange sauce. Toss the chicken in the sauce to fully coat.
5. Serve the chicken with rice, topped with chopped green onions and cilantro, if desired.

RECIPE TIPS & TRICKS

Why are we coating the chicken in corn starch?

Corn starch lends an incredibly crispy crunch to anything that’s coated in it. It’s lighter than flour, creating this airy, feather-light crust to the chicken. You’ll see it used in many Chinese-American style fry-ups such as orange chicken. Corn starch sticks to the chicken beautifully and it won’t budge after frying. You won’t have to worry about the crust that you worked to create falling off into the sauce as you toss.

How sad would that be?

Make the sauce first.

It will only continue to build in flavor as it sits, so I like to whip up the easy gingery orange sauce before I do anything with the chicken, and let it wait patiently in the wings. Speaking of wings…

Can you use dark meat chicken?

Well yess, I suppose you could. You could grab a few chicken thighs and coat them whole in the flour + corn starch mixture and then shallow fry them. Then you could toss/coat them in the orange sauce and serve it all up in the same fashion as my Firecracker Chicken.

That would be so killer. I say go to the dark side, if you want!

How to Make Gluten-Free Orange Chicken

To make this recipe gluten-free, simply omit the all-purpose flour from the dredge, and just use all cornstarch. Also, use Tamari instead of soy sauce, as it is gluten free.

If you like the looks of this Homemade Orange Chicken recipe, you might also enjoy:

Sheet Pan Chicken Tikka Masala with Cauliflower and Chickpeas

Firecracker Chicken

Print