Chinese Orange Chicken
Not even Panda Express can beat this homemade orange chicken!
Today was just one of those days. My photography shoot went awry. I burned myself when frying an egg. There was an ant party in my kitchen trash. I hit the worst kind of traffic on a Saturday afternoon for a 3 mile drive. The list goes on.
The highlight of my day was that I still had some of this orange chicken left. This is a Chinese favorite of mine, especially from Panda Express, involving crisp, fried chicken bites smothered in a wonderfully sweet and tangy orange sauce. There is a bit of prep work involved here but at the end of the day, nothing beats homemade, right? And believe me when I say that not even Panda Express will beat this version!
Chinese Orange Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon sesame seeds
- 1 green onion, thinly sliced
For the marinade
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- ½ cup sugar
- ⅓ cup distilled white vinegar
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha, or more, to taste
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
Instructions
- To make the marinade, whisk together chicken broth, orange juice, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, orange zest, Sriracha, ginger and white pepper in a large bowl.
- In a gallon size Ziploc bag or large bowl, combine chicken and 2/3 cup of the marinade; marinate for at least 30 minutes, turning the bag occasionally. Drain the chicken from the marinade, discarding the marinade.
- Heat remaining marinade in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir in 2 tablespoons cornstarch combined with 2 tablespoons water. Cook, stirring frequently, until thickened about 1-2 minutes; keep warm.
- Working one at a time, dip the chicken into the eggs, then dredge in remaining 1 cup cornstarch, pressing to coat.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan. Working in batches, add chicken and fry until golden brown and cooked through, about 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate; discard excess oil.
- Serve chicken immediately, tossed or drizzled with the marinade, garnished with sesame seeds and green onion, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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I have to admit I made a few mistakes with the recipe (too much chicken, forgot to add water to the marinade immediately), so I will try it again in the near future. But the result was still delicious, just not as beautiful orange as your photo. We did have leftover Sriracha Cream Sauce (from the salmon dish) and dipped the chicken in there – amazing combo!
Hi, I had PWITM (pinned with intention to make) a couple of weeks ago. But work has kept me away from the homefront until tonight. I had bought all the ingredients Wed.
I made it am loving the taste and how easy it is to make the marinade (sauce).
I do have a request. I think your chicken bites looked beautiful. Next time you make it could you add pictures of the battering process. I think I may be doing something wrong. They don’t look as pretty as yours.
Thanks again for your lovely blog, pictures and recipes.
Greetings from Denmark.
I’ll be honest with you – my battering process wasn’t very pretty either! But once you toss it in the glaze, the “unpretiness” gets hidden!
The thickiness of my marinade wasn’t a big hit. Any recommendations? ???????
Was the marinade too thick or thin for you? The marinade is supposed to be a bit thick when heated through, which is what the cornstarch helps to achieve.
Add more cornstarch mixed with water until it is thick enough!
I have been looking for a good orange chicken recipe and I think I found it! Pinned!!
Debbie
Alright we have been trying to find an orange chicken recipe for a while. Living in Hawaii I have numerius restaurants looking for that POW flavoring.
We found it in this recipe. We made it last night and it was amazjng. Can’t sing your praise enough. Thank thank you!!!
Top ten recipe of all time!
Hi, just made your orange chicken for dinner tonight!! O my god, beautiful absolutely wonderful. I am a vegetarian so I made it on my vegy quorn strips. Wow loved it. Thank you
I’m so glad the vegetarian version worked out so well!
i just made this and it was AWESOME! Served it over brown rice noodles.
One thing that made it easier was instead of dredging each piece in egg & cornstarch, I put a handful of the chicken in egg, and put all of it in a ziplock bag with the cornstarch in in, then shook it up & pressed for quick & even coating.
thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for the tip – I’ll have to try that next time!
Two nights ago I made this organge chicken. My 10 year old son had three servings. Yummy! Thanks for the recipe.
I made this last night, it turned out good but it didn’t turn out as crispy as I thought it would. I’m probably doing something wrong. Maybe press more corn startch into the chicken. Any advice?
This depends on a couple of factors. How hot was your oil? How long did you cook it in the oil? Letting your oil preheat to the desired frying temperature is very important to obtain that crispness.
I have a weakness for orange chicken and yours looks great!
I’ve been looking for a great orange chicken recipe. This looks delish!
This was delicious!! I only had 1 orange, so had to substitute with some juice from a can of mandarin oranges. Served the dish with white rice, the actual mandarin oranges, and sugar snap peas. My prep time was fast because I used the Dorot brand pre-cut garlic and ginger squares – those things are life savers if you don’t have time to spend peeling and chopping! The cook-time for my chicken was much longer, but that could be because I was afraid of getting my oil too hot & burning everything. I cook the chicken cubes about 8-10 minutes on each side. Thanks for posting this recipe, it was a hit for our company potluck. It’s now been pinned and added to our repertoire!
I just want to say that I love to cook…..but usually don’t go to food blogs just because they post such amazingly long, hard, expensive recipes that I just dot have time. I have tried your orange chicken and the siracha salmon, both delicious and quick!! Love your blog and will be visiting more!
I made this for my brother’s birthday (he is a huge orange chicken fan). It was delicious. It turned out great and my whole family fell in love with this recipe!
Oh man, I just discovered your site today and I gotta say
you have a wonderful food/recipe blog c; so clean, neat
colorful layout as well!
Even tho, I’m semi-vegetarian and I don’t eat chicken
this dish reminds me of what I used to eat at home!
Xx
I’ve tried many recipes for orange chicken. This is the first one my 6 year old grandson would eat. He is a Panda Express fan.
Ohhhh this looks just too deelish! I’m definitely making this for the fam! They will love it! Thanks for sharing!
Blessings!
This recipe looks “damn delicious!” If it is nearly as good as it looks it will be yummy.
oh my! I used to get orange chicken from panda express almost every day after school…years ago! haha This looks SO much better! Definitely pinning this for dinner soon!
What kind of vinegar did you use in this recipe? It looks delish!! I can’t wait to try it!
I used distilled white vinegar.