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?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
This is a staple in our house now. My son is allergic to egg so I now dip in aquafaba before the cornstarch. I also make loads of the orange sauce/marinade ahead of time and keep it in 8 oz. Portions in my freezer so I can just pull it out when needed. Sometimes we use it on other dishes too. It’s great. Thanks for this epic recipe!
I love the Aquafaba idea! I’m vegan and I’d love to try this recipe using tofu and this would make it perfect! Thanks for the great tip!
Amazing! This is now a staple meal for us. I used fresh ginger one time and powdered another time, both were amazing.
I haven’t made this before however we absolutely love your Korean beef recipe so I’m sure this will be great as well. I’m fixing this for 20 people coming over tomorrow and wondered if you had any short cuts or ideas for frying chicken ahead of time or skipping the breading? Or maybe baking in the oven? Thanks so much
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. But if you get a chance to try it, please let me know how it turns out! Good luck! 🙂
I use Tyson Anytysers Popcorn chicken, 2 bags for my family of 5 and prep in the oven as directed
(they LOVE orange chicken but I dont like to fry)
Magnificent dish. My family has been asking for orange chicken for quite sometime. After viewing numerous recipes for orange peel chicken. I was reluctant as I do with many other recipes. I can’t believe how easy the preparation was. My family absolutely loved the orange chicken. My hats off to you!!!
Delicious with bright flavor! Made this vegetarian and substituted fried tofu instead of chicken. Used water instead of chicken broth. Otherwise, made the recipe as written and the entire family loved it. Thank you for sharing 😉
Mmmm, good! I tried it over cauliflower rice and it was great, plus the instructions for this meal were super easy to follow.
I don’t fry food often but so glad I made the exception today. WOW this was insanely good!!
I love your recipes, you make them so easy to follow. I plan on getting every cook book you put out. Kathy
So sorry for the late night review, this is what happens when insomnia kicks in lol. Anywho, I wanted to see if I can replace the distilled vinegar with rice wine vinegar for the marinade/sauce.
Looking to make this (although I made this recipe plenty of time just want to try something different) re pie tomorrow for a family gathering
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. But if you get a chance to try it, please let me know how it turns out! 🙂
I have tried it with rice vinegar it’s fine.
Only gave this 4 stars cause I haven’t actually made it yet but I can not wait to try it!! I am at work now and can’t wait to get off so I can go home and make this for dinner. My husband will be so suprised when he comes in and smells this..I’m almost drooling just thinking about it.
Why in the world would you leave a rating if you haven’t tried it yet? That’s insane.
hahahahahahaha
I’m usually not a big orange chicken fan, but it’s my husband’s favorite! I followed this recipe exactly as written and it was so fantastic, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it! My husband already wants me to make it again next week, and my toddler even approves. Thank you for such a damn delicious recipe!
That’s great!
Wow! You aren’t kidding when you say it’s better than Panda! I love how crisp the chicken is, and the sauce is the perfect balance of sweet and tangy. The sesame seeds and chopped green onions really make it look and taste like it was made in a nice restaurant.
Thanks, Sari!
This is the third time I have made this and I can honestly say its SO DELICIOUS and EASY you wont be disappointed! I have an orange and mandarin tree in my back yard, which are now ready, so I use the fresh squeezed juice from the oranges and their zest. We always turn to your site for delicious recipes as I fine them both easy, well explained and most of all, DAMN DELICIOUS!!!
Thank you, Karen!
This is delicious, very light and flavorful. Unlike some Chinese/Asian recipes there was plenty of sauce for the chicken. I stir fried some snow peas and added them to the plated dish, poured the sauce over all and garnished with the scallions and sesame seeds. It looked as good as it tasted! I served rice on the side. I will be making this again. Thank you!
SO GOOD!!! My boyfriend and I decided to make our own Chinese-inspired dinner instead of ordering in. We followed this recipe exactly, except for tripling the amount of sriracha (we like it spicy!). Paired this chicken with homemade veggie fried rice and the combination is DIVINE. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
Just wanted to add, to cut down on the sugar grams, I used half Splenda granular and half real sugar. Turned out great!
This is the 2nd time I have made this recipe. It tastes DELICIOUS and am so happy I found it. There are a lot of copycat Panda Express orange chicken recipes out there, but you need not look further, this is the BEST
I never write reviews unless the recipe was surprisingly better than I expected. And I usually have disappointing results when making Asian foods. Not this time! This was really good! The kind of good where you say I can’t believe how good this is the whole time you are eating it! Happy teen as well. I used leftover plain rice for kids and riced cauliflower for me. Thank you for posting!
I just made this recipe and it really take only 30 mins to make. I substitute sugar with honey.
Great!
Made this tonight and it did not come out at all. The chicken was soggy, and we fried it for much longer than the directions say. Someone help! What did I do wrong?
Didn’t use enough cornstarch and/or oil not hot enough