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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Tonight I’m making your shrimp with walnuts but this will be my next one unless I go for coconut shrimp instead–there aren’t enough days in the week to try all your yummy recipes! I love orange pork and shrimp, too, will try those another time. I so appreciate your website because all the Chinese restaurants around here are bland and boring.
Thanks for the recipe, I made it last night, but it doesnt look as orange and yummy as yours 🙂 Any idea on what happened? Do I need to add more orange zest to the marinade?
Thanks again!!
I’m not entirely sure – did you follow the recipe exactly as written without any substitutions?
i bet this tastes lovely. Thanks for sharing this, gonna give this a go later. Simon
OK so I stumbled across this recipe while looking for something called strawberry chicken. I used to order it years ago at a local Chinese restaurant that closed. Do you have any suggestions on how to make the marinade and sauce using fresh strawberries in place of the orange?
That sounds amazing! But unfortunately, without further recipe testing and without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment.
Hi, amazing recepie I’ve tried it but when i tried to toss it in the marinade the corn starch coating on the chicken came of any tips?
Maha A, the chicken is coated with cornstarch, then cooked in vegetable oil. It is not tossed in the marinade.
Do you think it’s worth it to marinade this overnight? Or is 30 min all you need?
30 minutes is just fine.
Just made this for the first time. I usually get the frozen orange chicken they sell at costco and have been wanting to make my own. this turned out much better. A little more work than cooking the frozen chicken in the oven and microwaving the sauce but it was worth it.
Made this tonight for dinner and its delicious. Takes a little bit of time but well worth the work and time.
I added chunks of white onions and red and yellow peppers served over brown rice..
Yummy. Going to share on my Favorite things and friends blog.com
I just made this recipe! It was very flavourful but I did use real ginger as opposed to ground and added a pinch of sesame oil to the end sauce! Overall it was delicious!
This was delicious! I made a few changes, swapped the measurements for the orange juice and chicken stock and vinegar and sugar. Solely for personal taste, I enjoy assertive acid.
Thanks for sharing, this was a hit with the whole family.
Also, can I use 1 cup Coconut oil instead of Vegetable Oil?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment.
What can I substitute the white pepper with? I think I can just add black pepper, but just use less. Is this correct?
Yes! 🙂
Can you advise if you think I could make a day ahead for dinner guests? Trying to cut down on work day of party
Jennie, this is really best when served immediately. But as always, please use your best judgment.
With one exception, I followed the recipe exactly as written and it was great. I’ve never used corn starch before, so the one exception was I forgot to mix the corn starch with (cold) water before adding it to the heated marinade. So, if you are a first time corn starch-user like me…just know that this step is important or you get globs of corn starch in your marinade. It was a non-issue, though, and in the end had no impact on taste or appearance. I love green onion usually but I ended up preferring bites without the green onion in this particular recipe. It’s personal preference (and is stated as optional), but don’t worry if you don’t have green onion. The sauce was delicious and my chicken turned out great — 1 inch chunks from thin chicken breasts and fried in a deep sided frying pan on an electric stove on medium. I didn’t time the frying..you just sort of know. I probably used about 2 cups of corn starch on a total of 3 thin chicken breasts cut into cubes. I think most of it ended up stuck on my fingers, but what can you do. :o) It’s worth it to use more corn starch or else I don’t think you’ll get the crispiness if your egg bleeds through. Anyway, it was great. Next time I will do what I can do to prepare some things in advance, as this did take me about 90 minutes, but it was delicious.
I used gloves to cut and to coat my chicken worked Great.. Just a idea for the next time you make this dish.
I just made your orange chicken for tonight’s dinner, and Wow! It is so delicious!
It definitely took some time, but it was well worth the trouble. I doubled the recipe, hoping for leftovers, but I don’t know if it’ll make it to tomorrow. I was about to lick my plate clean, the sauce was so good!
Thanks for sharing a great recipe!
Hi! Thanks for this recipe- looks delicious! It’s been pinned. 🙂 Any advice for baking the chicken pieces instead of frying? Thank you!
Honestly, this is really best when fried! But as always, please use your best judgment. 🙂
Can this chicken be frozen. Will try it soon
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
I’ve never made Chinese food at home because I thought it would be too time consuming. This makes it look manageable, and certainly healthier than picking up “to go” meals from the local Chinese restaurant. Thanks so much! (PS. I love the pictures!)
This recipe is worth the effort! I made extra sauce this time to try over some ground chicken meatballs and it is fabulous – will be my dish to pass at upcoming holiday parties.
Fabulous! Better than any restaurant orange chicken! I served it over basmati rice with broccoli and red bell pepper. Thank you for a delicious supper!