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 want to try this really bad, but I always fail when I try to fry anything! Do you remember how high you set the temp when heating up the oil? Thanks! Btw: I love your site and since discovering it, it’s my “go-to” when planning my meals for the week…..we’ve had your One-Pot Pasta once a week for past two months!!!!
Kelly, I honestly can’t remember how high the temp was as I was not using a thermometer. I just let it sit on medium heat for about 3-4 minutes. Hope that helps!
350 degrees is the optimal frying temperature for most foods.
Just wanted to know if I can do it without frying the chicken?? I can’t wait to make this!!!!
I would advise against it as this recipe is really best when the chicken is fried in this manner.
Recently found your website and have tried a few recipes with great success. This was dinner last night and it was excellent – even better than Panda’s own! We loved it. The siracha gave it a wonderful after bite spicy taste which perfectly complemented the orangey tang. Thank you!
I made this tonight and can’t wait to try it. My problem is that after I added the cornstarch (mixed with water) my sauce turned brown. Looks like gravy. Still tastes great though, I just wish I had your pretty picture on my table. Ha! What could have happened?
Oh no – I have no idea how that could’ve happened!
Such a great recipe! My kids love it, and it has become one of my ‘go to’ meals 🙂
This is great. Thanks a lot for the recipe.
“Not even Panda Express can beat this homemade orange chicken!” I couldn’t have said it better my self! I made this last night with some chinese rice and crab rangoon my hubby loved it, he said I spoil him. I also sent some over to my in-laws and they called to thank me and couldn’t stop raving on the dinner. Sooo thank you thank you thank you thank you for the awesome recipe. Been looking for something like this for a while and I’m so glad I found it (:
I made this once before and it was thee bomb! Making it for my sons mom for her bday manana. Turn up! Lol
This was AMAZINGLY fantastic! I have now made it twice in the same week! Thank you for this excellent recipe!
I have had requests for more!
Thank you! from me, here in the UK!
Made this tonight and it was delicious!!! Thanks for the recipe.
To velvet the chicken (like restaurant quality that will stay juicy even after being in the fridge overnight) add the cornstarch to the marinade. Marinate at least 30 minutes. Then boil chicken (poach) for 1 min. Then cook after other ingredients are cooked through for another 1 minute at high heat.
Thank you for this recipe. I rarely take time to post feedback on recipes but felt I must. My kids said they had orange chicken at a friend’s house and it was SOOOO good they wanted me to make it. I searched for a recipe and finally chose this one. It was a little bit of work to make something like this from scratch but that is nothing negative about the recipe, just be prepared–you need a bit of time. The results were fantastic. I was skeptical and nervous when I was making it! Especially seeing the raw chicken coated with cornstarch turning gooey. It fried up beautifully and the end result when tossed with the sauce was something out of a very good Chinese restaurant. Forget Panda Express, try PF Chang! Seriously, it was REALLY good and fresh. The green onion was awesome with it. Only thing I didn’t have was sesame seeds and I know that would have been nice to have. A bit of rice on the side with soy sauce was a perfect salty contrast. Thank you for your efforts on this site! I’ll be back!
THIS IS SO YUMMY. BUT I DIDNT HAVE THE SEEDS AND THE GREEN ONIONS. BUT IT WAS GOOD. THANK YOU FOR THE RECIPIE. I TRY ALOT OF YOUR RECIPIES BECAUSE YOUR A REALLY GOOD COOK. AND YOU FOOD IS GOOD BETTER THAN ANY OTHER WEBSITES.
~THANK YOU~
This is by far the best Orange Chicken recipe I’ve been able to find. I had never used corn starch for frying before and I was really surprised how good it was compared to flour. Thanks for broadening my (cooking) horizons 🙂
I found a soy sauce for all of us with wheat or soy allergies. You mix Balsamic vinegar and molasses and brown sugar and chicken broth together. My father and best friend could not tell the difference
I just finished making Orange Chicken, I was hard for me to stay out of the sauce, while the chicken was cooking. This is my favorite Asian food, now I can make my own. The only difference, I added broccoli, and I finished cooking it in the oven, 300* 50-55 minutes, so the flavor soaked into the chicken. Love love this recipe!
Hi Chung-Ah, I made this last night and my husband said it was so great and my daughter could’t believe I made this. I thought was easy and I had no problem with it but I did make double sauce and I just wanted to say Thank You for your recipe and for it being easy to make and please keep it sharing.
That looks AWESOME! I wish could have some right now! But it is on my list for dinner next week! Thank you so much!
I loved this recipe! I made it tonight with your recipe for shrimp fried rice and I grabbed a good bottle of Peach/Mango Moscato to have a glass with my meal. It was wonderful! I can’t wait to make the Lighter General Tso’s Chicken next time.
I just tried your recipe. It was absolutely delicious. Thank you for the wonderful recipes. I also tried your speghetti carbonara. That too was great. I am anxious to try other recipes.