This recipe for orange chicken is wonderful, sticky, and sweet. It has a flavor that is comparable to the orange chicken from a well-known Chinese eatery in the mall. For tasty takeaway at home, it’s simpler to create than you may imagine.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 50 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups water
- ⅓ cup rice vinegar
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 2 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons chopped green onion
- 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
- ½ teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
- ½ teaspoon minced garlic
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Gather all ingredients.
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- Combine water, rice vinegar, lemon juice, soy sauce, and orange juice for sauce into a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in brown sugar, green onion, orange zest, ginger, garlic, and pepper flakes; bring to a boil. Remove from heat, and cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
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- Place chicken in a resealable plastic bag. Pour in 1 cup cooled sauce. Seal the bag, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Reserve the remaining sauce.
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- Mix flour, salt, and pepper in another resealable plastic bag.
- Remove chicken from the marinade and place into the bag of seasoned flour. Seal the bag and shake to coat.
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- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken in the hot skillet until browned on both sides.
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- Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and cover with aluminum foil. Wipe out the skillet.
- Pour reserved sauce into the skillet and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Mix together cornstarch and water until completely smooth. Stir into the boiling sauce.
- Reduce heat to medium-low, add the chicken, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until cooked through, about 5 minutes.
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- Serve over rice and enjoy!
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Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 445 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 69 g |
| Cholesterol | 34 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 18 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 763 mg |
| Sugars | 37 g |
| Fat | 11 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This was a big hit with my family! I reduced the sauce a bit before adding any of the slurry and the orange flavor was intense. I topped with some toasted sesame seeds and made some “Mall Fried Rice” to go with, and it was like I was in the food court.
I made it as is, and we loved it. Wouldn’t change a thing.
Very good recipe Harry!! Followed exact but used 1TBLS orange concentrate vs juice. Only change – if I could go back, is do in two batches. I saw a reviewer after the fact state that it didn’t get as crispy with the full amount and I have to agree. Served with rice and Stir Fry Cabbage from this site. Would and will make again. Thank you!
I used pork tenderloin instead of chicken and it was delicious.
Perfect. A little extra orange zest and dome Thai red peppers and it comes out exactly as I would get it when I order take out! Leave the chicken wet enough in the soak so when you go bread them it ends up a bit thicker and you get the perfect crispness under the glaze!
Yes. I didn’t have fresh ginger so I added powder. I also added about 2-3 tablespoons of apricot marmalade (from Lidl) to achieve a stronger flavor. I also only had orange-mango juice. I added half fresh squeezed orange. And I didn’t have time to marinade it nor bread it.and it tasted great.
My family loves this recipe! I usually skip breading and frying the chicken and just stir fry it. I also reduce the brown sugar to 3/4 cup If the sauce is to hot when you add the cornstarch, it will create solid chunks in the sauce. When this has happened in the past, I strained the sauce through a mesh strainer before adding it to the chicken.
There’s a serious mistake in this recipe. Where it says to mix 3 tablespoons of corn starch with 2 tablespoons water then add to the sauce? You end up with solid irreducible chunks of starch. Ruined the dinner for me. Maybe you will have better luck.
It doesn’t even taste like the orange chicken from Chinese restaurants. I would not recommend this recipe.
Perfection
Absolutely delicious! It only needs to be a little crispier to be absolutely perfect, but the flavor was delicious! It’s a ton of work though. Took me like 4 hours to fully make.
I used this recipe specifically for the sauce. Used only 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup freshly squeezed OJ. Subbed a freshy diced Thai chili pepper for red pepper flakes. Reduced the whole thing down for 30ish minutes, strained it, then thickened with 1.5 Tbsp of corn starch. Was a beautiful citrus glaze. Sautéed the chicken – Did not bread. Sautéed a yellow bell pepper, some celery, and rainbow carrots. Wonderful Citrus Chicken bowl.
I added more orange juice because the marinade didn’t have much orange flavor. The breading ended up making the sauce a gloppy mess. It tasted okay, but I’ve used recipes that were much better so I won’t be using this one again.
This is the BEST orange chicken dish I’ve ever made and/or tasted. I made it exactly as per recipe, except for the hot pepper flakes, and it turned out delicious. Thanks so much! Healthy Chinese food at home – yummmmm!
This recipe is a lot of work, but I specifically chose it because of the seasoned flour coating and then frying it in the pan. It was so delicious that the people I live with wouldn’t stop tasting it while it was cooling down. A few things I did differently. I used peanut oil instead of olive oil. I highly suggest doing this. Olive oil creates a lot more smoke. Olive oil can catch fire easier. Peanut oil did not affect the flavour in any way. You will need alot more oil as the flour soaks up any oil (whether you decide to stick with olive oil or not). For this reason I would NOT add all the chicken in the skillet at once. Other wise you’ll need to add a lot of oil at one time and that’s not a good idea. As for the sauce when you mix cornstarch in, I suggest using half the cornstarch. I may not use cornstarch at all and see what happens. It was a very thick sauce and I had to add at least a cup of water more plus more when I reheat the food. *Please ALWAYS research how to safely cook with heated oil. Grease fires are scary and very much possible even with people who are more familiarized cooking with heated oil*
I did not like the breading/ batter falling off and turning the whole thing into a pasty clump. Taste was decent but not worth the effort as recipe is. No one ate the leftovers. It has potential. If I ever make this again, I’ll either deep fry breaded chicken or just skip the breading and fry the chicken.
It was easy to make. It’s delicious!!!
So good. Many steps but worth it! Very tasty. Definitely a Do Over!
This is lick the bowl good. I followed the recipe, but marinated longer – just because that was easier for me to do it in the morning… set out for the day, and then cook when I was ready. With all the prep work done in the morning – dinner was ready in 15 minutes! LOVE this recipe, it is a keeper and the fact that all three of my kids love it… that says a lot!
Sauce was too thick, turned it somewhat gelatinous. Will make again without the cornstarch at the end, so it can easily be poured on the rice as well.
Really good flavor, the breading came off and I ended up with more of a chicken/breading/sauce slurry, but I don’t really mind it lacking crispiness. Threw a bell pepper in there which I would highly recommend.