My little restaurant, Ms. Chi Café in Los Angeles, is a love project. This is the first restaurant my husband Jimmy and I own together, many my chef friends came in to help me as line cooks during our crazy opening month, my friends made the artwork on the walls, my parents helped us fold dumplings in the beginning, and our niece Hailey worked as barista for us. During the year that Hailey worked for us, she was diagnosed as being gluten-intolerant; she has had to give up eating Chinese food because most of the dishes and sauces have gluten. So I made it a mission to create gluten-free Chinese dishes for her and other gluten-free guests in Ms. Chi. This Chinese-American classic dish, orange chicken, is breaded with rice flour and cornstarch instead of wheat flour. The orange sauce is made of a reduction of orange juice and a touch of gluten-free tamari soy sauce, and has a bright orange color instead of brown. We also garnish the dish with oranges segments; the juicy and tart orange helps cut through the fried chicken—it’s a true orange chicken. Using rice flour instead of wheat flour creates a very crispy crust on the chicken that stays crispy after cooking in the sauce. Ms. Chi does lots of takeout; our orange chicken is even able to stay crispy all the way until it arrives at our customers’ houses.
| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 15 min |
| Active: | 1 hr |
| Yield: | 4 to 6 servings |
| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 15 min |
| Active: | 1 hr |
| Yield: | 4 to 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- 1 tablespoon gluten-free tamari soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thigh meat, medium dice (1/2-inch)
- 1 cup rice flour
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 gallon canola oil
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon tamari soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/8 teaspoon chile flakes
- 1 Fresno chile, cut in half, stemmed and seeded
- 1 tablespoon room temperature water
- 3/4 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 orange, sliced
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- For the chicken: In a mixing bowl, combine the orange juice, tamari soy and minced garlic and mix well, then add the diced chicken. Cover and let marinate for 20 minutes.
- For the dry dredge: In a large bowl, combine the rice flour, cornstarch, salt and baking soda, and mix well.
- Heat the canola oil in an 8-quart pot or a small home fryer, to a temperature of 360 degrees F. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
- Place half the chicken into the dry dredge bowl. Coat the chicken well with the dredge mixture, then place the pieces in a strainer to shake off the excess flour. Place the coated chicken in the hot oil, gently stirring the pieces so they don’t stick to each other; fry until golden brown, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove in a single layer to a plate lined with a paper towel. Repeat this process with the remaining chicken. Set in the oven to keep warm.
- For the orange sauce: Heat the canola oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add the ginger and let it sweat until you can smell the aroma in the air, 10 to 15 seconds. Add the orange juice and reduce it by half, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the rice vinegar, sugar, tamari soy, salt, sesame oil, chile flakes and Fresno chile and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to low and simmer for 2 minutes.
- In a small bowl, mix the room temperature water and cornstarch together until it becomes a milky liquid; this is called a slurry. Turn up the heat to high and bring the orange sauce back to a boil, then drizzle the slurry into the orange sauce while constantly stirring with a whisk. The orange sauce will immediately start to thicken; mix well and cook until the orange sauce has a glaze consistency, about 10 seconds. Place the fried chicken into the skillet immediately and toss to mix well, making sure all the chicken pieces are coated with orange sauce. Let the sauce reduce and cook with the chicken for 1 minute.
- Plate the orange chicken, then garnish with fresh the orange slices and sesame seeds.
Reviews
Fantastic recipe! Take the time to review and get prepped. It’ll save you loads of time. I used fresh minced ginger and it made a huge difference. Also, I prepare double the amount of sauce called for. First time making it and my family was wanting more sauce.
Pro Tip: buy fresh squeezed or cold pressed OJ (not boxed/chain juice). Saves you time from squeezing on your own and just as delicious.
Pro Tip: buy fresh squeezed or cold pressed OJ (not boxed/chain juice). Saves you time from squeezing on your own and just as delicious.
This is awesome recipe!!! I made this for dinner tonight it turned out delicious!! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
I made this tonight. So simple. So delicious. Even the kid declared it her “new favorite.”
Absolutely delicious !!