OMG you guyyyysssss… Orange chicken has been on my list for-ev-er and I finally made it today. Now I’m kicking myself for not making it sooner because this Easy Orange Chicken recipe is, without a doubt, my new favorite! The chicken pieces are tender, juicy, and lightly breaded, and the sauce is sweet, tangy, and spicy, with a whoosh of fresh orangey citrus flavor. It’s absolutely perfect, and so so fast and easy!
What Is Orange Chicken?
Orange chicken is a Chinese American dish consisting of juicy chunks of crispy fried chicken drenched in a simple orange chili glaze. The glaze or sauce is sweet, tangy, salty, and savory, hitting all of the best flavors at once! Our orange chicken recipe is modified a bit to make it easier for home kitchens. Rather than deep frying we’ve pan-fried the lightly battered chicken pieces and made the glaze using ingredients that are easy to find at any American grocery store.
Ingredients for Orange Chicken
Here’s what you’ll need to make this easy Orange Chicken recipe:
- Fresh Orange: You’ll use both the sweet juice and zest from the orange for maximum orange flavor. The orange perfectly compliments the spicy and savory sauce.
- Soy Sauce: Soy sauce gives the glaze a deep umami flavor, adds salt, and gives the orange chicken sauce a nice deep color.
- Brown Sugar: Brown sugar balances the acidity and heat in the glaze making the flavor deliciously balanced.
- Rice Vinegar: Rice vinegar gives the sauce the perfect tangy flavor without a strong vinegar aftertaste or aroma. You can find rice vinegar in the Asian section of most major grocery stores.
- Ginger, Garlic, and Red Pepper: The perfect balance of spicy and savory comes from a mix of fresh ginger, garlic, and crushed red pepper.
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch helps thicken the sauce into a thick, glossy glaze, and it also lightly coats the chicken with just enough of a batter to absorb the delicious sauce.
- Chicken: We used chicken thighs because they’re budget-friendly and always stay juicy and tender, but you can use chicken breast if you prefer. Just be careful not to over cook the chicken breast as it can become tough and dry.
- Egg: Egg combines with the cornstarch to create a light batter that coats the chicken pieces.
- Cooking Oil: A light pan fry gives the chicken just enough texture to stand up to the sauce without having to deal with the excess oil of deep frying. Use a neutral cooking oil that can handle higher temperatures, like canola, peanut, vegetable, or light olive oil.
- Rice and Green Onion: Serve your homemade orange chicken over a bed of hot rice and topped with sliced green onion.
The Pan Fry Method for Easy Orange Chicken
I really don’t like deep fried food, but I can’t deny that a little bit of fried flavor helps dishes like this feel more authentic (and by “authentic” I mean tasting like your local take-out joint), so for this Easy Orange Chicken I used the same pan-fry method that I used for my Easy Sesame Chicken. This method involves coating the chicken pieces in a thin cornstarch and egg batter, then frying with a small amount of oil in a skillet until golden brown. This batter and pan-fry method gives the sauce something to grab onto and really helps flavor the chicken.
Helpful Tips for Orange Chicken
Some people have had trouble with the battered pan fry method, so I want to give you a couple of tips here:
- Make sure your skillet is nice and hot. If it’s too cool the egg batter will slide off the chicken and turn into scrambled eggs in your skillet.
- Don’t stir the chicken too much while it cooks. After adding the chicken to your skillet, don’t touch it until it’s golden on the bottom, then flip, and cook again. Stirring too much can knock the cooked batter off the chicken, leaving you again with separate cooked eggs and chicken.
- If you’re a beginner, use a non-stick skillet. If you prefer to use stainless steel, let the skillet heat up before adding the oil. This helps prevent the egg from sticking.
This cornstarch-egg frying method gives the chicken pieces just a touch of breading and fried flavor while leaving the dish tasting light and fresh. IMHO, it’s absolutely perfect.
What to Serve with Orange Chicken
Here are a few recipes for things to serve on the side with this Orange Chicken recipe: Sesame Cucumber Salad, Crunchy Cabbage Salad, Easy Egg Drop Soup, or Sesame Roasted Green Beans.
That orange zest on top really makes the orange flavor POP! ✨
Easy Orange Chicken
Servings 4Ingredients
ORANGE SAUCE
- 1 large orange ($0.70)
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce ($0.28)
- 1.5 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.06)
- 1/2 Tbsp rice vinegar ($0.06)
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger ($0.04)
- 1 clove garlic, minced ($0.08)
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper ($0.02)
- 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch ($0.02)
STIR FRIED CHICKEN
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1.3 lbs.) ($3.94)
- 1 large egg ($0.27)
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch ($0.08)
- 1 pinch salt and pepper ($0.05)
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.08)
- 4 cups cooked rice ($0.75)
- 2 green onions, sliced ($0.14)
Instructions
- Remove the zest from the orange using a zester or small-holed cheese grater, then squeeze the juice from the orange. You’ll need about 1 tsp zest and 1/2 cup juice. Combine the juice and 1 tsp zest with the soy sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, grated ginger, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, and 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch in a small sauce pot. Before placing it over heat, whisk until the cornstarch is fully dissolved. Heat the mixture over medium-low until it begins to simmer, thicken, and turns into a glossy glaze (about 3-5 minutes). Remove the sauce from heat and set it aside.
- Use a sharp knife to remove any excess fat from the chicken thighs, then cut them into small 3/4-inch pieces.
- Combine the egg, 2 Tbsp cornstarch, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a mixing bowl and whisk until the mixture is smooth and frothy. Add the chicken pieces and stir to coat them in the egg mixture.
- Heat a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Once hot, add 2 Tbsp cooking oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the skillet. Add the chicken, making sure all the pieces are touching the surface and not piled on top of one another. Let the pieces cook until they are golden brown on the bottom.
- Flip the chicken pieces, breaking them apart from one another as you turn them. Let them cook until golden brown on the second side and cooked through (about 5-7 minutes total cooking).
- Turn the heat off under the skillet and pour on the prepared orange sauce. Stir to coat the chicken pieces in sauce.
- Serve the chicken and sauce over cooked rice, garnished with sliced green onions and any left over orange zest.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
How to Make Orange Chicken – Step by Step Photos
Begin by making the orange sauce so that it’s ready to go when you need it. Zest one large orange, then squeeze as much juice out of it as you can. You’ll need about 1 tsp zest and 1/2 cup juice.
Combine the orange juice and orange zest in a small sauce pot with 3 Tbsp soy sauce, 1.5 Tbsp brown sugar, 1/2 Tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp grated fresh ginger, 1 clove of minced garlic, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, and 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch. Whisk them all together until the cornstarch is fully dissolved before heating. Once combined, heat the sauce over medium-low until it begins to simmer, thicken, and turns into a glossy glaze. This should be relatively quick, or about 3-5 minutes. Turn the heat off and set the sauce aside.
Trim any excess fat from four boneless, skinless chicken thighs, then cut them into 3/4-inch pieces. This was about 1.33 pounds of chicken.
Whisk together one large egg, 2 Tbsp cornstarch, and a pinch of salt and pepper until it’s light and frothy. The mixture may seem dry at first, but the cornstarch will begin to melt into the moisture from the egg.
Add the chicken pieces and toss them until they’re coated in the egg mixture.
Heat a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat, then add 2 Tbsp cooking oil and swirl until the skillet is coated. Add the chicken pieces to the skillet so that they are in a single layer and not piled on top one another. Let them cook until golden brown on the bottom, then begin to turn the chicken pieces, breaking them apart from one another and you flip. Let the chicken cook on the second side until golden as well and the pieces are cooked through. Try not to stir the chicken too much to avoid the batter falling off. Total cooking time should be about 5-7 minutes.
Turn the heat off, then add the prepared orange sauce. Stir to coat the chicken pieces in sauce.
Garnish the chicken with sliced green onions and any leftover orange zest.
Serve this Easy Orange Chicken recipe over warm cooked rice (preferably jasmine rice) and enjoy!
This looks so good, but I’m allergic to citrus fruits. Any suggestions, because I love sweet Asian chicken, but I have to be careful how I make it.
I would use the sauce in my Sesame Tofu recipe. Very similar, minus the orange. You can add extra brown sugar if you like it sweeter.
This was awesome! I’m also a fan of the Trader Joe’s version, but hardly ever make it to a TJ’s anymore. This tasted identical and was really easy. Adding this as one of our favorite / go-to recipes from your site. Thank you!!
Just made this for dinner tonight. We do not eat any Asian food out anymore because I can not do the Soy Sauce. Coconut Aminos are my go to instead of Soy.
This was great!!!
I am really bad about just using a recipe for a guide but followed this sauce to a T and it was great. Going to make it up and freeze packets of it to have ready for quick stir fry and dipping sauce.
Thanks
PS I do have to admit I used cubed pork loin instead of chicken because that’s what I had on hand…
I love having TJ orange chicken (from the freezer section) on stand-by for a quick dinner that the whole family loves. I wonder if I used this, if it could be freezer-friendly? Maybe after the fry, flash freeze, and reheat on the stove, similar to the Trader Joe’s packaging?
The sauce will definitely change in appearance. Any type of cornstarch based sauce won’t stay clear and shiny, they tend to get a bit cloudy, but it might still taste okay?
This looks perfect for weeknight dinners =)
Looks luscious, can you provide nutritional info – specifically calories, sugar grams, fat grams and protein grams.
It’s so funny that you posted this, because when I made your Easy Sesame Chicken awhile back, for some reason I didn’t love the sauce, but did like the chicken cooking method, so thought, “maybe I could just try this method to make orange chicken”. I have a delicious orange chicken recipe from Allrecipes, but it has tons of sugar in it, so I tried a different one recently to try to be healthier (really just so I feel like I can still have dessert) and it was pretty good, but I bet yours will be better so I’m excited to try it! Thanks!
I’m so glad to see this; my son LOVES orange chicken. I, however, can’t have soy. I’m thinking of either subbing fish sauce for the soy sauce or frying in toasted sesame oil. I suppose I could also just omit the soy sauce altogether and let Hubs and Son add it to the finished dish. Do you have any idea which option would work best?
Coconut Aminos taste almost identical to soy sauce!
use coconut aminos in place of soy. But consider reducing the amount of brown sugar. coconut aminos is sweeter than soy sauce but will give you the same flavor
Hmm, honestly I don’t think that either fish sauce or just sesame oil will work as a direct substitution. It would take total re-working to try to make this recipe without the soy sauce. Some others have suggested coconut aminos, but I’ve never used those before. :(
Thanks, everyone, for the input. Looks like I’ll have to invest in coconut aminos (they’re just so darn pricy).
Awesome and perfect timing! I love your sesame chicken recipe, it is a regular in our house. I love that it is not deep fried!
My kids love orange chicken, and you didn’t have a recipe for that, so this morning I was trying to find orange sauce recipes on other websites that I could pair up with your sesame chicken recipe. And then I saw you had posted an orange chicken recipe :-)
this looks SO good! what vegetables would go well with this? any reccomendations?
There are a few side dish recommendations in the intro, just above the first photo. :)
I’m pairing mine with steamed broccoli and i tossed in some 1/2″ pieces of red bell pepper with the chicken.
Do you think this would this turn out well with your pan fried tofu in lieu of the chicken? Would you suggest doing anything differently? Maybe foregoing the egg and just using cornstarch?
Yep, I think that the crispy tofu would work great!
I made this with tofu using the directions from the pan fried tofu…holy cow! It is delicious!
Thanks for this recipe! I am not a huge fried food fan either, but this looks delicious. And I feel like the pan-frying method usually gives the fry taste I am looking for without the ALL the greasiness.
I can’t believe that after ALL THESE YEARS you’re just now tackling this recipe! And with tamari instead of soy sauce, I can make these gluten free – yay! Thanks for another great recipe!
I was just going to comment how easily this could be made gluten free! I love it!
Hahah, I know, right?? I’ve literally had it on my list of recipes to try for YEARS.
Orange chicken is my absolute favorite (semi-) Chinese food! SO good and Panda Express never fails me haha. Love that this looks just as good and fits my budget! YUM
Your sesame chicken has been in dinner rotation in our house for a few months now so I’ll have to give this a try. One other tip that you might like to try is I add a little soy & garlic powder to the coating,then let the chicken sit in it for about half an hour to marinate just a little. .