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!
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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.
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Nutrition
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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!
Didn’t work for me. Might have been the oranges. No pith, but too bitter. Too much soy sauce. Added lots more sugar and juice but couldn’t save it.,
I recently found your site and made Italian Meatballs yesterday and Orange Chicken for dinner tonight. The Orange Chicken was delicious. I followed the tips on coating with egg/cornstarch and frying and had no problem. I used 2 chicken breasts. Next time, I will probably double the sauce so there is some for the rice, too. Thank you!
My kids requested orange chicken for dinner, and we tried this recipe. Mind you, they are used to Mandarin Orange chicken at school. They LOVED this dish (and so did we!). Easy and delicious…2 of my favorite things.
Hi Beth,
Just made it and served for dinner. I can only say one word, SUPERB. The best orange chicken recipe I have tried.
Charles
It tasted exactly like take out… after I made a few adjustments. I doubled the recipe – I was serving 6 – and the soy sauce and orange zest were much too strong. I added another two tablespoons of brown sugar and approximately 1 cup of water. I continued to cook it until it thickened slightly then added it to the chicken to coat and thicken to desired consistency.
My first time making orange chicken and I was really happy with the way it turned out. My family wants it to go in our regular rotation too. I prepared a little more chicken (used breast tenders) and doubled the sauce. I reduced the soy sauce and used a little less than half of the red pepper flakes to suit my family’s tastes. Turned out perfect. Loved the bright orange and ginger flavors.
My husband & I loved this recipe! Invited my brother over the second time I made this dish & he couldn’t get enough! Thank you so much!!
Good recipe, very easy, but the ingredients don’t seem to have the right ratio. I would use a bit less soy sauce and maybe just a bit more brown sugar and ginger
Despite adding the proper amount of cornstarch and turning off the heat before pouring on the sauce, I can’t seem to get the sauce to turn into a thickened glaze in the two times I’ve made this. It tastes good, but it ends up being more of an orange chicken soup. Anyone know what I could be doing wrong?
Yes, it sounds like it just needs a little more heat, actually! It sounds like maybe your cookware is not holding heat, so when you turn the heat off there isn’t enough heat to thicken the glaze. So next time, turn the heat on to medium-low and let the glaze reach a gentle simmer. When cornstarch solutions hit their boiling point that’s when the starch molecules swell and thicken the mixture. The reason I say to turn off the heat is because if there is *too* much heat the sauce can seize up and turn gluey. You can always add more heat to thicken it, but you can’t remove the heat if it’s gone too far. :) I hope that helps and hopefully you’ll have success next time!
Made sat.Dec.30 2017
Did not taste very well…IF I make it again,maybe Leave out zest of orange…the sauce was bitter!
Not good at all!
If it tasted bitter you may have gotten the white of the peel (pith) along with the zest.
If the sauce was bitter, you may have left the pith of the orange on your zest. When you zest, you have to be very careful to never include any of the white stuff, or it will taste horrible.
this recipe is great with orange marmelade and orange zest….fabuloso…….
Orange Chicken is so freaking good. My sister and I doubled the recipe, so we can come back for seconds. It was very easy to make. Thank you for this phenomenal recipe, Beth!!! ☺
Can you prepare ahead and freeze? That is make it into a fast meal?
I haven’t tried the recipe yet but I will!
This one is best made fresh all at once because of the cornstarch. Cornstarch thickened sauces tend to break down after freezing and thawing.
This is by far the best Orange chicken recipe I’ve ever made! My family loved it I’ll definitely be making this again.
Loved this! I made it as-as, and it turned out delicious. We’ve tried at least three orange chicken receipt over the years, and this will probably be our new “go-to” recipe. Because I’m feeding a family of 4, I will 6 thighs/2lbs next time and triple the sauce amount. We like having enough sauce to coat the rice, too. :). Thank you! Your recipes are delicious, healthy, and inexpensive – perfect for us!