Orange Chicken Recipe
Today I’m back with yet another Chinese-American dish – Orange Chicken. It seems as though you can find orange chicken almost anywhere you want to eat these days. It is most commonly found at fast food restaurants, but don’t worry, this is so much better than anything you will find there. What really makes this recipe stand out is the combination of both orange and lemon juice. Once again we are also using the deep dryer for cooking the battered chicken. Now I get a lot of questions from people wondering if they can use a wok instead. The answer is yes; a wok would work just about as good as a deep fryer and can be used without a problem. Just be sure to add enough oil. Great oil for frying this battered chicken would be peanut oil. Using peanut oil will give you the most flavorful chicken. If you’re looking for a simple Chinese dish for dinner this evening be sure to give this recipe for orange chicken a try.
Ingredients:
Chicken-
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1-1/2” cubes)
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 eggs (beaten)
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Oil (for frying)
Orange Sauce-
1 ½ cups water
2 tablespoons orange juice
¼ cup lemon juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon orange zest (grated)
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon ginger root (minced)
½ teaspoon garlic (minced)
2 tablespoons green onion (chopped)
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: Combine flour, salt, and pepper. Dip chicken in egg mixture and shake in flour mixture to coat. Deep fry chicken in batches at 375 degrees in a deep fryer (or use a wok) until completely cooked.
Step 2: Meanwhile, in a large saucepan combine 1 ½ cups water, lemon juice, orange juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Blend well over medium heat for a few minutes. Stir in brown sugar, orange zest, ginger garlic, and onion. Bring to a boil.
Step 3: Combine 3 tablespoons of cornstarch with 1/4 cup of water and mix thoroughly. Slowly stir cornstarch mixture into sauce until it thickens. Pour sauce over breaded chicken, and if desired add red pepper flakes and garnish with green onions. Enjoy.
Tags: cooking, recipes, food and drink, recipe
Looks excellent!
I’ve never had orange chicken before but it sounds delicious! I’m definitely going to give this a try. Thanks for the recipe!
This is mouthwatering. I have to try this.
I love Orange Chicken. Yours look so delicious. I think I might make some today!
i love orange chicken but i’ve never tried to make it at home.
i’m with you on the orange-lemon combo; i just used the combo last night in a vinaigrette for some duck, and it was awesome.
We love orange chicken! This one I’m going to have to make soon! Thanks! Great photos too.
Peanut oil is the way to go.Thanks for the recipe
oh.. i have to try this for my familly gatherding day.
That orange chicken looks really good!
Delicious again Bobby. This was a fantastic recipe, and real easy to boot. Next time i think i will put a little more spice in, but i put some onions and snow peas in with it, yummy. Thanks again!
Ric – no problem, I’m glad to enjoyed it.
Thanks everyone for the comments, and I hope you all enjoy the recipe. Let me know how it turns out.
Came back to say how good this is! I will blog about it later on.
Rachelle – Glad you enjoyed the recipe. Many more good ones to come… and I look forward to the blog post
This one looks great and I know that my family will love it. Thanks!!
I just stumbled across your blog and am so glad I did! This orange chicken is the first thing I am going to try, but I have already seen several other recipes I am dying about! Fabulous blog!
I have (and have made several times) almost this exact same recipe– and it’s incredible. The sauce is amazing… the perfect combo of sweet and salty, tangy and spicy. SO good.
My recipe, though, uses 3/4 cornstarch and 1/4 flour for the coating, and I think that’s probably more authentic. It gives the chicken that very characteristic Chinese-fried texture. I’d suggest giving it a try.
Anyway, amazing recipe. If anybody is having doubts about making this… don’t! It’s super wonderful.
-Karen
Connie – Go for it, everyone will enjoy it
Melanie – Thanks for the comments on my blog. Let me know how everything turns out. I have many more great recipes to share.
Karen – It really is soo good
. Next time I make this I will for sure try the coating suggestion. Thanks!
This was fantastic!
Thanks for the recipe.
We made this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic! Thanks!
Jeri – glad you enjoyed it. Many more to come.
Ginny – no problem, I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe.
How does this compare to the orange chicken from Panda Express? The texture looks slightly different.
Adam – Sorry, I don’t really know because I have never had the panda express orange chicken but I could guess and say pretty similar
Great taste, today I make this recipe and was a super hit. I also make the shrimp recipe with white wine and everybody in my office came to see what I was eating at the lunch hour.
You are a great cheff.
Gracias mil!!!
marie – I’m glad you enjoyed the recipes! Thanks for the compliments and theres many more great recipes to come.
It lookes so good! Adam It is practicly the same thing but this one i think tasts better. Now every night i am going to make it. Thanks for the recipe.
Lyndsey – Thanks for clearing that up for Adam. I hope you enjoy the recipe. Let me know how it turns out!
I have been looking high and low for this recipe! This is the best descriptive recipe I have found. I am sure I will love it. Thanks!!!
k.crosby – If you like orange chicken, you will love it! Glad I could help.
wow! this recipe is a keeper. it looks so easy too. thank you.
Wow delicious, wull try them.
We are Never Full – it’s a keeper for sure. Let me know how it turns out.
Happy Cook – It’s delicious, let me know what you think!
Drool-worthy photos! Looks delicious!!
I’m always looking for interesting chicken recipes – this looks great!
This orange chicken tastes delicious! My family can’t get enough of it. Great recipe.
This recipe was great. I made it two nights in a row. I love cooking and this recipe was a lot of fun! I am 13 years old.
wow, that looks soooooooo good!
HI,OMG,I made this with your recipe and it turned out yummy.I had never liked orange chicken until today,thanks
IT’s so delicious !! thanks for this good recipe
I’m trying this recipe today with a few little tweaks, such as, I’m brining my chicken in an orange tea…
I’ll let you know how it turns out.
It turned out great. My post will be up soon…
Amazing! My Dad loved it when i made it for us!!
great recipe perfect combinations of everything
I just finished making this. WOW! Very good, my wife hates chinese and even she ate this. Thanks for this recipe! It will go to my top, right up there with sesame chicken. mmmmm
I definatly have to try your recipe, Orange Chicken happens to be one of my favorite meals.
I liked the recipe, but it required more brown sugar to enhance it and make it taste like orange chicken
I am a horrible cook. I just wanted to try something easy but impressive. This dish was it.
This dish came out perfect, everyone was surprised when they took the first bite. (in a good way, my cousin actually said “Wow!” when she bit in)
Note: i made an amateur mistake. Make sure to dilute the cornstarch in water before adding it to the sauce mixture.
Brian – I’m glad you enjoyed it. Yes, you need to mix cornstarch with cold water
HAS ANYONE SUBSTITUTED ORANGE MARMALADE IN THIS RECIPE?
hey! I’m from london and have been to the USA a few times and i LOVE LOVE LOVE orange chicken! we dont have a similar version here in the UK! I’m so gald i found this one thanks!!!
We had this for dinner last night. Soooooo yummy, I ate it all. No leftovers for lunch today:-(
Excellent recipe!!!! Thank you for sharing!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was very good. fairly simple, and full of flavor.
Very yummy!
You can also make ‘Orange Peanut Butter’ to go with the chicken. I know it sounds strange, but if you blend OJ with peanut butter to make a sauce to pour over the chicken, it’s really, really good!
Yummo!!! Loved it.. But we didnt have vinegar so we added balsamic vinaigrette and it was awesome!!! Plus we added about a half cup of Fresh squeezed OJ to add a little more zest.
The OJ quantity needs to be increased for it to actually taste like Orange chicken. and instead of orange zest, I added 4 tablespoons of orange marmalade…It tasted great!
This is my second time making it. I think the orange zest is what increases the orangy taste. Love the recepe! Add more shavings!
This looks so great. im excited to try this. I really love orange chicken (especially spicy) and cant wait to make some from scratch. What can i add to make it even spicier?
Briana G – You could try adding some hot chili sauce or more red pepper flakes. I hope you enjoy the recipe.
Wow, I can’t wait to try this out. Bobby, your making me very hungry!!!!
Anyone have success with this: “3/4 cornstarch and 1/4 flour for the coating?”
we love orange chicken and we go to nathan hale high schhool and we are going to cook this tommorow
i wud love to try this
I’ve just cooked this receipe> WE LOVED the taste.
It is very easy and lovely.
This looks amazing! Going to try this one during the week. and it definitely looks like a keeper! Thanks!
I made this recipe and it was FABULOUS! My family really enjoyed it. It was gone in minutes! lol!
And I enjoyed it for simplicity and great taste. Going to blog/post about it soon! Thank you!
It is Christmas Eve and we are all going to Mom’s for dinner. She loves orange chicken at the Malls so I found your recipe and I am trying it out on my family tonight. We live in Portland Oregon and we have been snowed in for 10 days and unable to shop for Christmas. No gift exchange tonight just food. I will let you know what Mom thinks of it since she does not normally eat chicken…only orange chicken at the mall food court. I am soooo happy to find this recipe….it looks simple and I do not have to buy extra ingredients. Thanks
This recipe is excellent! My friend and I had a craving for orange chicken and this was perfect. I made the toss and tossed it over chicken that was already breaded. I didn’t have any lemon juice, so I substituted orange juice for all of it. I also used just regular vinegar instead of rice wine vinegar. Still great! I’ll definitely be coming back to this website!
Amazing – my family is thrilled – we love this kind of chicken in the food court in the mall – so I thought I would give it a shot – perfect! Another post suggested adding more orange zest – be careful – it gets very orange very quick – stick to the exact recipe – its perfect! I love your site and intend on making every single thing on this site in the coming months. Thank you for the great recipes and super pictures – they are fantastic!!
My Hubby loved this recipe. Thank you.
how many people does this recipe serve?
Emma – I would say it makes about 4-6 servings.
Isn’t it funny how the Western world totally made up certain dishes and called it Chinese food? It doesn’t matter because the food is yummy.
omg this was soooooooo good i just made some and it came out delicious!!!1
This is AMAZING!!! I found it easy to make and couldn’t wait till it was ready to try it, my boyfriend could not believe I made it!!His face was speechless. I had to show him the skillet with the sauce cause he seriously thought I got it from a takeout place.
Thanks so much!
This is my favorite recipe for orange chicken, I have made other versions that I found online, and this by far is my favorite!
Great dish…taste was awesome but I must be doing something wrong because, even with TWICE the amount of corn starch, it still comes off as way too runny
Anyone know what my problem might be?
Thank you!
It was delicious!!!
It was like someone canned delicious and served it to me on fried chicken.
This looks YUMMY, I am a bit concerned about the amount of brown sugar VS the amount of citrus juice. But I am going to try this. I have been buying frozen orange chicken and its just “okay” I was spoiled living the first 42 yrs. of my life in So. Cal. now I live on a farm in Minnesota out in the middle of no where. As I look at the frozen landscape and remember the taste of my past I am suddanly excited and inspired to try this. Thank you. ~L~
3 months pregnant. CRAVING CHINESE! I am going to try subing with marmalade. I cant wait!
Okay…I tried it and it was GREAT! I am NOT easily impressed either. I did use a generous portion of orange marmelade and used balsamic vinegar. SO YUMMY. Very glad to have leftovers.
Have fun!
This recipe looks yummy… but i am wondering if it would make a difference if i didn’t put orange zest in the sauce cause i am allergic to orange peels… also I cook for a family of 8 4 adults and 4 kids how would you sugest I doulbe or triple the recipe to feed my house hold??
thanks
MotherOfThree – It will taste fine without the orange peel but it wont have as strong of an orange flavor. Also, if they are big eaters, I would triple the recipe, if not double. I hope this helps. thanks.
I tried this recipe last month and everything was excellent, however the orange was a bit overpowering. I think I added too much orange zest… maybe pushing it into the tablespoon a bit too much? I think I’ll try little or no orange zest next time. Otherwise the texture and everything was great!
great recipe! I tried it tonight and it was excellent. I started by cooking a couple cups of rice so I could serve it as the picture suggests. I used a big wok and divided about 1.5 lbs of cut up chicken into 2 batches.
I’d recommend putting the breading mixture into a large shallow bowl to make it easy to roll the chicken pieces to get them battered up nice.
After frying up the first batch I put it aside and ran the 2nd batch. They fried up nice and crispy on the outside and were a beautiful golden brown color.The sauce came out perfect.
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I doubled the recipe and used potato starch and the Swedish equivalent of brown sugar. They don’t seem to have normal brown sugar here in Sweden and the one available is sweeter, so I used less. I also used a little less of the starch. In my haste, I forgot all about the egg and dunked all the chicken into the flour first – it turned out more crispy, I think, since I re-dipped the batch.
Very good! It was my first time ever to make orange chicken and the first time I’ve ever grated anything in my life – it was memorable and the recipe is a keeper!
Tack så mycket!
i cant wait till i make it…so delicious!!!
We really enjoyed this recipe. The lemon juice and orange juice combined to make a pungent orange flavor. It came out great, but we did make a couple minor modifications. For dredging the chicken we used 2/3 cup of flour and 1/3 cup of cornstarch. We’ve found this to provide a crisp coating. The red pepper flakes were changed to 2 red chili peppers chopped with seeds, and added to the sauce with the garlic, rather than using for garnish. Now that we’ve tried your Orange Chicken recipe, we can’t wait to try more of your recipes. Thanks, Deb.
i came across your recipe, and it looks absolutely wonderful.
i am making it tonight for my boyfriend and my mom.
my boyfriend is nuts about chinese food [and so am i]…so i hope this pleases him.
thank you so much for the recipe!
:]
Outstanding recipe! I started making it thinking it would take me an hour and it ended up only taking 35 minutes to make.
I actually used Fish instead of Chicken though. I used Tarpon which has a very similar texture to chicken. I am an angler always looking for recipes to try on fish and this one turned out excellent!
thanks!!
you saved my grade
its so delicous
Just made this last night! So impressed! Sooo yummy. Great recipe, great pictures, great website. I’ll definitely bookmark your page and use you in the future!
Thanks!
Amazing amazing i have tried this several times and making it again this week…Thanks Boby!!!!!Try it believe me its so good
This was wonderful!!! I had extra sauce left over; froze it for next time. Tasted exactly like my favorite chinese resturant from back home! No I am not that home sick!
I fixed this for dinner tonight. My husband’s comment was “That’s a keeper!”
My sauce looks different than yours. It is a lot darker but it still had a wonderful flavor! The only changes I made were to the breading. I tried the 3/4 cornstarch and 1/2 flour mentioned by Karen.
Thanks for the great recipe! I’m discovering that the best recipes are to be found on food blogs like yours.
Thanks!!! I just made it tonight and it tasted great!!! I’ve been looking for a good oj chicken recipe for a while. Next time, I might put a little less vinegar. My 4 yr old also LOVED it! He ate his whole plate. yippee!
Thank you for the recipe! My mom cooked this for some company and they (and we) loved it! Keep it up.
sister tried the recipe and it was delicious… pictures look like they will help too thanks
This is GREAT!!! my hubby has talked about this dish to everyone after i made it. i made this about a month ago and my husband was still talking about it last week when we went to go see his mom…is comparing it to the real chinese food in boston
I made this last night in it was da bomb. Give it a try, it’ll knock your socks off!
This is a very good recipe, I have found exactly what I have been looking for…!!
Thank you very much..!!!
I loved the pictures and clarity of the instructions. I tried this recipe today, it was too sweet, but i still enjoy it. Probably i’ll reduce the brown sugar to 3/4 cup next time i try it.
Thanks for the recipe
This was soo good!!!! I’m definetly going to make this again. thanks!!
Excellent recipe, was a hit, made it last night
I tried this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic. We’ve been using some of the frozen orange chickens but this was far better… tastier sauce and FAR better chicken.
We won’t buy it frozen again. The only change I made was using 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth rather than water in the sauce. I had it in the fridge and had to use it. Not sure if it added significantly to the dish as I didn’t try it the other way but it was a rich, yummy, sweet and sour and orangy sauce that everyone loved.
Thanks!!!
I loved this. I don’t eat meat or eggs though, so I used Chik’n Strips and dipped them in a combo of water and mustard. It was amazing. Even my meat eating boyfriend loved it!!
This chicken was wonderful! It was better than the restruant but it took me awhile to make it. I didn’t have a fresh orange so I just put in fresh lemon zest instead since I had a fresh lemon. It was really nice because I had all the ingredients except the orange juice (in which I used the concentrate stuff because I saw it used in other recipes).
Annyosumnah!
Great.
Sorry i dont speak cery good english or write.
Thanxs zou!
Ok, this looked so good, and I love Oranged Chicken!!!!!! My friend and I had made some before, but I was more of not know what was going on. It came out ok, but seemed like something was missing or not right. So today I came to this website, and decided to make my own. What do you know it came out GREAT, and my kids loved it. My 11 year old was like it tasted like I bought it, and looked like it too.!!!!! Every one you have to try this.
Thanks Candy!!!
I made this for my niece’s graduation party, so made enough for over 30 people. Turned out great! Everyone loved it. I tried substituting the water for chicken broth and broke up the flour used for the chicken coating to the 2/3 c. flour and 1/3 c. corn starch.
Only I see that you have to use the amount of water you mix with the corn starch to the 1/4 c. he has in his written instructions, not the 2 tblsp. in the list.
Great recipe! Had plenty of sauce left over to make more, thanks!
although i don’t own a deep fryer, i cooked them with a skillet and enjoyed them just as much. This is a must have recipe for anyone who enjoys different types of orange chicken.
i made this tonight — my husband thinks i am a complete culinary wizard…thank you
Ok well im pregnant but my babys daddy is the one with the cravings. So orange chicken it is!!! Wish me luck on making this. It looks fantastic I can’t wait to eat it!!!!
i love orange chicken,
i’m so gonna try to make somwe,some day
LOVE IT! I MAKE IT ATLEAST ONCE A MONTH. GREAT W/O THE GREEN ONIONS TOO!
This is my favorite food and ur recipe was PERFECT!!
I LOVED the chicken it tasted GREATTT!!! wonderful recipe=)!
My friends and I used your recipe just 3 nights ago. It was easy and delicious. I’m going to use it again this week for my family. =)
we made this for a themed dinner for our married couples small group at church, it was a huge hit!
tastes great,easy to make, and makes a great presentation! making tonight for our own family (lots of boys): )
I know it will be a hit!
Thanks for a great recipe!
This was SO good. I’ve made about a million Asian stirfry dishes, and this sauce was one of the best. I just added some veggies. YUM, so good and so easy too. And, as a bonus, my super picky boyfriend liked it too.
I FOUND YOUR RECIPE AND DEF. GONNA TRY IT OUT TONIGHT… COOKING FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY PLUS THE INLAWS…. ILL LET U KNOW HOW IT TURNS OUT
I’ve made this recipe and all I gotta say is that its marvelous. Its tastyflavorful and worth the time. I tasted it and O WOW! It made us all say.
Tey using fresh oranges and lemons, cut in 1/2, then take a spoon and use to juice and scrape pulp, do same with lemons. this makes the sauce very thick and more flavorfull.
I used this recipie on my boyfriend once, he was skeptical when I said I was going to make orange chicken, he asked me: “like the kind you get from take-out? no one can make that stuff as good as take-out”
needless to say that I proved him wrong, he now requests me to make orange chicken on a weekly basis!!
Thank you for posting this great recipe!
I made this last night exactly as posted except using vegetarian chik’n strips from Trader Joes, and even my ‘meatatarian’ boyfriend said it was DELICIOUS and he couldn’t hardly tell the difference (he eats restaurant orange chicken all the time). Served it with rice and steamed broccoli, the sauce on the broccoli was divine! Next time though I will make the sauce first, then fry the chik’n.
I just tried this recipe and it came out perfect and tasted really good. Thanks for posting this recipe.
Absolutely excellent. My wife was surprised about the amount of brown sugar, so we’d probably cut back a little on that. We made it with the garlic green beans (same website) ( totally awesome just like the restaurant ) and the egg drop soup (same website), but I’d use only 2 eggs for the soup, 5 is too many. Overall, absolutely great.
Without a doubt the best orange chicken I have ever had; wouldn’t change a thing. Kudos to you!
Cheers from Tallinn!
I happened to pick your blogs website out of a long list claiming to have an orange chicken recipe. I was so glad I found it. I like “Chinese” food but hate ordering take out or getting fast food. Your recipe tastes great. I made a few changes as I added a little more garlic and exchanged the amounts for the lemon and orange juice. I also used more cornstarch to fry the chicken as I know from experience it helps create a lighter, crispier texture to fried chicken. All in all your recipe is very good and I will definately try it again. Thanks!
I made this tonight and used the tip of less flour and more cornstarch. It was awesome!! My 2 kids loved it as well as my mom….next time maybe a few moe pepper flakes
I used your list of ingredients, adding nothing else(which is very rare)and did my own thing with them which worked out great. I’ve never taken the time to blog about a recipe before but I have to say that I am very happy to have found yours.
1) Found your recipe
2) Sourced the items needed
3) Cooked chicken in batches
4) Worked like a charm
Problem – Gave a taste to kids and wife. They would not leave the stove area. They were eating the batches as they were coming out of the deep fryer and I was pouring the sauce on.
We made this tonight! Great Recipe…. We put green onions right in the sauce, but, we never made orange chicken before, but it’s just too delicious! Thanks SO much for posting! Now to wow our future Dinner guests!
ok, i just made this for lunch with some jasmine rice and it was spot on. i have never been able to make this at home – until now, that is. thank you so much for posting this recipe!
This sounds like a very good recipe. I`ll be sure to try it. Thanks xoxoxo
On a scale of 1 – 10 how hard is this dish to make?
colton – I would say no more than a 5!
I noticed the use of an egg to bater the chicken, does the chicken have an egg flavor? I am wondering if the egg can be eliminated. I ask because so many asian restaurants around me use egg in battering their chicken and coating tends to be soft and definitely tastes like egg which is no fun for me. Just curious.
John – Sure, just coat the chicken bits with cornstarch, salt and pepper,
Delicious …. I just made it and I will be making it again and again. I would say the difficulty is a 3 or 4. Not difficult to make, but requires some quick hands to get the timing right if you are cooking by yourself. I added just a pinch of vanilla extract and I enjoyed the extra flavor.
I have not made this yet but the instructions are pretty simple, I will no longer spend $6 to eat orange chicken in restaurants and will take this to my country India.
Thanks a lot author.
Raja
ahhh,i love orange chicken i get it whenever i can, the only problem is that i can not eat anything that is way to spicy, and finding a recipe for this that is mild is hard to do. do you have anything for this recipe that is not too spicy?
I have tried numerous Orange Chicken recipes and yours was by far THE BEST I have EVER tried. Thank you so much for posting this!
Cheers!
alex- just dont use red pepper flakes, the dish wont be spicy at all.
OMG! I LOVE Orange chicken……I’m gonna make it right this minute!=)
Just curious if anyone used regular or low-sodium soy sauce? I’m worried the regular will make it too salty.
my roomie and i tried an orange chicken chicken recepie from another site and it turned out atrocious. We’re gonna try this one and it’s looking promising because the other one didn’t even tell you how to make the glaze. =.= we felt to dumb. Thanks for telling us how to actually do it, and correctly.
This was so yummy! And as said it was so much better than going to a restaurant. I used regular soy sauce and it wasn’t too salty. I also used rice vinegar with red pepper because regular was sold out. Killing two birds with one stone.
Totally delicious!
This looks delicious!!
i cant wait to make it! i just have one question…
what oil should be used to fry the chicken in?
I love orange chicken, ever since I tried it at our local mall, and would love to make it for my family, thanks for recipe!
Abby – You could use peanut oil, or canola or vegetable would work as well.
thanks! i made this lastnight for my family! it was their favorite dish! it tastes delicous-just like what you get at a restraunt! thank you so much! the only thing i did was add a little cornstarch to thicken up the orange sauce!
10 out of 10!
SO YUMMY
Hi, I LOVE this recipe. I think the batter idea is perfect, and it does not end up tasting like egg, as someone above was worried about.
I really love the sauce too, very sharp and fresh. I used a fresh orange for the juice, since I needed to buy one anyway for the zest, and I didn’t want to buy a whole jug of orange juice for two tablespoons. I think it turned out great that way.
I wanted to share a little tip I got from a woman at the local Asian store, where I went to get the rice vinegar and ginger. I had forgotten my shopping list, and asked if she could help me find the ingredients for orange chicken. She told me that her son had made some just last night, and insisted I try the sauce he made. It was very good, if a little spicy. She suggested I buy Thai chili garlic paste, instead of pepper flakes, and add that to the sauce. I did so, and it turned out AWESOME. Just two or three teaspoons will give the sauce a bit of a bite, not really that spicy but a little zing. You could easily add more if you wanted it more spicy, it blends very well with the orange flavor and accentuates it, rather than adding an unwanted chili or garlic flavor.
Thanks again for the recipe, this is going in my home cookbook!
Made this! It is a bit time consuming but totally worth it, add more orange zest for a more orange flavor. I’m going to try to replace the lemon juice with more fresh squeezed oranges. But overall, the best orange chicken I have ever had, better than any restaurant by a mile.
This is such an amazing recipe! The flavor is wonderful, I agree with John A. that it’s better than any restaurant orange chicken. The only problem was that I added a little more oil than necessary when cooking the chicken, but I’ll know not to next time I make it! I also added extra red pepper flakes; my husband and I like our food spicy
I made your orange chicken. my kids just loved it. After cooking the chicken and the sause, I put them in the oven so the sause can thicken more into the chicken and I can only say WOW!!! My kids said that, that was the most awesome orange chicken they had ever had. You might want to try that. Just let it bake in the oven for about 30 minutes at 400 degrees. Thank you for your recipe.
i made this for my boyfriend bc he loves the panda express orange chicken. i didnt want him to eat out so much so i wanted to make this from scratch. i was nervous it might turn out wrong. but i followed the directions and it was great. he finished it in two minutes. thanks!
I made this recipe today and my kids loved it. I even substituted regular flour with wheat free flour. Thank you so so so much
I made this a couple of months ago and will make it again tomorrow. It is scrumptious!! I add about3/4 cup of corn starch to 3/4 cup of the flour to make the chicken a little crisper when it’s fried. It’s great. Thanks.
made it for dinner tonight because mom wasn’t home. i loved it.
Me and the kids make this recipe all the time. It is better than some of the local chinese take out places where I live. I love it…thanks for the post.
I made this last night and it was EPIC! I added 2 tablespoons of Orange Marmalade and decreased the brown sugar slightly and it turned out wonderfully. I will *definitely* make this again. It would make quite an impressive dish for guests as well.
This recipe along with your Gen.Tsao is all I make for chinese anymore and it has remained the most beloved dinner request(s) over the past year. I am just now adding my comment. Frying in peanut oil is an add on tasty plus. Thanks for putting this out there for us.
Absolutely super, i always have this on my chinese dinner menu!!! Cant wait to try your other recipes!
Wonderful recipe! =] It came out great, especially for my first time attempting anything with fried chicken. Thanks so much for the recipe! =]
I revisited this recipe. Thank you again for such a great dish.
What an awesome recipe! I make this for my family for dinner tonight and it was a HUGE success with my husband and two girls! It even looks as pretty plated as it does in your pictures and it was super delicious! Thanks for posting this amazing, yummy and simple recipe!
This recipe looks FANTASTIC. But i have a few questions: Is using Peanut oil a must? Could i skip the Ginger root? And could i just use a frying pan? I know you said a wok would work fine but im pretty sure theyre different things?
Ethan – You can use vegetable oil or canola in place out peanut. The ginger root could be skipped, and a frying pan will work. Enjoy the recipe.
i have made this several times and it is wonderful! thank you for sharing this dish with my family, it is one of my husbands FAVS!
I tried this chicken and it was amazing but I would just change one or two things…
Use 1/2 a teaspoon red pepper flakes not 1/4 teaspoon
Use 1/4 to 1/2 cups of orange juice not 2 table spoons and remove the extra half cup of water
thats an awesome recipe. i made this for my family for lunch and it was a succes, now they want me to cook every day hahahaha thanks for the recipe.
OMG! I was so amazed! It turned out really good, i fried the chicken a bit to dry, but overall it was a really good dish. The kids loved it. (less than an hour)… thanks for the recipe!
How many servings does this make? I’m making it for my chinese class, but there are 18 kids.
lexi- this will make about 6 servings.
Orange chicken is the best!If yhuu havent tryed it yhuu need too!!! <333
this recipe is very delicious i have had it many many times im so glad that there are recipes online because i use them all the time
Best meal ever! Thanks!
Delicious!!! I just tried cooking this and it came out perfect!
Was wondering if it would come out any different if I omitted the cornstarch and just used flour? I’m guessing the texture would be a bit different but what about the flavor? (I’m cooking this in Ukraine because I miss oj chicken so much, and I can’t seem to find any cornstarch)
Nitai – cornstarch may be called by a different name where you live. Using flour will work as well, but it would be as crispy.
Ok, so I tried making it tonight and….. IT WAS FANTASTIC!!!! God, I needed it so bad too. There is no Chinese to be had in Ukraine, and I used some breadcrumbs instead of Cornstarch- Highly recommend this recipe to anyone who wants some really delicious Orange Chicken! Thanks again!
Nitai Vinitzky
TEFL Peace Corps Volunteer
Group 40 Ukraine
We have also used mixtures of grapefruit/orange,grapefruit/tangelo & tangelo/lemon.
This is a great recipe. We really enjoyed it
I’ve never had orange chicken before, but made it at my stepson’s request. O.M.G. was it ever good! My husband didn’t like it, but he doesn’t like sweet things unless it’s cookies or desserts or something like that. Making it again tonight because we’ve been craving it and I just bought a 50# bag of sticky rice…mmmmmm can’t wait for supper! Thanks for the recipe!
If you havent guessed by now… This is really a great orange chicken recipe! We made it again last night and doubled the sauce. We are going to try and freeze or store in fridge the extra sauce and reuse it soon!
Wow! This orange chicken looks great! I love to eat orange chicken and I can’t wait to try this recipe with my friends.
I have just cooked it. Hmm delicious. =)
I just made this recepie for lunch… My husband went NUTs for it. It was amazingly good! very easy to make… I did not have ginger root available so I used ginger powder instead it was still very good!!
Looks great! Orange chicken is really good.
Can i use chicken wings drumette style instead of chicken breast?Thats all i have on hand and i really want to try been craving some good orange chicken.
Shalanna- yes you can, but you are going to want to deep fry them for sure.
I love orange chicken. I am planning on making this receipt this week.
My gosh that looks so delicious my sister made some of this type of chicken it tasted really good and now every thing tastes like dirt but hers was really good
This recipe is FANTASTIC! I have a 15 and a very picky 11 year old both boys and they ate that up had seconds and decided to skip dessert and have thirds
My husband and I are very busy but I always try to find good and easy ways to change things up in the kitchen and this was a hit!
The sauce was delicious Lemon and orange made it for the perfect flavors I would just reduce the amount of sugar next time.
but regardless it was very tasty
My 11 year old said:”Dad thanks for a delicious dinner, orange chicken is my favorite!”
Bobby:
I may have just overlooked it in the text, but could you please share with me the estimated serving size for this recipe? Thanks!
JayTee- 4 servings
I just made this and it was SOOOO good!!! My tummy thanks you
I’ve tried this before and it is really deliciuos !
I will never eat at a chinese place again your recipes are great and I enjoy them all thank you bobby
Hey bobby one question, what kind of oil do you recommend?
Tristan- Peanut oil is the best for frying this chicken.
this looks so tasty. I want to make it for my family tonight. How many does it serve?
Serves 4
I made this recipe last night and it was exceptional! The orange chicken was very flavorful and delicious. One could actually taste the orange. Instead of using a lemon, I used a lime because I am a lime-fanatic. I also used canola oil instead of peanut oil. This is one of the best recipes I’ve ever made and I will be making this again soon. Thanks so much for sharing!
I also squeezed juice from a fresh and ripe orange and grated the skin to create my own “orange zest.” I think this is much better than using store-bought orange juice.
This is my favorite recipe ever. I cook it all the time and everyone always tells me it’s the best orange chicken they’ve ever had in their life. Seriously, this is the perfect orange chicken recipe. Thanks a ton!
i see that you said it will work with a wok or frying pan, but do you mean to fill it with oil and fry it in the pan in replace of a deep fryer? or just saute the meat?
daniel- put about 1″ of oil into the wok and fry.
I used this recipe for my foods class and it was great!! Thanks so much, also i love the pictures for each step they really helped me out on what it should look like.
It looks amazingly delicious, i’m gonna try it right now!
I used this recipe today and the chicken came out sooo delicious, very good recipe!
I used the recipe today & my family loved it . Thanks
I bought the Panda Express Orange Chicken sauce from Costco. Instead of using a frying pan, I rolled chicken pieces in egg and flour and cooked them fondue style and dipped them into the sauce.
We have been using this recipe for a while and its just perfect every time, and soooo easy! We make it everytime we invite friends over and they always tell us how nice it is!! Thank you for sharing it, its just amazing!
why it took me so long to meet this site….
What a GOOD recipe. Thanks you so much
Thanks so much for this recipe. I have been searching for the perfect orange chicken recipe. I need to look no further!! My children are very picky about their food…but, this dish was a big success!! One of my daughters will only eat chicken in nugget form (like frozen chicken nuggets)…. she actually tried this and ate 3 HELPINGS!!! She loves it. We had it tonight for supper and afterwards, the kids all asked if I could make it again tomorrow night!!! I guess we have a new favorite. Thanks so much for the recipe. 5 stars from The Jones Family!!!
Tried this today, it turned out great, It is a must do again and again. Did a double recipe and the kids and adults just craved about it. Thanks for the recipe!!!!!!
I just made this and it taste so gooood! i love it!
made this a few times. i love oranage chicken and this one comes out really good. although breading the small piece of chicken is time consuming, but well worth it.
Oh my…..this is SO GOOD! I didn’t have any green onion so I used some dried chives in the sauce and just tossed a little of the crushed red pepper in there too. We will certainly be keeping this recipe handy! Thanks so much for sharing it:)
oh my god i just dot done cooking it its taste wonderful
This orange Chicken came out awesome!! I would’nt change a thing.Thank you for the recipe!
Made this for the family last week along with some beef and broccoli chow mein. They REFUSE to ever go to a chinese restaurant now lol
I love this blog! I’ve made this two months ago and my brothers and now they want it again! You’re amazing!
We tried this substituting the chicken with chickette ( veggie meat ) was delicious and i dont usually eat orange flavored food
I made the new recipe a few nights ago…it was the best Chinese I’ve ever had. I already have people demanding the recipe from me just off of how much I talk about it!
my boyfriend took me to this buffet and i wanted food i was soooo hungry and i ate about 4 plates its my favorite
so we about go there likes everyday.
How many does this recipe serve?
Angelica- serves 4-6
I made this for my family Friday night. It was so much better than take out! Thanks.
i found this online and it looks great im going to use it for my GCSE assessment
how many people does this serve ??
thanks
lyndsey- serves 4-6.
wow i just found this recipe online and it is the bomb. My boyfriend after he ate it he asked me to marry him omg lol……..and guess what i said yes……
Ive been lookin at the recipe for a month an skeptical of tryin it I tend to mess up everything I make the first time but I followed your directions which are simple an made it last night well ill finish this off by sayin the hubby an son want it again tonight lol thanks bobby
This is an awesome recipe!
It’s pitch perfect!!!
Wow!!! This is absolutely delicious. …and pretty easy to make.
my husband and I LOVE this recipe. My husband loves orange chicken and its flavor is better than the restaurants!! Thanks for sharing!
I LOVE orange chicken….it’s my FAVORITE! I can’t wait to try this recipe! TFS!
It was to bomb tasted great and the sauce was da best part do u think it would taste good on eggrolls
Young menice- yes, it would taste good on egg rolls I think!
I made it for the family – it was great! Thanks for sharing the recipe
This recipe was great ! Ever since moving away from California to Sweden I have missed eating orange chicken at chinese restaurants. I made this for some friends and my family and it was a big success. Everyone loved it ! Thanks !
Thank you for sharing your reciped. Made this tonight and wow! The picky 18 year old girl got seconds even after eating her foot long from Subway.
OH MY GOODNESS!!! THIS WAS FLIPPIN FRIPPIN AMAZING!!! THANK YOU SOOOO VERY MUCH YOU ARE THE BEST!!!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I can count on 1 hand all the dishes my family agrees on but EVERYBODY asked me to make more after the first night, it was great! Thanks again!!
I just cooked Orange Chicken and it was a huge success. Thanks for the recipe!
i love this i tried this and it was so easy to make
AMAZING,the chicken turned out wounderful(:thank yu so much,iv been lookin for the ingredients to make this for a long time and I found the perfect one:)
loved this!..im mexican so 90% of the time the food i cook is mexican ive been giving other countries a try latley…and i have to say this was amazing i did add a lil more spice though
I made this recipe but I didn’t use that much sugar. I used only 1/4 cup sugar. I should have used less vinegar because the sauce was very strong with vinegar.Overall the recipe is not bad but if any one try this recipe just minimize the amount of those 2 items I mentioned.
I have tried this recepie twice and it so yummy!!!I’m about to make it for the third time and was going to chicken out of deep frying the chicken pieces.I take it that it’s not recommended.I will make it tomorrow instead and also double the quantity since we are all big eaters.Thanks for the blog Bobby.
I have tried many orange chicken recipes and this is far my favorite. It has a yummy balance of sweet and spice. Thank you so much, can’t wait to try other of your recipes.
my family loved this thanks a lot
Thank you for the recipe. We just finished it for dinner. It was so yummy!
how long does it take to cook????
kenzie- I would say about an 1 1/2 hours or so.
The best orange chicken recipe I have ever made.
This orange chicken recipe is amazing!
This is an amazing recipe! I substituted the chicken for tofu. Im definitely making it again, very soon. Next time i will try shrimp.
This was delicious and very easy recipe to follow .. I Made a lemon chicken version of this and substitued lemon juice for the orange juice and lemon zest instead of orange it was excellent!!!
loved the recipe substituted the flour for whole wheat flour.
Made last night. Waaay better than Panda Express! I do not like making the chicken though. Mostly cause its a big mess and my fryer is small so I have to do a lot of small batches. But it was worth it!!
I used this recipe and found it authentic, easy to make, inexpencive, and very delicious.I am recomending this recipe to everyone.
Its tastes sooooooooooo YUMMY and honestly you would think its take out… NO JOKE!
A must try
@ Chris H::: i put all the flour mixture in a plastic bag, , and all the egg dipped chicken were pored into the bag of mixture… not messy at all!!
I just made this today for my husband & he LOVED it! I thought it was absolutely delicious! & we had tons of left overs for tomorrow! thank you for this recipe!!
So bomb!! i’m using this recipe for our home economics class!
GREAT RECIPE! MY FAMILY LOVED IT!
OMG i never cooked in my life but trust me when i made this dish my mother and the rest of the family nearly eat out the dishes could you believe that i mean it’s like WOW and to top it off my home economics teacher liked it too.
This turned out pretty good with a few recipe variations. Used a little bit less brown sugar than the recipe called for, and it was still super super sweet. Next time I will decrease the vinegar as well, because it was a tad too vinegary for me. Also had to add a lot of spice to the flour mixture b/c otherwise the chicken would have been way too bland and the dish would have tasted too sweet. Every southerner knows the secret to good fried chicken lies in the seasonings you put in the flour mixture
To the flour I added red pepper, crushed red pepper, cayenne pepper, as well as more salt and pepper than the recipe calls for. Will make again!
I made this exactly to recipe and it is out of this world. Its utterly delicious.
This recipe sounds really delicious. Just one problem, being from Sweden I need an explanation of All purpose flour
Eva- all purpose flour is a type of flour that is suitable for all recipes. I did some research for you and found that it is, “also known as “plain,” “general purpose” or “family” flour.” I hope this helps.
I was in a rush to come up with soemthing to use my sugaring marmalade when I found your recipe. I Used your list of ingredients as a starting point and sauteed it all in one pan. I opted out of the brown sugar since the marmalade was already sweet. Thank you for the rescue, as my husband said, it turned out “yummy”.
I made this yesterday and I loved it! It was great.
Tip for this recipe- Use 2 eggs instead of one and you will get much crispier chicken. Let the chicken sit out for a bit before you drench it in sauce- DELICIOUS!
I tried making the sauce 4 different times and it would not thicken. It was really disappointing and frustrating. I will not be trying this recipe again.
Very delicious !!!!!!! This was better than the Chinese restaurant. It worked out perfect !! I just put one orange juiced and the rind into the sauce with grated ginger.I used jasmine rice and broccoli to soak up the sauce .
Tastes great! I have made it a few times now, in fact I am making it again for dinner tonight!
Thanks!
i made this for my family and friends every one loved it thanks for shareing your recipe
seems like i’m gonna have a try with this recipe it will be my first time to cook orange chicken, thanks for the recipe.
I just made this and it was delicious
Totally amazing, I made this and used the batter recipe from your Honey chicken because I loved that batter soo much. The Orange sauce at first turned out tasting a tad bit too brown sugary so I added extra orange zest and bam, it was like nothing these cheinse places around here ever could make. Your the best, thanks. Everyone loved it.
Been making this recipe for my family for awhile and they love it. Made it for my inlaws and they were very impressed. So yummy!
First of all i love your recipes, haved tried many of them especially the chinese ones..love them!
I have a quick question..what is the difference between this orange chicken recipe you have and the “Sesame orange chicken” recipe you have? The batter and the sauce both are a little different and i’m confused to as of which one to try
Gia – the Sesame-orange chicken is mainly just a combination of Sesame and Orange chicken. It uses flavors from both dishes. The coating on the orange chicken is more crispy than the Sesame-orange chicken. Both dishes are very good.
I tried this recipe last night after work and unfortunately screwed it up! Instead of 1/4 cup of lemon juice, I used 1 1/4 cup mistakenly, then when I realized, I tried to fix it by adding more water. Complete mess. Going to re-try this on the weekend. Anyway great recipe, will definitely re-do it the CORRECT way
My boyfriend and I had this for dinner tonight. It was very delicious. Thank you for sharing.
I tried this recipe and really enjoyed it, thanks for sharing! I even made my own variations by adding pomegranate, persimmons and mango which turned out really good.
i tried making this for lunck today and had extra sauce and breading. 2 chicken breasts is not quite enough chicken. very good though. i have been looking for this recipe for years! thank you!
ps i used red wine vineger instead, and it tastes great!
I have made this recipe numerous times now and it has become a fast favorite in our home. Thanks for the delicious recipe.
Looks great, although that is a lot of sugar! Has anyone tried making it in the slow cooker?
This recipe is the best I’ve ever found for orange chicken. Also, peanut oil is in my opinion the best choice for frying.
We usually stir in some boiled broccoli and carrots when combining the chicken and the sauce. Yum.
I’ve been looking for something new to cook for my wife and kids, I think orange chicken is a perfect recipe to try.
I’ll surprise them with it’s sweet and tender taste, cheers.
The Best recipe ever!!
I’m a Hero to my Daughters for making this dish!
Thank You
An amazing recipe! I changed it slightly by only using half of the ginger suggested and replacing the lemon juice with more orange juice as i thought both ingredients were a little overpowering the first time I made it