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!