Updated on December 5th, 2022
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 fryer 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.
Orange Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- Chicken-
- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1–1/2” cubes)
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 egg (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
Instructions
- Combine flour, salt, and pepper. Dip chicken in the 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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?