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.
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
This was the best orange chicken ever. I used boned, skinless chicken thighs in place of white meat, and have forwarded the recipe on to friends and family. Got so many compliments!
I would love to try this recipe but wonder how many servings this makes, we love orange chicken and if it is only 4 servings I know to double!
Thanks
This recipe looks so good.I’m definitely gonna give this a try.Tired of cooking the same old thing so i’m always on the lookout for something new!
I just came across this recipe. It looks divine. I try so hard to stay away from fried foods….. is there ANY way this chicken could be baked instead of fried?