Chinese Orange Chicken made with crispy fried chicken covered in an authentic orange sauce. The ultimate Chinese Orange Chicken Recipe which is way better than take-out.
My kids are always begging me to take them to grab Chinese food. They are obsessed with orange chicken but I am never really sure what's in it....especially if they get it from a drive-thru. I wanted to create a version at home, made from scratch, with all-natural ingredients. It still has the same incredible flavor they love. It's definitely a win-win in our home.
It is wintertime in Arizona which means that the citrus is ripe for the picking. I am surrounded by neighbors who have a plethora of fresh oranges and lemons hanging from their trees. This is the perfect time of year to whip up orange and lemon dishes especially this Chinese Orange Chicken.
This Chinese Orange Chicken is made with boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces, dredged, and then fried until golden and crispy. The orange sauce is divine! It is a sweet orange sauce made with orange juice, vinegar, garlic, sugar, soy sauce, ginger, red chili flakes, and orange zest. It is both sweet and spicy and full of flavor.
How to make Chinese Orange Chicken at home:
- Start with boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs. Cut into bite-size pieces. Dredge the chicken in whisked eggs and cornstarch/flour mixture until nice and coated. Get these chicken pieces ready for the oil.
- To make your homemade orange sauce, place orange juice, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and red chili flakes in a small pot and cook over medium-high heat. Add cornstarch and water and cook until thickened. Stir in orange zest.
- Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. When frying foods, it is so helpful to use a thermometer. Let the oil heat up to 350 degrees. Once the oil is ready, in batches, cook chicken for about 2 minutes until light golden brown. Repeat with remaining chicken.
- Remove from oil and drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
- Toss fried chicken with the sweet orange sauce. Top with grated orange zest and green onions. Serve immediately.
Chinese Orange Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts cut into bite-size pieces
- 3 Eggs whisked
- ⅓ cup Cornstarch
- ⅓ cup Flour
- Salt
- Oil for frying
Orange Chicken Sauce:
- 1 cup Orange Juice
- ½ cup Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar or White Vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce use tamari for a gluten-free dish
- ¼ teaspoon Ginger
- ¼ teaspoon Garlic Powder or 2 garlic cloves, finely diced
- ½ teaspoon Red Chili Flakes
- Orange Zest from 1 orange
- 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
Garnish:
- Green Onions
- Orange Zest
Instructions
- To make orange sauce:
- In a medium pot, add orange juice, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and red chili flakes. Heat for 3 minutes.
- In a small bowl, whisk 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch with 2 Tablespoons of water to form a paste. Add to orange sauce and whisk together. Continue to cook for 5 minutes, until the mixture begins to thicken. Once the sauce is thickened, remove from heat and add orange zest.
- To make chicken:
- Place flour and cornstarch in a shallow dish or pie plate. Add a generous pinch of salt. Stir.
- Whisk eggs in shallow dish.
- Dip chicken pieces in egg mixture and then flour mixture. Place on plate.
- Heat 2 -3 inches of oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Using a thermometer, watch for it to reach 350 degrees.
- Working in batches, cook several chicken pieces at a time. Cook for 2 - 3 minutes, turning often until golden brown. Place chicken on a paper-towel-lined plate. Repeat.
- Toss chicken with orange sauce. You may reserve some of the sauce to place on rice. Serve it with a sprinkling of green onion and orange zest, if so desired.
Video
This Orange Chicken is going to make you forget take-out. Let me know how it turns out by reaching out on instagram at @modern_honey. Have a great night, my friends!
Lisa
Because I now have one.....I air fried my coated chicken thighs.. LOVED, LOVED LOVED the sauce. Kept it on the side so each person can determine their own sauce level preference.
Victoria Moscato
Does anyone think one orange juice works better than another ? I cant wait to make this ! I made the sesame chicken and subbed catsup for sweet chili sauce and was amazing! Tasted like take out. I've perfected my home made fried rice that my husband and our friend prefers to take out lol
SHANKAR
I made this around evening time for myself and my significant other. Totally splendid, so tasty and not a piece extra. Will make it once more. Much obliged to you for an incredible formula.
Barbara
Has anyone tried this recipe using already battered chicken bites/nuggets and just made the sauce from scratch?
If you’ve done this are their any tipa you could offer?
Franshesca
I used this sauce with “Sams Clubs” frozen Orange Chicken (the sauce that comes with it is HORRID) and it came out great. As other mentioned if you add the orange zest it definitely will make the sauce taste super orangey! I might omit the zest next time just because I’m used to a lighter orange flavor and because I have some family members who prefer non spiced oranges chicken I’ll probably take out red pepper flakes. But sauce recipe as is was super tasty and delicious!!!
Barbara
THANK YOU Franschesca .... you are the only one to respond ???? I will definitely try your method using this sauce recipe!
Shereka
Very very good
Angela Ortega
I don't have ginger or vinegar, will it still taste as good?.
Sailor Moon
This was a very good recipe, but I will reduce the orange zest next time. It was a bit overwhelming and made the sauce a bit too tangy and bitter for me. My fiancé agreed, but still loved it!
Cindy Cavanagh
Very good. I doubled the sauce ingredients but only used 1/3 cup of sugar total. My oranges were sweet so 1/3 cup was plenty., Used the zest and did not think it was too orange at all. Made basmati rice, topped it with steamed broccoli, then added the chicken then poured sauce over the whole thing.
Vicki
Orange chicken is my boyfriends favorite, so when I made this, I doubled the recipe and between him and I and the two boys all that was left was just enough for him to take in his lunch the next day. He absolutely loved it. I do think that next time, (and there will be many more) I might cut down on the chile flakes but just a little. It was great for him and I but if you have anyone with a sensitive tongue, it might be a bit spicy. Unless I dumped more in than I meant to. Oh and we used tempura to coat the chicken...5 stars for sure.
Mary Taylor
Just delicious! I used 3 organic chicken breasts, rice vinegar, and an unknown quantity of soy sauce as the bottle slipped in my hand while pouring—oops! I loved the amount or orange juice and zest as written. I served with Caribbean rice but will try it next time with plain rice for less competition in flavoring. We ate it for 2 nights and my husband went back for seconds each night. Success!
TineMarie
We discovered this recipe last year, and we make it frequently. We don't always make the chicken part, but the sauce is outstanding. For example, I had some leftovers from last week - a broccoli, sweet potato, and chicken dish - that needed some new life, so I made the sauce again last night. YUMMY! Thank you!
Dave
This was fantastic but of course I did a couple tiny things different. I used fresh ginger - about 2-3 teaspoons grated. I reduced the sugar to 5 TBSP and it was very well balanced. I don’t like overly sweet Chinese food. But the orange flavor is so fresh and bright in this recipe. It’s not gloopy and dull like most restaurant versions. I’ll be making this a lot more.
Ibrahim Abdalla
Nice
Dominique
This is ORANGE ORANGE chicken. I didn’t read the comments before making it so I was very surprised by just how bold the orange flavor of the sauce is but I LOVE it! Orange chicken is not my flavor of choice when I go to American-style Chinese restaurants because to me it’s just sweet chicken, orange flavor not really there. But I love just how orangey this tastes. I used fresh juice and the zest and yum yum yum. My parents enjoyed it as well. If I cook this recipe for my friends I may have to reduce or omit the zest since they like the more typical orange chicken taste. Either way this is a great recipe. Will be using again.
Krista
Is there anyway to make this soy free? And gluten free?
Dominique
Instead of soy sauce tamiri is recommended to make it gluten free or you could maybe try liquid aminos that tends to be a soy free alternative
Ash
I would guess the request is in regards to the flour in the coating/breading. Not all GF flour is suitable or ideal for frying. I myself have yet to find one that works well.
Tapioca starch, Bob’s Red Mill GF all purpose flour, and GF bisquick work, but depending on how strict the diet needs to be (sensitivity vs celiacs) you’ll want to make sure proper precautions are taken.
Jessica Levin
I’m trying this recipe tonight but I’ve successfully fried chicken like this using King Arthur’s one for one gluten free flour.
Nancy Shackelford
Rice flour works well , for whole or part.
Angela
Coconut aminos will cut the soy
Cara Lamont
If you dust the chicken with corn starch it still gets crispy but has a thinner coating it also stays crispy even with the sauce on it.
Ash
I made this two nights ago and just replaced the soy sauce with tamari and then for flour I used the Bob’s Red Mill GF red label all-purpose flour and it worked *perfectly*. Those were the only changes I made and they crisped right up.
Dawn
Outstanding and easy. Made this as written using boneless/skinless chicken thighs and freshly squeezed oranges, except added a little more red pepper flakes. (My husband is a spicy guy!) Served it with my version of veggie fried rice and some baby bok choy. My husband, who claims not to like chicken devoured this.
Sonya
Good recipe thank you! Very delicious with tofu.
Kelly Smith
WOW!! Best orange chicken ever! Added too much ginger , just made it better I'll be back for more recipes
Hobsanz
I oven fried my chicken to avoid the frying in oil. Since I made a small amount of chicken I cut the orange sauce in half, but found that too skimpy on the sauce for my preference. I used fresh garlic, fresh ginger and followed the recipe Enjoyed the flavors and will make again.
nancy g visconti
I too want to avoid frying. How did you 'oven fry'? Did it get crispy? Hope you answer soon. Nancy
Lyssa
Sooo, you did NOT follow her recipe as stated and then you thought it was acceptable to leave a less than 5⭐️ review? Why would you do something that could potentially bring down her star rating when you’re not even rating her recipe as it is written? You could have shared your thoughts without leaving a ⭐️Rating AT ALL, which is what a person should do if they haven’t made the recipe yet or if they did not follow the recipe. It’s a very simple concept, unfortunately, it seems VERY DIFFICULT for most people to grasp.
Have you by chance seen all of the 5⭐️ Ratings this recipe has received? How about all of the people boasting about how INCREDIBLE this dish is, SOOOO much better than take~out or their local Chinese Restaurants Orange Chicken, have you read any of those? Countless people have rated THIS RECIPE a 10/10, I think that says a WHOLE LOT about a recipe, don’t you?
In the future it would be wise if you either leave off your “⭐️Rating” or say nothing about a recipe UNLESS you actually followed the recipe exactly AS STATED and have comments to share.
Rhonda
Do you use ground ginger?