It is easy to make Chinese orange chicken just like takeout from your favorite Chinese restaurant. Restaurants like Panda Express have made this dish extremely popular in the United States. Orange chicken is breaded chicken pieces coated with a delicious Asian orange flavored sauce. For best results you will want to use boneless skinless chicken thighs and fry the breaded chicken in a deep-fryer or large pot filled with oil. Using a deep-fryer will give the chicken a nice and crispy coating that can be hard to produce using an oven or crockpot. You can use boneless chicken breasts instead of thighs if you would prefer. Orange chicken is typically both sweet and spicy but this recipe does not have any heat at all, it is very mild. If you need to add a little spice to this dish, just add a tiny bit of crushed red pepper flakes to the sauce. The breading is really more like a batter instead of just coating the chicken with flour. A lot of the orange flavor in this dish comes from both orange juice and orange zest. Using orange zest will help to add a lot of orange flavor to the chicken.
Chinese Orange Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 1 inch chunks
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 ¼ cups water
- 4 cups vegetable oil for frying
- Orange Flavored Sauce-
- ¼ cup orange juice
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce
- ¼ cups rice vinegar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Instructions
- In a medium bowl combine ½ cup cornstarch, flour, salt and pepper. Add in the egg, 1 tablespoon oil, and water. Whisk until smooth. Add the chicken cubes to the mixture and mix well.
- Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large saucepan and heat to 350 degrees Add the chicken cubes in batches and deep-fry for 3-5 minutes or until golden brown and fully cooked (the internal temperature has reached 165 degrees F.).
- Drain on a plate lined with paper towels.
- Add 1 tablespoon of oil to a large skillet or wok and heat to medium-high heat. Add in orange juice, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, garlic and orange zest. Mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water in a separate bowl. Then add to the sauce in the pan. Stir until smooth and thick, about 3-4 minutes.
- Mix the fried chicken pieces with the sauce. Top with sesame seeds and green onions if desired. Serve immediately.
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