This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
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.
Pin this now to find it later
Pin It
Chinese Orange Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts cut into bite-size pieces
- 3 Eggs whisked
- 1/3 cup Cornstarch
- 1/3 cup Flour
- Salt
- Oil for frying
Orange Chicken Sauce:
- 1 cup Orange Juice
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar or White Vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce use tamari for a gluten-free dish
- 1/4 teaspoon Ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder or 2 garlic cloves, finely diced
- 1/2 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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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!
I’m not sure what I did wrong 😭 I heated the oil to 350 F, I cooked the chicken in batches, some parts of it would turn slightly golden brown but a lot of it stayed white/light colour…I stuck a thermometer into the pieces of chicken to make sure they were cooked through, but the coating stayed pretty white and the sauce didn’t REALLY stick that well….did I just not coat it properly 😭 5 stars still because I can tell this is a good recipe and I am just a disaster
The breading can be a little difficult starting out I swapped out the breading for just a light coating of plain cornstarch if you season the chicken with turmeric it colors really well and is easier to see the doneness of the breading. When I made it the first time the breading was too thick and didn’t color well.
Sorry I’m a little daft and super new to cooking! The “breading” is the egg + flour/cornstarch mixture? So when you were starting out, you would instead 1) season with turmeric and then 2) coat light cornstarch WITHOUT egg? (Or starch first then turmeric, but no egg?)
I probably did do it too thick! Thank you for the reply because I thought I didn’t coat it enough because there seemed to be sections missing flour/starch and was going to double coat next time LOL
The breading is the egg flour/cornstarch mixture. It can be difficult to do. I seasoned my chicken with garlic salt, onion powder, ground ginger, paprika, and turmeric. Then after letting the seasonings sit for a few hours, I coat the chicken in a coating of corn starch. The trick I use is the shake and bake method, add corn starch and the chicken into a bag or a bowl with a lid you can reliably shake without the lid coming off. Add cornstarch until the chicken looks white. When frying the color ends up a golden brown from the turmeric and the chicken itself has flavor and can be eaten plain. If you want you can still temp the chicken with a meat thermometer temp needs to reach 165°F.
Thank you so much, I hope your dinner tonight is delicious 😭
Flour is mentioned in the recipe but none is shown in ingredients. How much flour is needed to mix with the cornstarch?
It is in the recipe under the first section 1/3 cup of each corn starch and flour. I coat mine in just cornstarch you get crispier chicken and it doesn’t get soggy. The trick it your chicken can’t be too wet before dipping in the egg. If you pat dry your chicken then season and coat with the egg wash before the flour cornstarch mixture it should adhere better. Or you could make a tempura corn starch mix, mix even amounts cornstarch and water. Let it settle then drain off the water on top mix in an egg and coat your fried items. Marion Grasby I think does hers that way.
Make sure the chicken is pretty dry before you start dredging it- blot it with paper towels. Then the coating should stick better. I also mixed the eggs/ flour/ cornstarch all together as a batter and that worked great. Got an even coat plus saved a step.
This was so good! I used my large cast iron skillet and fried the cubed, breaded chicken breasts in batches in about 3 cups of oil. I made the sauce using a different skillet, let it thicken up a bit and then added the chicken. I followed the recipe as written and doubled it so I’d have leftovers. Perfection!
I really wish recipes would stop telling me how many chicken breasts to use and instead tell me how many lbs of chicken breasts to use. You could have A cup-size chicken breasts or DD cup-size chicken breasts. Both are breasts, but both are very different in size and weight.
This was a great recipe!! My first time to make orange chicken all the way from scratch. I used 1/4c date syrup and 1/4c coconut sugar instead of regular sugar. This recipe took a long time to make though. I went with the fresh minced garlic instead of garlic powder. I started out doing the dipping method, but it was taking too long and with a toddler pulling on my leg yelling for boob, I needed to get it done a lot quicker so I decided to do the “shake n bake” method by putting my flour mixture into a ziplock bag and throwing the egg soaked chicken pieces into the bag and sealing and shaking. I also had to add more of the flour and cornstarch for the batter because it didn’t go far enough to finish coating the batch. The batter turned out crispy and the sauce was perfect!! My daughter loved it!! I’m vegan, but tested one bite and it was really good. Now I just need to tweak this recipe to make it vegan so I can eat it too.
My husband doesn’t really like any asian food; but LOVED this; AND keeps asking for it every week! Super easy to follow this recipe and so so good! I juiced oranges for the OJ in this and yummm. Making it again tonight and he’s stoked! Thanks so much for this recipe!
I made this the week after Christmas 2022 along with homemade eggrolls. It was delicious. I’m definitely going to cook this again soon.
No wonder this recipe is rated highly by so many people – it’s DELICIOUS! The family raved. Will be making this regularly! I followed the sauce instructions to a tee. Like others mentioned, it was thin. I’ll be using a little more corn starch to thicken it up sooner/more in the future. Because I’m lazy, I chose to use frozen chicken nuggets, instead of making them from scratch per the recipe. (I used Just Bare Lightly Breaded Chicken Chunks, they’re darn good for frozen!) This was my first time on Modern Honey, but I’ll be back for more recipes. Thanks for the new meal idea, Melissa!
This is my first time making orange chicken. After making the sauce. I told myself, this does not taste like Chinese orange chicken Even after adding more sugar and orange juice. But I continued on. After i fried the chicken and added it to the sauce, now it tasted like Chinese Orange Chicken. Wonderful recipe👏🏽👍🏽
Great flavor! Took me about 45 minutes to make everything. It feeds 4 people easily with rice.
This sauce is so good!!!