Whenever my husband goes to a Chinese restaurant, he always orders either orange chicken or lemon chicken, so I decided to make this super easy orange chicken recipe for dinner this week. It’s sticky, sweet (but not too sweet), and tastes so delicious when served with white rice. It was so good that my entire family ate the entire dish in one sitting. No leftovers!
This is such an easy recipe to make. The hardest (and most time consuming) part of the entire process is frying the chicken pieces.
Orange chicken uses many staples you already have in your refrigerator, such as orange juice, chicken breasts, corn starch, flour, vinegar, garlic and ginger powder, and sugar. It’s so simple to make.
There are three steps to this orange chicken recipe. First, you need to cut the chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces. Then you coat it in egg, then a mix of cornstarch and flour. You fry the chicken pieces in oil. Then you make the orange sauce, and you toss everything together. It’s quite delicious, and such a filling weeknight dinner. The entire process takes about 30 minutes, and most of that time is frying.
This is definitely a recipe that I’ll make again and again. Even my two-year-old toddler loved eating this Chinese Orange Chicken recipe. Enjoy!
Easy Orange Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
Chicken
- 2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 cup flour
- oil for frying
Orange Sauce
- 1 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp ginger powder
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- cornstarch slurry ( 1 tbsp cornstarch + 1 tbsp water)
Instructions
Coat and Fry the Chicken
- Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Put in a large bowl. Crack an egg. Mix chicken with the egg until well-combined.
- Add the cornstarch and the flour to the bowl. Mix together until the chicken pieces are well coated.
- Add oil to a large saucepan over medium heat. Wait until the oil reaches 350 degrees. (You can also dip a chopstick into the oil and if it sizzles/bubbles upon contact, the oil is ready.)
- Fry the chicken pieces in batches. Make sure they don't touch each other. The chicken is ready when it's golden brown. Remove onto a paper towel lined plate and set aside.
Make Orange Sauce
- In another pot, add the orange juice, sugar, white vinegar, soy sauce, garlic powder, and ginger powder. Cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, or until it begins to bubble. Whisk cornstarch with water and add to the orange sauce. Mix to combine and cook until the sauce is thickened.
Combine the Chicken in the Orange Sauce
- Toss the fried chicken with the orange sauce and enjoy!
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