Orange Chicken

If you are a fan of Chines cuisine, you will love this recipe for Orange Chicken. It is made with delicious crispy chicken tossed in easy-to-make, sweet and sticky sauce. It is a perfect combination of flavors. This recipe is very easy to make and is even on the healthy side of cooking in my opinion. It does not take long hours to have dinner ready.

Orange Chicken is one of the most popular Chinese takeout dishes! It is easy to order a take-out, but when you try to make your own, will get spoiled, and won’t go back to take out. Serve it on a bed of fluffy rice topped with green onions or with Chinese noodles. It is up to you, what you prefer.

Let’s get cooking!

Here is what you will need:

Chicken – I always use skinless and boneless chicken thighs cut into small chunks. The traditional recipe calls for breast, but to me, it gets dry and chewy if overcooked. The tighs are juicer in my opinion.

Oranges – The most important ingredient because it gives the sauce that classic sweet orange flavor. If you can use freshly squeezed orange juice and zest for the best flavor! Orange juice is just full of sugar and doesn’t taste the same as a fresh orange.

Gluten-Free flour – along with egg creates a crispy and delicious coating. If you do not have to eat Gluten-Free just use regular All-purpose flour.

Garlic & Ginger – Use fresh Garlic and Ginger for better flavor. Powdered garlic and powdered ginger are very mild in flavor compare to fresh.

Start with making a sauce. Grade your ginger and garlic, and add into a bowl, following with orange zest from a whole orange. Squeeze juice from one large orange, add rice vinegar or white vinegar, (if you would like more saur/sweet flavor, use 2 tbsp instead of just 1, sesame oil, and cornstarch. Whisk everything all together and add to a skillet. Let it sit on low heat while you will prep your chicken. The sauce will thicken as it’s slowly cooking. Don’t forget to stir here and there.

• zest from one big orange
• 1 cup of fresh orange juice
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1-2 tbsp of rice vinegar or white vinegar
• 3 tbsp of Tamari sauce
• 1/2 tsp of fresh grounded ginger
• 2 cloves of diced garlic
• 1/2 tsp of red chilly flakes (optional)
• 1 tsp of sesame oil
• 1 tbsp of cornstarch

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To make your chicken:

Cut chicken into bite-size pieces.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4 boneless and skinless chicken thighs
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of Cornstarch
• 1/2 cup of Gluten-Free flour
• oil for frying

Pour your eggs over your chicken bites and coat well. Add couple of pieces to flour mixture, toss flour all over and then shake the excess off.

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Heat your skillet and when your oil is hot enough (you will want to be at least at 350F) start frying your chicken in batches. Cook until golden (about 2-3 minutes on each side). When your chicken is golden, transfer on a paper towel to soak off excess oil from frying.

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When all your chicken is finished, toss into a skillet with your orange sauce. Coat the chicken all over with your sauce and let it simmer for minute or two.

Serve your Orange Chicken over a bed of fluffy rice topped with green onions or with Chinese noodles. It is up to you, what you prefer.

If you would like to try more chicken recipes, this Garlic chicken is so tasteful and easy to make and you can be done with dinner in under 30 minutes!