Skip to main content

Orange Chicken

My family loved Orange Chicken from Panda Express.  Unfortunately (or maybe it is fortunately, it depends on the day) the closest Panda is 50 miles away.


 My sister-in-law, Meagan, posted this recipe for Orange Chicken on her blog.  It's pretty close to Panda's.  My kids gobble it up and are so excited when I make it.


It takes a little longer to make because you have to fry the chicken.   Yes, I said, fry...it's totally worth the extra calories though.  I have grilled the chicken and then drizzled it with the sauce too.  Still yummy, but doesn't have that extra chicken crunch.


I use this Chili Garlic Sauce in the sauce.  This is one of the things that makes this chicken yummy and super special.  You can get it at your local grocery store in the Asian food section. 

I also think that using fresh ginger adds another special flavor to it.  Never used fresh ginger before?  Check out my fresh ginger post here. 


Recipe updated 4/18/17.  I've been making this for six years now and my family still loves it. 

Orange Chicken

Chicken
3 or more chicken breasts
2 eggs
salt and pepper
1 c. cornstarch
1/2 c. flour
canola oil
Orange Sauce
1 T. oil (I use olive oil)
1 T. minced fresh ginger
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. chili sauce or 1/2 tsp. crushed hot red chili pepper
1/4 c. green onions, chopped
1 T. rice wine vinegar or rice vinegar
3 T. soy sauce
3 T. water
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. vinegar (I usually use apple cider vinegar)
1 /4 c. water
1 T. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
zest from one orange
1.  Cut 3 or more chicken breasts into pieces. Place chicken pieces in large bowl.  Beat eggs in a separate bowl.  Mix in salt and pepper.  Pour egg mixture over chicken and stir coating all pieces.  In another bowl mix cornstarch and flour together.   Dip chicken pieces into cornstarch/flour mixture.  Add chicken pieces, stirring to coat.
(Sometimes I put all the chicken pieces out on a cookie sheet and cover them with the flour mixture.  Or you could shake the chicken and flour mixture in a ziplog bag until coated.)
2.  Heat oil to 375 degrees for deep-frying in deep frying pan, wok or deep-fryer.  Add chicken, small batches at a time, and fry 3 to 4 minutes or until golden crisp. (Do not overcook chicken). Remove chicken from oil with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels; set aside.
3.  In a separate sauce pan, heat 1 T. oil.  Add 1 T. freshly minced ginger and 1 tsp. minced garlic and stir-fry until fragrant; about 10 seconds. Add and stir-fry chili garlic sauce/or crushed chili pepper and 1/4 cup green onion, chopped. Add 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar and stir 3 seconds.   Add soy sauce, water, sugar, and vinegar.  Bring to a low bowl.
4.  Stir ¼ c. water into remaining 1 tablespoon cornstarch until smooth and add to sauce. Heat until thickened. Stir in ½ tsp. sesame oil and orange zest. If you aren’t planning on eating the zested orange, squeeze juice into pan and stir into sauce.  Pour sauce over cooked chicken.  

Serve over rice or quinoa.
Photobucket

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

One Hour Rolls

These rolls are amazing!  I've been making these rolls since 2001 when I was a newlywed and my sister-in-law shared the recipe with me.  The rolls are light, fluffy, easy to make and they only take one hour!  And delicious too!   I've made these rolls more times than I can count, so I've perfected the art of making them.  Here are some step-by-step instructions with pictures for you. Here's what you'll need.  I buy pretty much all of the ingredients in this recipe at Sam's club, thus the huge containers.  You need warm water, yeast, oil, sugar, salt, egg and flour. In the mixer bowl, add warm water (not hot), oil, sugar and yeast.  Mix together. After ten or fifteen minutes the yeast mixture should be puffed up like this.  Time to add the salt and beaten egg. Then mix in the flour.  (I've used a mixture of half wheat and half white flour successfully.) Keep adding flour until the dough is manageable.  It will be a little sticky, b
Read more

Week 394 Menu

Hi there!  This week is flying by!  So excited that we've been having blue skies and warmer weather.  Our snow is almost all melted and little bulbs are sprouting in the flower beds.  However, we had our 10th snow/ice day last week!!!  Hopefully it was the last one. Life has been busy, busy and I need to plan out the rest of our week's menus, even though it's already Thursday.  Here's what we've eaten so far and what I'm planning: Monday:  chicken stirfry, rice/quinoa Tuesday: breakfast for dinner Wednesday: flatbread pizzas Thursday:  roasted butternut squash, pasta, chicken sausage Friday: tacos Saturday: leftovers Sunday: pot roast, mashed potatoes, one hour rolls Alrighty, that's what we're eating this week.  How about you?  What's on your menu this week?  Feel free to share.  I love it when you do! More from Jenny:    
Read more

Don't like your house to smell like food? I've got a kitchen tip for that!

I have a smallish, one story house and if I cook food that is kind of smelly, like onions, the smell tends to linger in every room.  This is a pet peeve of mine and (also my husband's).  Over the years I've found a few ways to cook smelly food without smelling up the kitchen. Use your garage!   I use my garage quite often to cook things in.  I open the window and it airs out, especially when you open the garage door.  I'm sure my neighbors wonder what I'm cooking. I've used two different kitchen appliances in the garage:  my crockpot and my food dehydrator. Crockpot - I did this very thing today since I'm simmering chicken, onions, carrots and celery to make chicken noodle soup tonight.  I don't want my house to smell like onions all day, so I plugged it in on my husband's workbench.   Food dehydrator - when I make jerky, I plug the food dehydrator in in the garage.  I don't really want my house to smell like meat for hours
Read more