The allure of Orange Chicken is all in its name—crunchy pieces of shallow-fried chicken tossed in an aromatic orange sauce with a little sweetness and tang. This restaurant-quality recipe has been refined and updated over the years!
We originally posted this recipe on June 15, 2015. We’ve made slight adjustments to the recipe that we think make it even better, included more detailed instructions to guide you, and added new photos and metric measurements. To compare our tweaks with the original recipe, see the 2015 version at the end of this post.
More Than Just Orange Chicken
Over the years, I’ve learned how to make the best orange chicken from a combination of working in Chinese restaurant kitchens, cooking at home, and also eating out!
Orange chicken is similar to takeout sweet and sour chicken, which relies on vinegar and pineapple juice, but uses orange juice instead.
I love this version because it’s not only got plenty of orange juice and rice wine vinegar, but also aromatics like dried hot chili peppers, star anise, and dried tangerine peels, which add extra dimension and really enhance the flavor of the sauce.
You can use dark or white meat for this dish, but we opted to use chicken breast. Feel free to use boneless skinless chicken thighs if you prefer.
As for preparing the chicken, we usually call for a velveting step. Since we’re frying the chicken pieces, however, velveting isn’t needed. Instead, we simply dredge the marinated chicken in cornstarch to achieve that crispy coating.
Like this recipe? Also check out our classic General Tso’s Chicken!
Fresh-squeezed Orange Juice!
Back in 2015, we went on a Southern US road trip. We traveled down the Eastern seaboard to places like Annapolis, Savannah, and the Florida Keys.
While in Florida, we ended up at Dooley Groves, where we picked our own oranges, grapefruits, and pomelos. We took our time selecting each fruit, trying to pick the heaviest (i.e. juiciest) ones. All said and done, we had over 30 POUNDS of oranges, pomelos, grapefruits and tangerines. Clearly, our eyes were bigger than our stomachs.
But it was the perfect time to create our own orange chicken recipe with fresh Florida citrus. Our favorite fruit was the honey tangerines, which didn’t look great, but were the sweetest and most flavorful variety we tasted.
We really like using fresh orange juice for this recipe, but store-bought orange juice is also fine!
Orange Chicken Recipe Instructions
Step 1: Prepare the chicken:
Add the chicken to a dish, and add the water, Shaoxing wine, salt, garlic powder, sesame oil, and white pepper. Toss to combine, and set aside for at least 20 minutes or covered and refrigerated overnight.
Add the cornstarch to a shallow bowl, and dredge the chicken pieces until evenly coated.
Step 2: Prepare the sauce:
Mix the orange chicken sauce by combining the orange juice, chicken stock, sugar, rice vinegar, oyster sauce, and salt. Taste the sauce, and add more rice vinegar if you like it tart, more salt or oyster sauce if you think it needs more salt, and/or a little more sugar if you like it sweeter.
Soak the dried tangerine peels, whole dried chili peppers, and star anise in a bowl filled with room temperature water for 2 minutes, and drain. This will help bring out their flavors later when they are toasted in the dry wok.
Also, take care not to break open the chilis, or the seeds inside will make the dish very spicy!
Step 3: Fry the chicken:
Heat 1 to 1½ cups of canola oil in a wok to 350°F/175°C. You will shallow-fry the chicken in two batches. Carefully place half of the chicken into the wok, and shallow fry until golden brown (about 3 to 4 minutes), turning the chicken halfway through for even cooking and browning.
Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels or a wire rack set over a sheet pan, then repeat with the second batch.
If you want the chicken extra crispy and you’re using dark meat—after the chicken has rested for 5 to 10 minutes, reheat the oil and give the chicken a second fry for 1 to 2 minutes. This step is optional.
Step 4: Assemble the dish:
Remove most of the oil from the wok, leaving behind about 1 tablespoon. Heat the wok over medium-low heat, and add the tangerine peel, chili peppers, and star anise. Toast these aromatics for 30 seconds, until fragrant, taking care not to burn them.
Next, add the chopped ginger and garlic, if using. Cook for 10 seconds, and then add the prepared sauce mixture. Bring to a simmer.
Stir up your cornstarch slurry, and gradually add it to the sauce, stirring constantly.
When the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon (you may not need all of the cornstarch slurry to get your desired thickness), add the chicken and scallions. Toss everything together quickly.
Scoop your orange chicken out of the wok…
And serve!
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Recipe
Orange Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs (cut into 1½-inch/4cm chunks)
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1 to 1½ cups neutral oil (such as canola, peanut, or vegetable oil, for shallow-frying the chicken)
For the rest of the dish:
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice (or store-bought)
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 1/2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 to 4 pieces dried tangerine or mandarin orange peel (optional)
- 6 dried red chili peppers
- 2 star anise
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic (minced, optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger (minced, optional)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch (mixed into slurry with 2 tablespoons water)
- 1 scallion (sliced on an angle into 1 1/2-inch/4cm pieces)
Instructions
- Add the chicken to a dish, and add the water, Shaoxing wine, salt, garlic powder, sesame oil, and white pepper. Toss to combine, and set aside for at least 20 minutes or covered and refrigerated overnight.
- Add the cornstarch to a shallow bowl, and dredge the chicken pieces until evenly coated.
- Mix the orange chicken sauce by combining the orange juice, chicken stock, sugar, rice vinegar, oyster sauce, and salt. Taste the sauce, and add more rice vinegar if you like it tart, more salt or oyster sauce if you think it needs more salt, and/or a little more sugar if you like it sweeter.
- Soak the dried tangerine peels, whole dried chili peppers, and star anise in a bowl filled with room temperature water for 2 minutes, and drain. This will help bring out their flavors later when they are toasted in the dry wok. Take care not to break open the chilis, or the seeds inside will make the dish very spicy!
- Heat 1 to 1½ cups of canola oil in a wok to 350°F/175°C. You will shallow-fry the chicken in two batches. Carefully place half of the chicken into the wok, and shallow fry until golden brown (about 3 to 4 minutes), turning the chicken halfway through for even cooking and browning. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels or a wire rack set over a sheet pan, then repeat with the second batch.
- If you want the chicken extra crispy and you’re using dark meat—after the chicken has rested for 5 to 10 minutes, reheat the oil and give the chicken a second fry for 1 to 2 minutes. This step is optional.
- Remove most of the oil from the wok, leaving behind about 1 tablespoon. Heat the wok over medium-low heat, and add the tangerine peel, chili peppers, and star anise. Toast for 30 seconds, until fragrant, taking care not to burn them.
- Add the chopped ginger and garlic at this time, if using. Cook for 10 seconds, and then add the prepared sauce mixture. Bring to a simmer.
- Stir up your cornstarch slurry, and gradually add it to the sauce, stirring constantly. When the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon (you may not need all of the cornstarch slurry to get your desired thickness), add the chicken and scallions. Toss quickly, and serve!
Nutrition Facts
2015 Version of this recipe:
For the chicken:
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs (450g, cut into chunks)
- ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1½ cup canola or vegetable oil (for shallow frying the chicken)
For the rest of the dish:
- 1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
- 6 dried red chili peppers
- 3 to 4 pieces dried tangerine or mandarin orange peel (optional)
- 2 star anise
- ¼ cup fresh orange juice (60 ml)
- ¼ cup chicken stock (60 ml)
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch (mixed into slurry with 2 tablespoons water)
- 1 scallion (sliced on an angle into 1 1/2-inch pieces)
- Toss the chicken in the sesame oil, white pepper, garlic powder, salt, and Shaoxing wine; set aside for 20 minutes. Put the cornstarch in a shallow bowl, and heat the oil in a small pot until it reaches 350 degrees F. Dredge the chicken pieces in cornstarch and fry until golden. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel.
- Heat a wok over medium heat and add a tablespoon of oil. Add the dried chili peppers, tangerine peel, and star anise, and toast for about 20 seconds, being careful not to burn the aromatics. Add the orange juice, chicken stock, vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce.
- Bring the sauce to a simmer and gradually add the cornstarch slurry, stirring constantly. When the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon (you don’t have to use all of the slurry if the sauce is thick enough), add the chicken and scallions. Toss quickly, and serve!
