Orange chicken is an American Chinese dish that's made by battering and deep-frying chicken pieces before coating them in an orange-flavored sauce. Like many Chinese-American dishes, Orange Chicken does have distant roots in China; however, it is not an authentic Chinese dish. That doesn't mean it's inherently bad, but unfortunately, many takeout shops go overboard on the batter and use artificial colors and ingredients. The thing is, it's not difficult to make from scratch. Once you make it at home, I think you'll find yourself craving my easy Orange Chicken recipe over the one in the red pagoda-clad paper box.
Although orange chicken is a relatively recent creation, it's unclear who invented it. What is reasonably certain is that it was developed in North America as a variant of General Tso's Chicken or Sweet and Sour Chicken. The American fast-casual chain Panda Express claims to have invented it, and while this is difficult to prove, it is generally credited with popularizing the dish. 
For my take on Orange Chicken, I like to marinate the chicken in a combination of soy sauce, sake, and ginger. This not only seasons the chicken, imparting loads of umami, but it also gives it a pleasant ginger kick that complements the orange flavor in the sauce. Ginger is also a natural meat tenderizer. I usually throw the chicken in the marinade in the morning, so that it's well seasoned by the time I'm ready to make it for dinner. If you're in a rush, you could get away with a marination time as short as fifteen minutes.
I prefer to use boneless, skin-on chicken thighs in my dishes because the meat stays tender and juicy. If you can't find it, I have instructions for how you can debone chicken thighs and legs. Boneless skinless chicken thighs will also work, but try to avoid boneless skinless chicken breast because it gets dried out.
Next, I dust my marinated chicken in a thin coating of potato starch before frying it. This is essentially how I make my Karaage, so the fried chicken is pretty awesome on its own, and you may be tempted to snack on a few bites before throwing it into the sauce. (When I make Karaage at home, I often make extra and use the leftovers to make this.) I prefer this method as opposed to using a batter because it's easier, and it creates a thin crust without becoming greasy and cloying.
I know someone is going to ask, so I'll address it now. You can substitute corn starch for the potato starch, but it will not be the same. Cornstarch has smaller granules, which leads to a denser coating, and it also has a higher ratio of amylose to amylopectin which gives it an unpleasant texture as it cools. Bob's Red Mill produces a potato starch that you can find in most upscale grocery stores, or you can buy it online.
To finish the dish, the fried chicken just gets tossed with the orange sauce until it forms a glossy orange glaze around each morsel of juicy chicken. I like to garnish this with finely diced red peppers, but green onions would also work. The rich nuttiness of toasted sesame seeds contrasts perfectly with the tangy sauce.
For the sauce itself, I wanted there to be no mistake that it's Orange Chicken you're eating, so I hit it with a triple dose of orange flavor. First, there's marmalade, which is nice because it not only has an intense orange taste, it's sweet enough to balance out the tanginess of the second form of orange: orange juice. Finally, there's some fresh orange zest, which adds a zingy pop of orange flavor without using any artificial flavorings. This mixture covers the bases with sweet, tangy, and fragrant flavors. The only other sauce ingredients are potato starch and salt.
For the marmalade, I like to use a cheap one, because they tend to be sweeter and less bitter than the fancy ones. As for the orange juice, you need to use a fresh orange anyway for the zest, and you should easily get ⅓ cup of juice from the orange you took the zest from.
If you're going to do a Chinese take-out night at home I usually like to make a batch of long grain white rice, along with some Chicken Chow Mein, Mongolian Beef, Moo Goo Gai Pan, and a Green Bean Stir-Fry.
Other Sweet & Sour Chicken Dishes
📖 Recipe
Units
Ingredients
for chicken
- 450 grams boneless skin-on chicken thighs (cut into 1.5-inch pieces)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sake
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger (grated)
- ½ cup potato starch
- vegetable oil (for frying)
for orange sauce
- ¾ cup orange juice
- ⅓ cup orange marmalade
- ½ tablespoon orange zest (zest of ½ orange)
- ½ teaspoon potato starch
- ½ teaspoon salt
to serve
- ¼ red bell pepper (minced, for garnish)
- ½ teaspoon toasted sesame seeds (for garnish)
Instructions
- Add the chicken, soy sauce, sake and fresh ginger to a bowl and mix together. Let the chicken marinate for at least 15 minutes, or preferably up to 8 hours.
- Add all the ingredients for the orange sauce into a skillet and whisk together.
- When you're ready to make the orange chicken, preheat a heavy pot filled with 2-inches of vegetable oil to 340 degrees F (170 C). Prepare a paper towel lined rack.
- Add ½ cup potato starch to another bowl, and dust the chicken with the potato starch. You want an even coating, but it should not be caked on.
- Fry the chicken in batches until golden brown and cooked through, flipping a few times to ensure it browns evenly.
- Drain the chicken on the prepared rack.
- When all the chicken is done, heat the skillet with the orange sauce over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until it starts to thicken.
- Add the fried chicken to the orange sauce and toss to coat evenly. The orange chicken is done when the sauce forms a thick glaze around the pieces of the chicken. Garnish with red pepper and sesame seeds.
Devin M says
Up in the top, you say that "you should easily get 1/3 cup of juice from one orange." But the recipe calls for 3/4 cup of orange juice and 1/3 cup of marmalade. I was just wondering is that correct, or is it a typo? It sounds good, I just want to make sure I get it right.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Devin, to be honest it's been a while since I've squeezed an orange, so I can't say for certain you'd only get 1/3 of a cup from an orange (that sounds low...). What I can say is that 3/4 cup of juice for the sauce is correct. Hope that helps!
Erika says
Hey Marc, thank you for featuring this recipe again. I have a question regarding the marmelade. When I tried this recipe for the first time maybe a week ago I noticed that, even though I made sure to use the cheapest marmelade available, the taste still was very bitter - so much that it almost spoiled the dish for me. Since I'm from Europe I thought that there might be some regional differences in the orange marmelade. That's why I'd like to know to which extend there is any bitterness in the cheap American marmelade you suggest for this recipe. Do I have to imagine it all sweet or is there supposed to be some bitterness in this dish from the beginning? Since I haven't had the fast food version of orange chicken yet (you can't get it where I live) I find that very hard to understand.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Erika, I'm sorry to hear it didn't work out for you. The marmalade you use should not be bitter, the one I used barely had any skin it in it, and only had a faint hint of bitterness. I hadn't really considered the possibility, but it's possible that different regions have different tastes. Is there a brand of marmalade geared for children there? If you can't find one that is not bitter, you could try to substitute apricot jam for the marmalade and grate in extra orange zest.
Erika says
Hi Marc, thank you so much for your reply! Since orange marmalade is considered more of a gourmet food around here I don't think there is any brand that targets children. Sweet apricot jam however is on every breakfast table. I actually had considered substituting the orange marmalade for apricot jam before, but didn't go through with it. I guess I will give it a try now. 🙂
Marc Matsumoto says
Great, give it a try and let me know how it goes.
Erika says
Update: I finally did it. I used super-cheap apricot jam, infused it with a few drops of orange-scented olive oil and did the rest accordingly to your recipe. It turned out well and reminded me of things you would get at a not-so-fancy china restaurant. It tasted good though. Thank you for the suggestion.
Laramie Crow says
Typo in content section headed "How do you make Orange Chicken?, about two thirds of the way down second paragraph: Cornstach
All the best!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Laramie, thanks for the heads up! It's fixed now😉
Laramie Crow says
De nada.
Nancy Benavidez says
What type of sake do i use
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Nancy, any kind of drinking sake will work. You can check out this video on sake to learn more about it and why it's added to food. https://youtu.be/C2p6MN4EVeA
Forrest says
I understand the chicken needs to be fried twice to get the correct crispiness. I've done it, it works, but in your experience have you seen this. I've also tried frying the oil with whole sections of orange peel (to discard) which seems to impart some useful flavor.
Marc says
Hi Forrest, the tradeoff there is crispness vs juiciness. I'd much rather have a beautifully glazed piece of juicy chicken than one that may be crispy on the outside but is dry on the inside. As for adding orange peel to the oil, it's an interesting idea, but this sauce includes 3 forms of orange (including zest) so I think adding zest to the frying oil might be overkill.