Two weeks ago, my son celebrated his birthday while we are still on lockdown. I thought he wanted two of his fave dishes, pork menudo and beef bulalo but he preferred another. But Since the nearby grocery ran out of beef, we ended up with a chicken dish–the Original Orange Chicken A la Panda Express. Whoa! Seems easy for me I said since I usually cook Sweet and Sour Pork or Fish for them. To my surprise, this Orange Chicken is a bit different with the usual chicken coated with egg and flour/cornstarch.
So, let me share with you our experiment–yes ‘our’ because my daughter helped me prepare this special chicken dish. And you know what, I feel like we could compete with Panda Express already hahaha. Kidding aside, we love it! And I know you will too!
Here’s a quick summary recipe card:
Yummy, right?
I recommend that you use the chicken thigh part and debone it, but there’s no available thighs at the grocery so we used two chicken breast parts instead.
Make sure to remove any skin and bones. Remember, even a tiny bone might hurt when you bite it. And I’m pretty sure you don’t want to eat any small bone.
You need to have the battered chicken cuts deep-fried so get ready for a bottle of oil.
Wait until the coated chicken turned golden brown before you put them out of the pan or wok. Set aside for a while and cook the orange sauce.
After preparing and cooking the sauce, mix the cooked chicken. Stir well and make sure all the chicken cubes has been coated with the sauce before you put the sesame oil.
ORIGINAL ORANGE CHICKEN
Original Orange Chicken
Ingredients
CHICKEN
- 1.20 kg deboned breast (boneless thighs preferred)
BATTER
- 1 egg
- 3 cups flour (375 g)
- 1 cup cornstarch (125 g)
- 1 ½ cups water (360 mL)
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 6 cups oil 1 ½ L, for deep-frying*
ORANGE SAUCE
- 2 tablespoon oil
- ½ teaspoon chili flakes (crushed chili pepper)
- 2 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon ginger minced
- ½ cup white sugar (100 g)
- ½ cup brown sugar (100g)
- ½ cup orange juice (120 mL)
- ½ cup white distilled vinegar (or regular white vinegar) (120 mL)
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons water
- 4 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoon sesame oil
Instructions
- On a cutting board, cut chicken into cubes about 1x1inch (2x2cm) and set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine salt, white pepper, cornstarch, and flour. Whisk well to combine.
- Add the egg, water, and oil until it reaches the consistency similar to a pancake batter.
- Soak chicken cubes to the batter and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Heat oil in a wok or heavy bottom pan to 350˚F (180˚C).
- Gently add the chicken and cook for 5-6 minutes until lightly golden brown.
- Remove the chicken from the pan and transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to release the excess oil.
- Heat a pot from a medium to high heat temperature and add the oil.
- Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the red pepper flakes, ginger, and garlic, and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.
- Add the white sugar and brown sugar, and stir well to combine.
- Put the orange juice and dissolve the combined sugar while stirring occasionally.
- Add the vinegar and soy sauce, and stir to combine well.
- Add the cornstarch and water together and whisk to combine. Add to the pan and stir.
- Cook the sauce continuously until it thickens.
- Add the fried chicken and stir until well-coated with the sauce.
- Top with sesame oil.
Serving this orange chicken can be paired with either a plain rice or much better, a fried rice. I did both, I paired them with a plain rice and a special rice combination: cauliflower rice and broccoli rice in one plate!
I got this recipe from searching online and chose to follow recipe from Tasty but tweaked it.
When you cook this Original Orange Chicken recipe ala Panda Express, let me see it. Post a picture and tag this site or any of my social media handles with the hashtag #WAHMmyRecipes, thank you in advance!
This dish looks so tasty! I might give it a go this week.
The recipe sounds really great and truly it is worth a try. And I will give it a try.
OMW…this looks and sounds beyond delish! Thank you so much for sharing it…definitely gonna try it ASAP!
oh my!!! This look so so delicious!!! I can’t wait to make it at home, can’t wait!!!
That recipe looks great and so perfectly prepared. I need a new chicken recipe to cook for my son.
So easy to make.. You got me craving for this dish so much!
Love this dish. I would definitely try it. Regular fried chicken are boring sometimes.
This looks so delicious! I have never tried making my own orange chicken, but this looks easy enough! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
I need to try making this. Orange chicken is one of our favorite dishes to order from our Chinest restaurant. I’d love to try homemade though.
This recipe is delicious. I think this recipe is versatile enough to also allow the use of pork instead of chicken.
Wow! This recipe is so easy and delicious. I will make this for our lunch today. Thank you!
Orange chicken is one of my son’s favorite chicken dishes. I will have to try your recipe sometime.
Orange chicken is one of favorites. I have never made it myself before but this sounds like an easy enough recipe to try out!
Orange chicken looks delicious my kids love Panda express orange chicken.
This looks so good. I’m always up for looking for new ways to cook chicken. I do love Orange chicken but have never made it at home. Appreciate the simple recipe. Yum!!
I LOVE orange chicken!! I always order this if we go eat out. Now is the chance to make this at home!
This recipe is so good. I tried it and it turned out just perfect. Thanks for sharing.
This look yummy I will have to try this recipe for dinner tonight. thanks for sharing.