Orange Chicken Recipe Easy
Equipment
- Pan
- measuring spoons
- turning spatula
- tongs
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice (juice of 2 large oranges)
- 2 tablespoons orange zest
- 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 5 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 inch ginger
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons water or chicken stock
Chicken Marinade
- 1 lb slice chicken thigh
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- 2 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoon baking soda, divided
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups cooking oil for frying
Instructions
Marinate the Chicken
- Place sliced chicken in a medium sized bowl.
- Add the garlic and onion powder, salt pepper, sesame oil and 1 teaspoon baking soda. Cover with plastic.
- Marinate overnight in the fridge
- When ready, strain all purpose flour and remaining baking soda. Add the egg and Toss the chicken gently to coat the mixture.
- Heat 2 cups of cooking oil and fry chicken until golden brown. Drain excess oil using a paper towel. Add into the prepare Orange Chicken Sauce.
Make the Orange Chicken Sauce
- Heat 1 tablespoon sesame oil and saute' garlic and ginger.
- Add the sugar, soy sauce, orange zest, rice vinegar and orange juice. Let simmer in low heat and keep on stirring.
- Mix the cornstarch and water and add into the juice mixture. Let simmer in low heat while stirring continuously until sauce is thick.
- Add the fried chicken and mix gently until they are coated with the sauce.
- This recipe makes a small amount of sauce, so double the sauce if you like
Video
Notes
- Make sure there is enough distance between the meat when frying.
- Make sure that the oil temperature is hot, by testing it with a chopstick. Dip the chopsticks in the middle of the pan and if it bubbles, it’s hot enough.
- Or, drop a small amount of the batter and if it fries quickly, the oil is ready. Or, use an oil thermometer and see if temperature reaches to 360 F
Orange Chicken Recipe Easy. This is an Easy Orange Chicken you can try. The prominent orange flavor from freshly squeezed orange juice consists of 6 ingredients and is very simple to make. Here is a step-by-step instruction and video to guide you on how to make this simple, savory recipe.
Orange Chicken Recipe Easy
We love orange chicken in our household. Before we embarked on budgeting prowess, we always found ourselves in Panda Express for their Orange chicken.
With the new lifestyle change, I made sure that we can still enjoy our favorite food by recreating those meals at home. You’ll be surprised how easy they are to make.
I love this recipe because the orange sauce is not overpowering and it’s not too sweet. I love that I can control the amount of oil and sugar I use. I also like that the ingredients are easily affordable and are already in my pantry and they could probably be available in your pantry too.
This is Orange Chicken Recipe Easy — is a definition of a quick delicious meal.
So let’s make this!
Prepare the Chicken
Some of my friends love to use chicken breast on this, but I love chicken thighs as the meat maintains its softness and juiciness. I found that chicken breast turns tough. I however use chicken breast when I made the healthy Orange Chicken Version here.
So for this post, we will choose chicken thighs. I used thigh too in the Chicken Satay post, so you can make that too if you have chicken thigh leftover.
- Slice the Chicken: I prefer to slice the chicken thigh into bite-sized pieces.
- Marinate the Chicken: when I say marinate, I meant to coat the thigh with salt, pepper, onion, and garlic powder, baking soda, and let it sit in the fridge covered overnight.
- Make the Batter: After marinating the chicken, add in the egg, cornstarch, and baking soda.
- Coat the chicken with the batter: Mix the chicken gently and make sure that all of the chicken slices are coated with the batter.
- Heat the oil: Oil must be really hot when frying the chicken. Use chopsticks to test the heat of the oil. Put the chopsticks in the middle of the oil and if it bubbles, it is hot enough. Another way is to drop a batter in the oil and look for the bubbling oil.
- Fry the chicken: When the oil is ready, fry the chicken making sure that there is enough distance between the meat. This ensures that the meat doesn’t stick to each other during frying.
- Fry until slightly yellow: Fry the chicken until it is slightly yellow, and let it drain in a paper towel. When all of the chicken is fried, refry again for the second time. Make sure not to burn it.
Chicken Marinade Ingredients
This is not a chicken marinade per se, but a simple coating using simple ingredients you probably have.
-
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda, divided
- 2 sesame oil
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups cooking oil for frying
Orange Chicken Breading
- Egg -this serves as the binder for the coating to stick to the chicken.
- Corn Starch- gives the crisp to the chicken as it fries.
- Baking soda -this adds crispiness to the chicken too, so you need to add this.
Tips to Make the Breading Stick
- Make sure there is enough distance between the meat when frying.
- Make sure that the oil temperature is hot, by testing it with a chopstick. Dip the chopsticks in the middle of the pan and if it bubbles, it’s hot enough.
- Or, drop a small amount of the batter and if it fries quickly, the oil is ready. Or, use an oil thermometer and see if the temperature reaches 360 F
Best orange chicken Sauce
- This orange chicken sauce has a subtle orange taste, so this is not sour at all, no it’s very sweet. The combination of the ingredients blended well together.
- Place wok or pan on low heat. Add in a small amount of oil and saute’ the garlic and the ginger.
- Add the sugar, soy sauce, orange zest, fresh orange juice, and water, and let it simmer in low heat. Keep on stirring.
- Make the slurry by mixing the cornstarch and water. Add into the pan and mix until sticky.
- Add the fried chicken and very gently coat them with the sauce.
- Garnish with green onion and sesame seeds
Ingredients for Orange Chicken Sauce
- Juice of 2 Oranges – fresh orange, please. I know you’ll be tempted to use the bottled ones, but the juice of fresh orange gives the juice a gentler sour taste compared to the bottled one.
- Zest of 1 lemon – use a zester to do this and try to avoid the white part of the orange.
- Granulated sugar – I use white granulated sugar. You can substitute with brown sugar.
- ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce. I use the First Stree brand but you can use Kikkoman too.
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar- you can substitute with white vinegar.
- 2 cloves small garlic
- ½ inch of ginger -finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch mix with 3 tablespoons water.
Storing Process
If you got lazy and want to just rest instead of cooking this meal, this is how to store it.
- Prepare the chicken and fry it. Put in the sealed container and freeze. Thaw and add into the sauce when you are ready.
What to serve it with
- Rice cooker and brown rice recipe
- Leftover Ham Fried Rice with Mixed Frozen Veggies
- One-Pot Chicken Thigh and Rice Casserole
For more Chicken Thigh and Chicken Recipe
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FOR MORE CHEAP AND BUDGET-FRIENDLY MEALS:
- Chicken Leg Oven Bake –I have said this before and I’ll say it again: This is one of my favorite recipes in the blog. The chicken leg
- Budget-Friendly Meal Plan # 1 –Please check out this meal plan collection. This is my weekly meal plan which serves as inspiration for a menu. They are cheap and it uses ingredients that are common in your pantry.
- Homemade chicken Gyros –Perfect for quick group barbecue with friends. I made a homemade Tzatziki Sauce too to up the chicken flavors.
- Honey Garlic Chicken what an awesome taste this is. I love the chicken with garlic marinade. The chicken is grilled outside and they love the charred chicken.
- Velveeta Cheeseburger Mac and Cheese is the most pinned and appreciated recipe on the blog. This is my family’s and readers’ favorite.
- Garlic Butter Chicken Oven Bake –I like the butter sauce smothered on rice. So good.
For more Homemade Sauce Recipe:
Orange Chicken Recipe Easy
Equipment
- Pan
- measuring spoons
- turning spatula
- tongs
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice (juice of 2 large oranges)
- 2 tablespoons orange zest
- 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 5 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 inch ginger
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons water or chicken stock
Chicken Marinade
- 1 lb slice chicken thigh
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- 2 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoon baking soda, divided
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups cooking oil for frying
Instructions
Marinate the Chicken
- Place sliced chicken in a medium sized bowl.
- Add the garlic and onion powder, salt pepper, sesame oil and 1 teaspoon baking soda. Cover with plastic.
- Marinate overnight in the fridge
- When ready, strain all purpose flour and remaining baking soda. Add the egg and Toss the chicken gently to coat the mixture.
- Heat 2 cups of cooking oil and fry chicken until golden brown. Drain excess oil using a paper towel. Add into the prepare Orange Chicken Sauce.
Make the Orange Chicken Sauce
- Heat 1 tablespoon sesame oil and saute' garlic and ginger.
- Add the sugar, soy sauce, orange zest, rice vinegar and orange juice. Let simmer in low heat and keep on stirring.
- Mix the cornstarch and water and add into the juice mixture. Let simmer in low heat while stirring continuously until sauce is thick.
- Add the fried chicken and mix gently until they are coated with the sauce.
- This recipe makes a small amount of sauce, so double the sauce if you like
Video
Notes
- Make sure there is enough distance between the meat when frying.
- Make sure that the oil temperature is hot, by testing it with a chopstick. Dip the chopsticks in the middle of the pan and if it bubbles, it’s hot enough.
- Or, drop a small amount of the batter and if it fries quickly, the oil is ready. Or, use an oil thermometer and see if temperature reaches to 360 F
Welcome!
Hi, my name is Shobee. Welcome to The Skinny Pot, where we cook Easy Recipes from the available ingredients from our pantry and fridge! We’re your go-to source for simple and delicious recipes that make the most of what you already have at home. Talk about the pantry challenge. Read more...
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