Orange Chicken

One of my favorite dishes at Chinese restaurants is Orange Chicken! I thought I’d try my hand at making my own recipe of this dish and it turned out amazing! Not to mention, its extremely easy.

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the Chicken

1 lb Chicken
.5 cup Soy Sauce
.5 cup Corn Starch
1 Egg – Beaten
1 tsp Orange Zest
Black Pepper
Korean Pepper Flakes (Crushed Red Pepper Flakes work too)

For the Sauce:

2 Oranges – zest and juice
.5 cups Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Fish Sauce
1 tbsp Duck Sauce
1 tsp Rice Vinegar
1 tsp Mirin
Splash of Hot Sauce
1 tsp minced Ginger
2 Cloves Minced Garlic
.25 Cups Dark Brown Sugar
1 tsp Korean Pepper Flakes
1 tsp Black Pepper
Slurry of corn starch and water
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tbsp cold tap water

Optional Veggies:

Red Peppers & Asparagus

To start the chicken cut it into 1 inch pieces and add to a mixing bowl with the egg, corn starch, orange zest, black pepper, and pepper flakes. This will make an almost pasty batter.

Let the chicken rest for about 5 minutes. While the chicken is resting heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. About 1/4″ of oil will work perfectly.

Once the oil is hot enough we are going to do the first of two fries on our chicken. For the first fry put all of the chicken in a single layer and cook until it just begins to brown. Once it browns on one side you can flip the chicken over in chunks to brown the other side.

Once the chicken is slightly browned on each side take it out of the oil and set it on a plate with paper towel to soak up any extra oil. Add a little bit of fresh oil to the pan and re-fry the chicken in small batches until crispy and cooked to 165° F or higher. I did mine in 3 separate batches. Once each batch is done pat off the excess oil with a paper towel and let sit on a cooling rack.

Once all of the chicken is fired it is time to make the sauce. This is the easiest part! All you need to do is put all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and whisk until combined!

Brown sugar not pictured. Don't forget the brown sugar! — Brown sugar not pictured. Don’t forget the brown sugar!

I decided to serve my orange chicken with some sweet red peppers and asparagus. To prepare the veggies cut them into bite sized pieces.

Don’t forget to snap the hard ends off the bottom of the asparagus

Once our veggies are chopped it is time to start putting everything together! First we are going to start in a clean pan with olive oil (just enough to coat the bottom) over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot enough cook the veggies with some salt and pepper.

Once the veggies are tender add the sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil then reduce to a simmer.

Now that the sauce is simmering we are going to create what is called a slurry. This will make our sauce get nice and thick! To create the slurry, mix one tablespoon of cornstarch with two tablespoons of cold (make sure its cold) water. It should look like this: