Originally a Chinese dish from the region of Hunan, orange chicken quickly became Americanized and served in numerous North American fast-food restaurants. It is a dish consisting of battered chicken that is fried with sweet and sour orange and chili sauce.
In the United States, a chain restaurant called Panda Express credits itself with creating the Americanized version of the dish, evolving it into a meal that is much sweeter than the original tangy and spicy version from Hunan, where the subtropical climate with mild winters makes it ideal for growing oranges, tangerines, and lemons that are native to Asia.
Orange chicken is traditionally accompanied by steamed rice on the side.
Chinese Orange Chicken | (橘子鸡 – Jú Zǐ Jī)
Course: MainCuisine: ChineseDifficulty: Easy4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcal1
hour10
minutesOriginally a Chinese dish from the region of Hunan, orange chicken quickly became Americanized and served in numerous North American fast-food restaurants. It is a dish consisting of battered chicken that is fried with sweet and sour orange and chili sauce.
Ingredients
300 grams chicken breast slice it into 1/4 of an inch pieces
1/2 tsp salt
Black pepper to taste
2 tbsp orange juice
100 grams cornstarch
2 medium size eggs
Enough frying oil
2 tsp cooking oil
1 tsp ginger
1 tbsp garlic
Few shakes of red pepper flake
1/4 cup orange juice
3.5 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp honey for the taste
1.5 tsp orange zest
3 tbsp vinegar
cornstarch water 1.5 tbsp of water + 1 tbsp and 1 tsp of cornstarch
Some diced scallion and red pepper flake for garnish
Directions
- Cut the chicken breast in half. Angle your knife to 45 degrees and slice the chicken into 1/4 of an inch thick pieces. Marinade it with 1/2 tsp of salt, a little bit black pepper to taste, and 2 tbsp of freshly squeezed orange juice. The acid in the fruit can tenderize the meat and this amount of liquid will keep the chicken moist. Just mix everything until the chicken absorbed all the liquid. Cover it and Let it sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Next, let’s make a batter. Crack 2 eggs, beat them well. Mix it with 100 grams of cornstarch. Use a fork stir it continually. The cornstarch might clump up at the beginning. Just keep mixing it and you will get a really smooth, shiny looking batter.
- Coat the chicken with the batter.
- Heat the oil to 360 degrees If you don’t have a thermometer, you can test it by dropping a little bit batter. If you see it bubbles a lot and floats to the top, that means you are good to go. Fry the chicken for 3-5 minutes or until the surface is getting hard. Doesn’t need to be golden brown. Take out the chicken and let it rest for 10 minutes and we gonna double fry it.
- This time, heat the oil to 390 degrees You can add all the chicken in once because they will not stick to each other anymore. Double frying is the key to make sure all your chicken pieces come out crispy. Keep stirring until you get a light golden color.
- Set it aside and we will make the sauce. Heat up your wok. Add a little bit oil, some minced ginger, garlic, and few shakes of chili powder. Stir until fragrant then pour in 1/4 cup of orange juice, 3.5 tbsp of light soy sauce, 1/4 cup of brown sugar and 1.5 tsp of orange zest. Stir to melt the sugar. I like to add 1 tbsp of honey, just for the honey flavor, it is optional and also depends on your taste. Then pour in 3 tbsp of white vinegar. The reason we add it now is that we can drop down the temperature of the liquid and you can add in the cornstarch water. If you add it while the liquid is boiling hot, it will clump up easily.
- Keep cooking it on medium-low heat. Make sure you taste the sauce to find a perfect balance between the sweetness, sourness, and saltiness. I made this many times and I know this is perfect for me. In about 2 minutes you should reach a consistency that is a bit thicker than syrup texture. If the sauce is too thin, the chicken will lose the crunchiness when you mix everything. Turn off the heat and dump all the chicken in. Quickly stir and make sure all the pieces are coated well. Take them out. Top some green onion, few shakes of red chili powder and you can serve.
