By Vivian Chan-Tam
Updated Feb. 6, 2024
- Total Time
- About 1 hour
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 55 minutes
- Rating
- 4(399)
- Notes
- Read community notes
In 1987, chef Andy Kao and Andrew Cherng, a founder and chairman of Panda Express, developed orange chicken, a dish of fried chicken pieces coated in a sticky citrus sauce. The top-selling dish was inspired by a Taiwanese fried chicken dish, a Sichuan beef stir-fry with dried tangerine peels and the sweet-and-sour flavors popular in the Jiangsu region of China. In this version, boneless, skinless chicken thighs are coated in cornstarch, deep-fried until crisp, then tossed in a sweet and tangy sauce made with fresh orange juice. Adjust the heat to your preference with crushed red pepper, and serve over a bed of fluffy jasmine rice.
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 8cups vegetable oil, plus more as needed
- 1¼pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2tablespoons soy sauce
- 1teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- ⅛teaspoon ground white pepper, optional
- 2large oranges
- ⅓cup lightly packed brown sugar
- 2tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2large eggs
- 1¼cups cornstarch
- 1teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- 4garlic cloves, minced
- 1(½-inch) piece ginger, peeled and grated
- ½ to 1teaspoon crushed red pepper, to taste
- 2scallions, thinly sliced
- 4cups steamed jasmine rice, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Add 2 inches of vegetable oil to a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven. Heat to 375 degrees over medium-high.
Step
2
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine chicken, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, toasted sesame oil and white pepper. Mix until well combined and let marinate for 5 minutes. Grate oranges until you have 2 teaspoons of zest, then halve and squeeze oranges until you have 1 cup of juice. (Pulp in the juice is fine.) Add juice to a large bowl (save the zest for later) and whisk in the brown sugar, vinegar and remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce; set aside.
Step
3
Beat eggs in a pie dish or wide, shallow bowl. Add cornstarch to a second pie dish or bowl. Using your hands or tongs, transfer half of the marinated chicken to the egg mixture and toss until fully coated. Remove from the egg mixture, allowing excess to drip back into the dish, and transfer to the cornstarch. Toss until fully coated.
Step
4
Using a slotted spoon, carefully transfer chicken into the hot oil, stir to separate the pieces and fry until golden brown and fully cooked, about 6 minutes. Transfer the chicken with the slotted spoon to a large paper towel-lined bowl. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt.
Step
5
Repeat with the remaining chicken. Allow the oil to return to 375 degrees before each batch.
Step
6
While the chicken cools slightly, in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, add 2 teaspoons oil, garlic, ginger and crushed red pepper, to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic and ginger are just golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Pour in the reserved orange juice mixture. Increase heat to medium and cook, scraping the bottom of the pot to remove any browned bits, until the mixture is thickened to the consistency of maple syrup, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the reserved orange zest.
Step
7
Discard the paper towels from the bowl of fried chicken, pour in the sauce and toss until each piece is well coated. Transfer the orange chicken to plates and top with sliced scallions. Serve alongside steamed rice.
Ratings
4
out of 5
399
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Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Robin
Can this be made in an air-fryer?
Jeff
I made this last night. My wife and I really enjoyed it. Used a wok followed the recipe and the results were delicious! Thank you NYT writers for another good recipe. To the Karens- If you didn’t get close to a cup of juice out of two large oranges it’s really not the fault of the writer. If you’re not a fan of fried food- don’t cook it and don’t lecture on healthier options and authenticity. Finally, resist the urge to completely rewrite recipes-save it for when YOU publish a cookbook!
Dmama
Can I use less cooking oil? 8 cups seems a huge number of cups?? Otherwise, this looks delicious!
Gerry
This is the most popular Chinese dish in America. Ugh. It’s about as healthy as Pasta Alfredo or KFC chicken. It’s a sticky, sugary, fatty mess. You can easily find a recipe on the web for the original dish, a tremendously more healthy, equally flavorful, far more subtle dish. It uses dried tangerine peels, preferably aged, soaked and cut into slivers, not orange juice. It’s stir-fried, not deep fried. It can be used with any protein, not just chicken. And it actually includes vegetables.
Joe
Very good flavor and surprisingly balanced. Cooked the chicken in an air fryer at 375 but otherwise followed the recipe closely. After reading comments I added a bit of hot honey to the sauce and reduced on higher heat. That seemed to do the trick.
Tyler
absolutely.
David G.
I also usually avoid a recipe that starts with "Heat 2 quarts of peanut oil".If you use a smaller vessel, like a small wok, you can use less oil, and the high sides prevent splattering. J. Kenji López-Alt claims a wok is a perfect frying vessel, and I keep a small steel one around for that purpose.On the flip side, you can filter it and re-use it but if you don't fry often (and we don't), it might go rancid.
Rosie
Add on to previous note. Sauce will NOT reduce in allotted time in a sauce pot. So consider that. As with all sauce reductions you need to use a shallower, wide pot or pan to maximize the evaporation for reduction.
Kathy G.
I just made the NYT sesame chicken recipe which is very similar. I absolutely used less oil and it turned out just fine. Must share that it’s amazing to see what happens with the egg wash/corn starch process! So light and crispy.
Kate
Air fryer directions:Following step 4 - Line air fryer tray w foil and spray with cooking spray, then lay the chicken down on a single layer. Spray the top of the chicken and cook at 350F for 10 minutes. Shake the chicken to loosen any pieces that are sticking, then air fry again at 400F for 8 minutes or until the chicken is crispy and reads 165F.Continue on to step 6.
Melanie
I would love to know how to adjust this for an air fryer.
super tasty
The sauce didn’t thicken up for me either but it was the perfect consistency once tossed with the chicken. If it had been thicker, I don’t believe it would have coated as well. We really enjoyed this. A lot of work but well worth it.
Leslie
Followed this recipe exactly; was delicious but time consuming. Re: comments on the amount of oil- the chicken didn't fry properly if it wasn't almost submerged or at least floating in oil. I fried in 2 batches in my large All Clad skillet. With smaller amount of oil, it sauteed & took forever to fry. With deeper oil in the second batch, it fried faster & the coating puffed up so pretty. In the end you realize it's fried chicken covered w/ sugar syrup. Yummy homemade junk food!
Elizabeth
Very tasty but the prep time is so underestimated unless you're a professional chef!
Lauren
For anyone who wants to make this vegetarian, this recipe worked great with cauliflower instead of chicken. I fried the cauliflower in a 10-inch cast iron pan with about 1.5 inches depth of oil for 3ish minutes per batch. Served it with a cold cucumber salad.
Cassie Eckhof, Waltham
Next time, I will double the sauce.
Vika
A lot of work and not that great.
peter wiley
Made this with tofu instead of chicken because I had some nice tofu lying around. Froze tofu first, marinated, then tossed in potato starch (skipped the egg wash). Real nice result. Probably doesn’t need added sugar (orange juice is crazy sweet)
JN
used mandarin oranges since I had them, and I thought the sauce was great. Not to orangey or sweet. Easy to make and I will be doing so again.
Benedicte
By the time oranges reach us in New England, it took me three oranges and a clementine to have a cup of juice.
Maggie
Made this as a treat for my son whose favorite takeout is Panda Express Orange Chicken. I have no experience deep frying at home, but it went fine. I saved the bottle from the oil and poured it back in after it cooled to dispose in the trash. I used half the oil (4 cups) and did it in my cast iron skillet in two batches. The sauce didn’t thicken much but it doesn’t need to. It soaked into the fried chicken perfectly. The flavor and texture were perfectly spot on for Panda Express.
MP
Excellent dish and super crispy. I dialed up the heat some with additional red pepper. The sauce was a bit scant and next time I’ll try for more liquid so it will not only coat the chicken but also allow for the rice to soak up some. Will try the air fryer, not because we are afraid of the deep fry, but rather not have the aroma of fry oil lingering in our home. Often times I’ll fry on our deck with my outdoor cook stove but rainy January of the PAC NW and hot oil don’t mix!
Louise Purfield-Coak
This recipe took me longer than one hour. I loved the flavor. The only substitute I made was brown sugar Splenda for the regular brown sugar. I did the substitute because of dietary restrictions.
Carrie Anderson
Made this tonight as directed. We loved it, the sauce in particular was so aromatic with the ginger and orange zest. A nice switch from the tomato based heavier dishes that we’ve had recently.
Tim
If you want to modify this recipe for air frying, paste the recipe into ChatGPT and ask, "How can this dish be prepared using an air fryer?"I went ahead and doubled Vivian's original recipe, figuring I ought to be left with plenty of leftovers if I'm going to do all this work. It tasted great!
Roberto Cipriano
lovely and a hit with the wife!
Pat
this is Pat again - It took me much longer than an hour - maybe 2-1/4 hours.
Pat
I made this last night and it was delicious. I only made one mistake: I did not boil the orange sauce enough to make it sticky. I'm sure I boiled it for 5 minutes, but the suggestion to make it the consistency of maple syrup was exactly true, but it needed to also be nearing candy syrup, too. My family enjoyed it and I happened to have microwavable packages of jasmine rice.
William
Orange chicken was "developed" in 1987? With a Panda Express connection? That's curious, since I was eating orange chicken in Hawai`i in the 1970s. It was stir-fried, not deep-fried, it wasn't coated with anything but the sauce, there were plenty of vegetables, overall light and tasty. When I came across this version on the Mainland many years later, I was appalled. I don't get the appeal of this heavy, globby version with so much unnecessary stuff and prep.
Lauren
For anyone who wants to make this vegetarian, this recipe worked great with cauliflower instead of chicken. I fried the cauliflower in a 10-inch cast iron pan with about 1.5 inches depth of oil for 3ish minutes per batch. Served it with a cold cucumber salad.
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