Homemade Orange Chicken with Orange Chicken Sauce
This award-winning Homemade Orange Chicken is a healthier alternative to takeout or a frozen meal. The whole family will love this stir fried chicken breast made with an orange juice marinade.
“I downloaded this recipe about 5 or 6 years ago. The orange-ginger sauce has been in my fridge 24/7/365 since then. I use it for all my stir fries, fried rice, smoked ribs…EVERYTHING. Thank you for the many years of yummy.”
—Mark
Healthier Homemade Orange Chicken
I don’t go to Trader Joe’s too often, but when I do stop by, I’m sure to pick up a bag or two of the frozen Mandarin Orange Chicken.
Breaded chicken covered in a sweet orange sauce that’s ready in less than 30 minutes? Sign me up.
But maybe sign me up just once in awhile. Because this won’t come as a surprise, but this dish is not outstanding in the health department.
So, I took an item that is often store-bought and made it better (and healthier) at home with this orange ginger chicken recipe.
Why you’ll love this Orange Chicken Sauce Recipe
- The Trader Joe’s version takes about 30 minutes to prepare, and my version shouldn’t take you much longer than that, if you exclude the hour it’s sitting in the fridge to marinate.
- It was chosen as the winner of Whole Foods Market Cooking’s “Your Best Stovetop Chicken” contest!
Spicy Orange Chicken Ingredients
- orange zest – first things first, make sure you zest your oranges before you juice them, because you’ll need fresh orange zest for this orange chicken sauce recipe. And trying to zest AFTER juicing is the. worst.
- orange juice – you’ll need 1-1/4 cups orange juice for the orange chicken marinade. More on this below.
- low-sodium soy sauce – I chose the low sodium version because this orange ginger chicken recipe uses kind of a lot of soy sauce (1/4 cup) and I wanted to make it a little healthier than the frozen dinner version, after all.
- fresh ginger – grated from a ginger root, not the dried ground kind.
- garlic – you’ll need quite a bit – 2 tablespoons – of minced fresh garlic to add lots of flavor to the orange chicken marinade.
- vegetable oil – some oil will go into the orange chicken marinade and the rest will be used for sautéing the chicken.
- sriracha – this is optional, so my recipe calls for 0 – 2 tablespoons on purpose. Use no sriracha at all if you don’t want this dish to be spicy. Use up to 2 tablespoons (or even more, you daredevil!) if you love heat and want spicy orange chicken.
- rice vinegar – this adds acid and depth of flavor to the orange ginger sauce.
- light brown sugar – for that classic touch of sweetness that orange chicken always has.
- ground white pepper – I love ground white pepper because it really gives a Chinese restaurant flavor to this home-cooked dish, but feel free to use ground black pepper if you don’t have white pepper.
- cornstarch – this is used to thicken the marinade into a glazy orange chicken sauce.
- chicken – This time around I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but I often use boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead.
- green onions – to garnish the finished dish with a touch of green freshness.
Fresh is best for the orange juice marinade:
I know it’s tempting to just grab a carton of orange juice and use it for this orange chicken marinade, but I really encourage you to squeeze your own orange juice for this recipe!
First of all, the flavor of freshly squeezed orange juice in this orange ginger sauce simply cannot be beat. And squeezing 1-1/4 cups juice honestly doesn’t take that long.
Another reason to splurge for fresh oranges is that this spicy orange chicken recipe also calls for orange zest for a more intense orange flavor. You’ll need to buy at least 1 or 2 fresh oranges for the zest for the orange chicken marinade anyway, so you might as well juice them, too!
How to make Orange Chicken Sauce
1. WHISK. Whisk together the orange juice, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, vegetable oil, sriracha, rice vinegar, brown sugar, orange zest and white pepper.
2. MARINATE. Put the chicken breast strips in a zip-top bag and pour most of the marinade over them (reserve some extra marinade for sauce). Then, refrigerate for 1 hour so the chicken can marinate and have lots of flavor when you cook it.
3. STIR FRY. Take the chicken out of the marinade and stir fry it in batches in a wok or large skillet, then set the chicken aside.
4. REDUCE SAUCE. In the same skillet, bring the reserved orange juice marinade to a boil, add a cornstarch slurry and cook until it becomes a glaze consistency.
5. TOSS. Toss the chicken in the orange chicken sauce.
6. GARNISH. Serve chicken sprinkled with green onions.
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Home Chef Tips for the Best Orange Chicken Recipe
- Make the orange juice marinade / sauce using blood oranges or cara cara oranges for a seasonal twist.
- If you have a mixture of spice-lovers and spice-adverse eaters dining with you, omit the sriracha from the marinade and sauce, and simply offer sriracha, sambal oelek or chili crisp at the table for people to add to their servings.
- Add an additional garnish of toasted white sesame seeds to this homemade orange chicken for a contrasting texture, if you wish.
How to serve Spicy Orange Chicken
- Lean into the takeout theme and make shrimp wonton soup as a starter!
- Pair this homemade orange chicken with steamed or stir fried broccoli or snow peas to get your veggies in!
- Spoon the orange ginger chicken over white rice, brown rice or quinoa.
- Serve over cauliflower rice for a lower carb meal.
- Serve this chicken with orange ginger sauce with a side of Asian noodle salad instead of rice.
- Sprinkle with sesame seeds for added flavor.
Orange Chicken Sauce Recipe FAQs
Orange Chicken is a popular Chinese-American takeout dish that usually consists of battered and deep-fried pieces of crispy chicken tossed with a sweet and sour orange-flavored sauce. My best orange chicken recipe swaps the deep-fried chicken for stir-fried chicken breast for a slightly healthier alternative.
Generally, Orange Chicken is not a spicy dish. However, some variations may include a hint of spice to balance the sweetness of the orange. You should adjust the spice level of this orange chicken sauce recipe according to your preference.
While both General Tso’s Chicken and Orange Chicken are popular Chinese-American dishes, their flavor profiles vary a little bit. General Tso’s tends to be a bit spicier with a more savory profile from hoisin sauce and red chili peppers, while Orange Chicken sauce has a sweeter, more citrusy taste.
If your orange chicken turns out bitter, it could be due to how you have zested your orange. When zesting, be sure you use only the outer orange zest of the fruit, and avoid the pith (the white membrane under the peel), which is bitter.
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Spicy Orange Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups orange juice preferably fresh squeezed (make sure you zest 2 teaspoons of orange zest first!)
- ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil divided
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
- 1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
- 2 teaspoons light brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
- 0 – 2 tablespoons sriracha*
- 1 ¼ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into thin strips
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
Instructions
- In small bowl, whisk together orange juice, soy sauce, ginger, 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, vinegar, orange zest, brown sugar, pepper and sriracha (if using).
- Place chicken in large zip-top bag; pour 1/3 cup marinade over chicken. Seal bag and refrigerate 1 hour.
- Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade in bag.
- Heat large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil and half of chicken and cook 5 to 6 minutes or until chicken is golden brown and internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F, stirring frequently. Transfer chicken to medium bowl.
- Repeat process with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and chicken. Transfer chicken to bowl.
- Add remaining marinade to skillet; heat to boiling. In small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water. Whisk cornstarch mixture into marinade; boil 1 minute or until thickened.
- Return chicken to skillet; cook 1 minute or until heated through. Serve chicken sprinkled with green onions.
Notes
- *Sriracha is optional. 1 tablespoon of sriracha will balance out the sweetness of the oranges without making the sauce too spicy for most eaters. 2 tablespoons of sriracha will make a noticeably spicier sauce. Use even more sriracha if you REALLY like spice!
My husband and I like to try at least one new recipe a week to mix things up, and this might be the worst one we’ve tried all year. Reading the recipe, I thought the sauce would be really tasty, but it is horrible. Like inedible. Total waste of my time and ingredients.
I double checked everything in the recipe, I didn’t miss anything or mess up a measurement… We’re both really open to new flavors, not very picky, we’ve been all over the world and eaten all sorts of unexpected and unfamiliar things, it’s really unusual for us to find a food we dislike enough to not finish it. But half of this is definitely going in the trash
Hi there! I’m sorry to hear this recipe wasn’t a hit for you. It has 23 other ratings, averaging 4.6/5 stars, so I’m surprised to hear that you thoguth it was inedible. Could you be more specific? Was it too sweet? Too salty? Too gingery?
So simple and tasty! We are gluten free and need more like this!
So glad you liked it, Colleen!
I downloaded this recipe about 5 or 6 years ago. Admittedly, I’ve only cooked the chicken twice, and it was delicious, but the orange-ginger sauce has been in my fridge 7/24/365 since then. I don’t add the olive oil, and as far as I have experienced, it seems to last forever, although it gets used up pretty quick here. We have friends from China that frequently eat with us (taught me how to make authentic fried rice). They absolutely LOVE this stuff. I use it for all my stir fry’s, fried rice, smoked ribs…EVERYTHING. Over the past few years, I’ve made many variations, but have always stuck to your recipe for the basic starting point. I would encourage your followers to try it and make it their own. Thank you for the many years of yummy. Sorry it took so long to give you your kudos. I very rarely do this.
I am so glad to hear that, Mark! It’s one of my favorite sauces. I have orange ginger grilled shrimp on my own menu this week!
I made this just now. In your instructions it says “discard the marinade” . Lucky enough I read through because discard means “thow away”. That would have been a shame.I t looks beautiful. I do my tasting tonight, at my work. Greetings, Leigh Brand
Hi Leigh – Thanks for stopping by! When I say “discard the marinade,” I mean the 1/3rd cup of marinade that touches the raw chicken. There should still be MORE marinade that is reserved to make the final sauce. Now, if you didn’t want to discard any of the marinade, you don’t have to. As long as you bring any marinade that touches raw meat to a full rolling boil for a few minutes, it should be fine.