If I were to ask you to visualize your favorite Chinese American dish, what image would pop into your head? Maybe you saw sweet and sour pork, maybe egg fried rice, or vegetable lo mein. But if I were to take a wild guess, I would say that a lot of you had visions of orange chicken. That’s because orange chicken, whether you love it or hate it, is a dish that epitomizes Chinese American cuisine.
Often it is one of the first dishes that we are introduced to when we visit a Chinese American restaurant. And when a regular patron of a Chinese American restaurant asks their waiter for the “regular”, they more than often are referring to orange chicken. I mean what’s not to love about orange chicken, it’s crunchy chunks of fried chicken, all coated with a pungent sweet and sour sauce. While it’s not the most healthy of meals, It is addicting and takes someone with a lot of willpower to not overindulge in. But hey, we all have to live a little in this short life.
Now, enough of my praise for orange chicken, let’s get into some of the details about this particular recipe. I’m sure most of you have had orange chicken from fast food joints, such as Panda Express or Pei Wei before. And while their takes on the dish are often great and tasty, I find them to be a little basic in both appearance and flavor. That is why I tried to model this recipe of orange chicken after the taste and quality one would find at a traditional Chinese American restaurant.
We can accomplish this by making two simple adjustments to the basic recipe. The first adjustment we need to make has to do with the chicken itself. I recommend that you use chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts as they will give you a more succulent final product. The other recommendation I have about the chicken is to cut the chicken into strips instead of the usual chunks, as the extra surface area makes them more crunchy. The second adjustment we need to make, and in my opinion, the true secret to making great orange chicken has to be the addition of star anise. Now, most people have probably never seen or heard of star anise, well it looks like this.
As the name suggests the spice has a mild anise flavor, much like fennel seeds, and is the secret ingredient that truly gives the restaurant-style orange chicken its depth of flavor. So enough talk let’s get into today’s lesson class.
Orange Chicken Recipe
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 15 to 20 minutes
Servings: 3 to 4
Ingredients
1 to 1 ¼ Lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs
¼ teaspoon of garlic powder
¼ teaspoon of ground white pepper
¼ teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
¼ cup of corn starch
1 cup of vegetable oil
6 to 8 dried chili peppers (use more or less depending on how spicy you like your food)
2 star anise
5 to 6 green onions cut into 1-inch pieces (use only the white and light green parts of the onion)
For the orange sauce:
¼ cup of chicken stock
¼ cup of orange juice (Try to use orange juice with the pulp)
2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of white sugar
Cornstarch slurry:
made with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, and 2 tablespoons of water mixed together
Instructions
- Cut and marinate the chicken: Get out your chicken and cut it up into thin slices. If you prefer chunks then feel free to do that instead, just make sure that the pieces are uniform in size and shape.
Place the chicken into a bowl and add to it the sesame oil, white pepper, garlic powder, and salt. Mix all of these ingredients up and let it marinate for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Make the orange sauce: In another bowl add the chicken stock, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and of course the orange juice. Mix the ingredients together so that the sugar dissolves properly into it. Set this aside to be used in step 6.
- Do the final prep work: Stir-frying is a quick process, so make sure that everything is ready. Mix up the cornstarch slurry in a separate bowl, cut the green onion, and get out the chili peppers and star anise so that they are all ready for use.
- Coat and fry the chicken: After the chicken has been allowed to marinate for 20 to 30 minutes, add the ¼ cup of cornstarch to them and mix it all together until all pieces of the chicken all well coated with cornstarch.
Then add 1 cup of vegetable oil to your wok and put it over medium-low heat. Fry the chicken in batches, making sure to stir the pieces often, as they can end up sticking together.
Fry every piece of chicken until they are a light golden brown color. Once every piece is cooked, set them aside on a paper towel, to be used in step 7. 
Discarded the vegetable oil into a glass jar, never down the sink, and quickly clean the wok.
-
Fry the aromatics: Add a tablespoon of fresh vegetable oil to the wok and put it over high heat. Once it is nice and hot, toss the chili peppers, and star anise into the wok. Stir these ingredients and let them cook for about 30 seconds. Make sure not to overcook these items by making them black, as it can give them a bitter taste.
- Add the sauce and slurry: Quickly add the orange sauce to the wok and stir it up with the aromatic ingredients. After a minute, add about half of the cornstarch slurry and mix it well into the sauce. You will likely notice that the sauce thickens up quickly, in about 30 seconds to a minute. If the sauce doesn’t appear to have thickened up then add a little more of the slurry, but be cautious as the sauce will thicken up generously when you plate it and it cools down.
- Add the chicken and green onions: Once the sauce is to your preferred thickness, quickly toss in the chicken and green onions and mix both into the sauce until it is thoroughly coated.
This step should only take about 30 seconds to a minute, If you leave the chicken in there for significantly longer it will end up soggy. Plate the final dish and serve immediately.
- Serve & Enjoy
Orange Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 to 1 ¼ Lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs
- ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon of ground white pepper
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
- ¼ cup of corn starch
- 1 cup of vegetable oil
- 6 to 8 dried chili peppers use more or less depending on how spicy you like your food
- 2 star anise
- 5 to 6 green onions cut into 1 inch pieces use only the white and light green parts of the onion
For the orange sauce:
- ¼ cup of chicken stock
- ¼ cup of orange juice Try to use orange juice with the pulp
- 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of white sugar
Cornstarch slurry:
- made with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of water mixed together
Instructions
- Cut and marinate the chicken: Get out your chicken and cut it up into thin slices. If you prefer chunks then feel free to do that instead, just make sure that the pieces are uniform in size and shape. Place the chicken into a bowl and add to it the sesame oil, white pepper, garlic powder, and salt. Mix all of these ingredients up and let it marinate for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Make the orange sauce: In another bowl add the chicken stock, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and of course the orange juice. Mix the ingredients together so that the sugar dissolves properly into it. Set this aside to be used in step 6.
- Do the final prep work: Stir-frying is a quick process, so make sure that everything is ready. Mix up the cornstarch slurry in a separate bowl, cut the green onion, and get out the chili peppers and star anise so that they are all ready for use.
- Coat and fry the chicken: After the chicken has been allowed to marinate for 20 to 30 minutes, add the ¼ cup of cornstarch to them and mix it all together until all pieces of the chicken all well coated with cornstarch. Then add 1 cup of vegetable oil to your wok and put it over medium-low heat. Fry the chicken in batches, making sure to stir as the pieces often, as they can end up sticking together. Fry every piece of chicken until they are a light golden brown color. Once every piece is cooked, set them aside on a paper towel, to be used in step 7. Discarded the vegetable oil into a glass jar, never down the sink, and quickly clean the wok.
- Fry the aromatics: Add a tablespoon of fresh vegetable oil to the wok and put it over high heat. Once it is nice and hot, toss the chili peppers, and star anise into the wok. Stir these ingredients and let them cook for about 30 seconds. Make sure not to overcook these items by making them black, as it can give them a bitter taste.
- Add the sauce and slurry: Quickly add the orange sauce to the wok and stir it up with the aromatic ingredients. After a minute, add about half of the cornstarch slurry and mix it well into the sauce. You will likely notice that the sauce thickens up quick, in about 30 seconds to a minute. If the sauce doesn’t appear to have thickened up then add a little more of the slurry, but be cautious as the sauce will thicken up generously when you plate it and it cools down.
- Add the chicken and green onions: Once the sauce is to your preferred thickness, quickly toss in the chicken and green onions and mix both into the sauce until it is thoroughly coated. This step should only take about 30 seconds to a minute, If you leave the chicken in there for significantly longer it will end up soggy. Plate the final dish and serve immediately.
Inspiration from other blogs
From Woks of Life
