Panda Express Orange Chicken Recipe

5 from 7 votes

Panda Express Orange Chicken Recipe

Crispy fried boneless chicken tossed in a hot sweet and sour Asian orange sticky sauce and garnished with fresh spring onion stalk slices.

Prep Time20

Cook Time50

Total Time1 10

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American, Chinese

Servings: servings

Calories: 493kcal

Author: Helene Dsouza

Equipment

Ingredients

For the crispy Chicken:

2 cups Chicken Boneless
1 large Egg
⅓ cup Corn Starch
¼ cup All Purpose Flour
pinch Salt
pinch Black Pepper Ground
Oil

For the orange chicken sauce:

1 Tablespoon Oil
2 Green Onions aka Spring Onions
1 Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic *see Notes
1 Teaspoon Red Chili Pepper Flakes
Juice of one Orange
Orange Zest of one Orange
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 ½ Tablespoon Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Rice Vinegar optional
1 Tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine aka Shaohsing, optional
½ cup Water
1 ½ Tablespoon Corn Starch mixed in 1-2 Tablespoons warm water this is the cornflour slur
drizzle Sesame Oil to garnish

US - Metric

Instructions

To cook the Chicken

Keep all the ingredients ready. That means grate your orange skin and keep in a bowl. Juice the same orange and keep the juice at the side (with pulp, it's great!).
Juice of one Orange, Orange Zest of one Orange
Slice your spring onion bulbs, keep aside. Cut your spring onion stalks and keep aside in another container as well.
2 Green Onions
Next, you will prepare the chicken by cutting the boneless chicken into bite-sized pieces. Then keep two bowls or deep plates ready. Break the egg into one bowl and scramble it. Into the other bowl, add the cornflour, all-purpose flour and season with salt and pepper if you want, mix well.
2 cups Chicken Boneless, 1 large Egg, pinch Salt, ⅓ cup Corn Starch, ¼ cup All Purpose Flour, pinch Black Pepper Ground
Now drag each chicken piece through the egg first and then through the flour mixture so that the chicken is coated and covered on all sides with the flour mixture. Place the chicken into a plate until we fry it and do the same again with all the chicken pieces.
Keep a bowl or some large container ready and place a paper kitchen towel into it. This will be the container in which we add the fried oily cooked chicken. The paper will absorb the excess oil after frying.
To deep fry use a wok because the wok can heat up the oil evenly. Pour enough cooking oil into the wok and heat up. Wait for the oil to get hot. Use a thermometer to check once the oil reaches 325-350 Fahrenheit/160-175 Celsius.
Oil
Slide your chicken carefully from the side into the hot oil so that the oil doesn't splash up. Don't overcrowd the wok/pan, as this will complicate the deep-frying. An overcrowded pan reduced the heat of the oil and the chicken won't fry golden but get soggy. Keep about 6 chicken pieces at a time in the pan to deep-fry. Cook on all sides golden and take out each chicken piece and place on the paper towel into the container. Repeat this until you have cooked all the chicken.

To cook the Sauce

For the orange chicken sauce. Mix in a bowl the following sauce ingredients together: orange juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar and Chinese red cooking wine. It's ok if the sugar doesn't dissolve, it will dissolve in the pan.
Juice of one Orange, 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce, 1 ½ Tablespoon Brown Sugar, 1 Tablespoon Rice Vinegar, 1 Tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
In another small bowl mix the warm water with the cornflour to create a cornflour slur which we will need to thicken the sauce.
½ cup Water, 1 ½ Tablespoon Corn Starch mixed in 1-2 Tablespoons warm water
Now grab another pan or the same wok (but cleaned) from earlier and add your oil. Stir fry your sliced spring onion bulbs for a minute on high heat, then add the ginger and garlic and stir fry further for a moment before adding in the red chili flakes and orange zest
1 Tablespoon Oil, 1 Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic, 1 Teaspoon Red Chili Pepper Flakes, Orange Zest of one Orange
Then reduce the heat and pour in your mixed sauce from the bowl and stir cook for a little until all ingredients are mixed. Let the sauce simmer down for 2-3 minutes or until it has thickened a bit. Next, pour in the cornflour-water mixture slur and mix the whole sauce again and allow the sauce to thicken. The sauce consistency at the end should be sticky and thick.
Toss your crispy fried chicken pieces through the sauce so that the chicken is properly covered. Garnish with chopped green spring onion and a drizzle of sesame oil and serve hot over rice or with chow mein noodles.
drizzle Sesame Oil

Video

Notes

Use boneless chicken breast to make it easier, or if you want more flavor, use boneless chicken legs.
You can skip the rice wine or rice vinegar, but both do add plenty of amazing flavors to the dish.
Use only an organic/untreated orange for the scraped zest because of pesticides. Use the juice from the same orange with the pulp for maximum flavor!
Use a thermometer to determine when the oil is hot enough. Don't add the chicken to the oil to fry when the oil is not hot enough or when the oil is smoking. Please read in the post how to deep-fry, to gather some tips.
You may skip adding the cornflour slur (cornflour+water) to the sauce at the end but cook down your sauce to a sticky consistency instead.

Nutrition