Asian style crispy fried chicken in a delicious sticky orange sauce. Served with rice for a comforting meal.
I'm pretty certain you are familiar with the crispy chicken you get at Panda express or the hype of the honey crispy chicken chilli at Sidewok in India. Totally worth the hype by the way. There is something about crispy bits of deep fried chicken. There is something more about chicken in sauce. A sticky sweet thick orange sauce that coats the fried chicken making it completely caramelised.
Made with skinless and boneless chicken breast chunks, coated in a classic, promising, yet easy marinade, this citrusy crispy chicken is a winner chicken dinner recipe. Further coated in asian style sticky sweet orange sauce gives it so much flavor. Ideal for serving with some jasmine rice or regular steamed white rice.
How to make crispy orange chicken at home?
The hero of the orange chicken is of course the orange flavor. We attained the perfect orange flavor with this orange marmalade by The Gourmet Jar.
This orange marmalade has real (tiny) pieces of fresh oranges & orange zest. Its absolutely the most perfect choice for this crispy orange chicken. When mixed together with garlic, honey and soy sauce, the orange marmalade gave that perfect sticky, glossy, coating on crunchy fried chicken bits.
The crispy coating on the chinese orange chicken:
We attained the crispiest coating on the chicken by using very simple marinade using basic kitchen ingredients. You need:
- chicken
- egg white
- soy sauce
- salt + pepper
- flour
Steps for crispy orange chicken
The chicken is coated in a mixture of egg white and soy sauce and then you start adding the flour until everything is nicely coated.
Crispy Orange Chicken 
Crispy Orange Chicken 
Crispy Orange Chicken
Once the chicken is nicely coated (as shown above) - it is deep fried and coated in the best sticky sauce ever!
How to make sticky orange sauce?
We are going to make a tangy, thick, glossy orange sauce for the chicken using orange marmalade or jam. If you dont have marmalade, then you can make the orange sauce using fresh or canned orange juice as well (see recipe card)
Ingredients
- soy cauce
- vinegar
- honey
- sugar
- orange marmalade
- garlic
- vegetable/ chicken stock
Now simply mix all of the ingredients to make a nice sauce which is later thickened by cornstarch slurry and then the crispy chicken is added to it.
Serve this crispy sticky orange chicken as an appetiser or with some steamed rice and you have yourself a winner chicken dish.
tips to make the best chinese orange chicken
- Vegetable or chicken stock => I highly recommend adding some stock to the sauce because it adds so much flavor. If you live in India, you might not be able to find stock. We use Maggi Vegetable Stock Cubes
on regular basis to prepare soups, curries and sauces. Simply add a cube of vegetable stock to hot water and use it for the recipe. This is also available at all modern grocery stores and supermarkets and is one of the most useful ingredients in our pantry. (You can of course also use Chicken Stock for this recipe)
- Kind of Chicken => Its best to use chicken breasts or chicken thighs for this recipe.
- Sweetness => I highly recommend adding both: honey and sugar in the sauce (thats tangy because of the orange). Trust me it makes a huge difference. The sauce gets nicely caramelised and thickens as it cooks which you gives you an amazing coating on the chicken.
on regular basis to prepare soups, curries and sauces. Simply add a cube of vegetable stock to hot water and use it for the recipe. This is also available at all modern grocery stores and supermarkets and is one of the most useful ingredients in our pantry. (You can of course also use Chicken Stock for this recipe)
What to serve with crispy orange chicken?
- Ginger garlic vegetable fried rice
- Vegetarian Hakka Noodles
- Sesame rice noodles
- Asian style sweet and spicy garlic noodles
Similar ASIAN style recipes from the blog:
- Manchurian (Vegetarian Meatless Meatballs)
- Crispy honey potatoes
- Chilli paneer (Indian cottage cheese)
Crispy Orange Chicken
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 2 people 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Stove
- Cuisine: Asian/ Chinese
Description
Asian style crispy fried chicken in a delicious sticky orange sauce. Served with rice for a comforting meal.
Ingredients
For fried chicken
- 300 grams Chicken (cut in small cubes ( 2 1/2 - 3 cm))
- 1 Egg White
- 1 tbsp Rice Vinegar
- 1 tsp Soy Sauce
- salt
- pepper
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Flour
- Oil (for deep frying)
Sticky Orange Sauce
- 1/2 tbsp Oil
- 1 tbsp Garlic (finely chopped)
- 1/2 cup Vegetable Stock
- 1 tbsp Honey
- 1 tsp Soy Sauce
- 1 tsp Rice Vinegar
- 2 tbsp Orange Marmalade (See Note 1)
- 2 tsp sugar (regular white)
- 1/2 tbsp Cornflour/ Cornstarch
- 1 tbsp Water
Instructions
- Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan.
- Mix chicken together with egg white, soy sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper. Add flour and give this a mix, until the chicken is nicely coated with this liquid mixture.
- Fry the chicken pieces until crisp and keep them aside.
- Prepare the sticky sauce by adding soy sauce, vinegar, vegetable or chicken stock , honey, sugar, orange marmalade and keep this aside.
- Heat some oil in a pan and add the chopped garlic to it. Cook this for 1-1.5 minutes and add the sauce to it and let cook for 2-3minutes until it starts bubbling.
- Prepare the cornflour slurry by mixing together cornflour and water. Add this to the sauce and whisk for a minute on low flame.
- Add the fried chicken and mix until all pieces are nicely coated.
- Let cook on low flame for 2 minutes and turn off the heat. Sprinkle some spring onions and serve the chicken with steamed rice or serve as appetiser.
Notes
Note 1: If you dont have orange marmalade or jam, use fresh orange juice instead (1/4 cup)
Keywords: asian, orange, chicken, crispy, crunchy, chinese
This recipe is sponsored by THE GOURMET JAR. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for supporting brands that are making this site possible.
This recipe was posted on 1st October 2018, though some changes were made on 3rd July 2020.
The saucy color looks amazzing, Perfect for a weeknight meal!
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Thank youuuu Akhila 🙂
I use a similar recipe, but yours looks wayyy better, ha! Thank you for sharing this! Gonna tweak mine now!
Thank you for your lovely comment Holly.
This looks so incredibly tasty! Love that crispy sticky coating 👌🏻
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Thank you Rachel 🙂
The spicy orange chicken at PF Chang's has always been my favorite. This dish completely looks like it would rival that or be even better!
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Thanks a lot Marcie 😀
I love orange chicken and am always looking for a great recipe. This looks perfect and so delicious! Can't wait to try it!
Yayie 😀 so happy to read this 🙂
Making tonight! 😊
yayie 🙂 enjoy the recipe.
This is my favorite takeout dish, looks so yummy!
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Thank you 🙂
Cornstarch and cornflour are not the same thing and are processed differently. Although people use the word interchangeably, like you did here, they very in the cooking temperature and uses,. Once I realized it said cornstarch in one spot and cornflour for the ingredients needed, it was a simple switch up, and made for a great meal
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Oh so sorry for the mixup. Please use corn flour 🙂 I will fix it in the recipe as well.
Still not sure if I use rice vinegar with the chicken or not. Listed with the ingredients but not the recipe
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Hey Bryce, it is there in the recipe too 🙂 See instruction 2 & 4.
Hello there, how much sugar and what kind of sugar for the sauce. I made this last night and guessed this info - it was delicious but I would love to know what the right type and amount I should use for next time. Very tasty!
Hi. Thank you for trying the recipe and so glad that you liked it. I have updated the recipe card: 2 teaspoons of regular white sugar 🙂