Orange chicken is one of the MOST classic Asian recipes! Serve it with Fried Rice, Egg Rolls, and Egg Drop Soup for all of the take-out fixings!
We are BIG fans of this copycat Panda Express orange chicken! It’s been one of our favorite fast food meals forever, and we love that we can make it at home. It’s easy to prep and cooks up in minutes. Best yet – it tastes like the real deal (maybe even better)!
For more favorite Asian chicken recipes you are sure to love, try our Lemon Chicken and Asparagus Stir Fry, Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken, and Kung Pao Chicken.
Why we think you’ll love it:
- A breeze to make. This simple dish is prepped in only 10 minutes, then after chilling, baked in another 10 minutes – so easy!
- That classic flavor we all love. It tastes just as fabulous as the real deal, if not better.
- Just add your favorite sides. Serve it up with rice or Noodles, Chow Mein, or Fried Rice for a full Asian dinner.
Panda Express Orange Chicken Ingredients and Substitutions
Chicken
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs – or use boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 egg – room temeprature
- 1½ cups water
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 cups vegetable oil for frying – Use an oil with a high smoking point to fry the chicken, such as vegetable oil, canola oil, or peanut oil.
Sauce
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ¼ teaspoon chili flakes – For even more heat, add sriracha sauce.
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic – Use pre-minced garlic or 2-3 minced garlic cloves.
- ½ teaspoon minced ginger
- ⅓ cup brown sugar – light or dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup orange juice – Fresh squeezed or bottled juice. For an extra burst of orange flavor, mix in orange zest.
- ¼ cup vinegar – Rice vinegar offers a mild and slightly sweet tang that is often used in Asian cuisine, but white vinegar or apple cider vinegar can be used.
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce, optional
- 2 tablespoons water, optional
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
How to Make Panda Express Orange Chicken
- CHICKEN. Cube chicken into 1-inch bite-sized pieces and set aside. Mix salt, pepper, cornstarch, and flour in a medium bowl and whisk the mixture to combine.
- Add egg, water, and oil until the consistency is like a batter. Add chicken to the batter and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- FRY. Heat oil in a deep fryer or large skillet to 350°F. Add chicken and fry until golden brown (or about 5 minutes). Remove chicken with tongs or a slotted spoon and add to a paper towel-lined plate to drain excess oil.
- Fry the chicken in batches so each piece gets crisp; avoid overcrowding.
- SAUCE. Add oil to a large saucepan (or wok) and cook on medium-high heat. Add red pepper flakes, ginger, and garlic, and cook for about 30 seconds. Add brown sugar and orange juice and stir to combine. Mix in the vinegar and soy sauce until combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix cornstarch and water. Add to the saucepan and stir. Cook until the sauce thickens.
- Add chicken and stir to coat. Top with sesame oil and sesame seeds if desired. Serve over white rice or noodles.
Kristyn’s Recipe Tips
- Fry the chicken in batches to maintain the oil temperature. Overcrowding will lower the oil temperature, resulting in soggy, not crispy, chicken
- Taste the sauce as it simmers and adjust, add brown sugar for a sweeter sauce, vinegar for more tanginess, and soy sauce for more salt.
- We like to garnish with green onions and sesame seeds. You can also add extra red pepper flakes and orange zest.
- To make life easy, we love to double the amount of orange sauce ingredients, use half over the fried chicken pieces, and store the other half in the fridge for 1-2 weeks or in the freezer for 2-3 months to use later.
Panda Express Orange Chicken Recipe
This easy copycat Panda Express orange chicken delivers that irresistible sweet, tangy, and crispy goodness straight from your own kitchen!
Equipment
- Deep Fryer
Video
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 egg
- 1½ cups water
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 cups vegetable oil, for frying
Sauce
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ¼ teaspoon chili flake
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon minced ginger
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup orange juice
- ¼ cup vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce, optional
- 2 tablespoons water, optional
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
Instructions
- Cube chicken and set aside.
- Mix salt, pepper, cornstarch, and flour in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
- Add egg, water, and 2 tabespoons of oil until the consistency is like a batter. Add chicken to the batter and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Heat oil in a deep fryer to 350°F. Add chicken and fry until golden brown (or about 5 minutes). Remove chicken and add to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Make sauce by adding oil to a pot and cooking on medium-high heat. Add red pepper flakes, ginger, and garlic, and cook for about 30 seconds.
- Add brown sugar and orange juice and stir to combine. Mix in the vinegar and soy sauce until combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix cornstarch and water. Add to the saucepan and stir. Cook until sauce thickens.
- Add chicken and stir to coat. Top with sesame oil and sesame seeds if desired. Serve over rice or noodles.
Notes
Recipe tips.
- Fry the chicken in batches to maintain the oil temperature. Overcrowding will lower the oil temperature, resulting in soggy, not crispy, chicken
- Taste the sauce as it simmers and adjust, add brown sugar for a sweeter sauce, vinegar for more tanginess, and soy sauce for more salt.
- We like to garnish with green onions and sesame seeds. You can also add extra red pepper flakes and orange zest.
- Double the amount of orange sauce ingredients, use half over your fried chicken pieces, and store the other half in the fridge for 1-2 weeks or in the freezer for 2-3 months to use later.
Nutrition
Calories: 556kcal, Carbohydrates: 62g, Protein: 28g, Fat: 20g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 128mg, Sodium: 1241mg, Potassium: 372mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 9g, Vitamin A: 90IU, Vitamin C: 4.2mg, Calcium: 31mg, Iron: 3.5mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe FAQ
How to store?
Place leftover orange chicken recipe in an airtight container and refrigerate for 3-4 days or freeze for 3-4 months. Thaw in the fridge before reheating. Reheat leftovers in the oven for about 10 minutes at 400°F, in a pan on the stovetop, or the microwave.
Complete The Meal
Sides
Cauliflower Rice
10 mins
Garlic Noodles
17 mins
Homemade Fried Rice
20 mins
Baked Cream Cheese Rangoon
17 mins
Asian Chicken Dishes
General Tso’s Chicken
20 mins
Honey Chicken
20 mins
Sweet and Sour Chicken
25 mins
Easy Teriyaki Chicken
30 mins
Collections
This recipe was originally published February 2016.
Our family are all big fans of the Panda Express Orange Chicken, but this tastes nothing like it. Far too much orange flavor and I even cut down the zest to 1/2 tablespoon and did 1-1/2 times the amount of the other sauce ingredients as I had more chicken than called for. Was hoping for a hit because my son absolutely loves Orange Chicken, but we cannot afford to eat there regularly. Guess I will keep searching for a recipe.
This recipe is fantastic and a family favorite but the time to make this is much longer than 15 minutes. It is more labor intensive than I expected.
Thank you for trying it 🙂
There’s no oyster sauce in the ingredients…
I do not use it, but you are more than welcome to use it.
This recipe sounds quite yummy. FOr those interested fLOUR contains gluten, so this recipe is not gluten free. Also, the real Panda Express recipe uses orange flavoring. Thanks for the recipe!
You are so welcome!! Thank you!
Orange chicken is one of our favorite meals to make at home and if it taste like panda even better! So simple and very good. Sure to please the family.
This recipe really is better than Pandas Orange Chicken Recipe. It was a family favorite!
This is one of my daughters favorite recipes!! it is so easy to make and delicious!
My girls love panda EXPRESS and ask for it weekly. With this recipe THEY’LL be abLe to have it more often.
I can’t believe how easy this was to make & how incredibly tasty it was! My family loves Panda Express, so I am happy that we can just make it at home & it taste even better!
Panda Express orange chicken IS MY FAVORITE! CAN’T WAIT TO TRY THIS!
How much orange Juice? It’s not listed.
We love this Recipe!!! We’ve made it tWice so far. The sauce is amazing!! The only modifiCations to the recipe are that we made tempura chIcken (Fried) and theN coaTed it in the sauce. I also used dried ginger instead of ginger paste because i didnt have that. I just Powdered the dried ginger pieces. We also didnt marinate the second Time and i couldnt tell a difference. A new favorite at our hoUse!
I am so glad you liked it! Thank you for sharing your changes 🙂
As a mom of a big family, its nice to see remakes of popular foods we enjoy having when we’re out. Can’t wait to try this recipe!!
I totally agree!! I love this chicken & hope you try it soon!!
What is ginger paste?? Is it just fresh ginger mashed up or what? Really want to make this!
Melaney
Pretty much…just with water added 🙂 If you love orange chicken, then you need to try this!
Italian dressing– bottled or the dry mix???
It’s the bottled (liquid) kind 🙂 Hope you like it!!
This looks so much better, this great. My family would love this healthier recipe.thank you!
You are so welcome!! I hope they will enjoy it!! Thank you!
Wow, thanks for this Kristyn. This copycat orange chicken looks really delicious and relatively simple to make. My family would love this.
It is!! Let me know what you think, if you try! Thank you!
Yum! Those are great improvements to my recipe…can’t wait to try marinating the chicken the next time I make it. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for such a yummy recipe!! 🙂 Glad to share!!
Woman…I have always been a fan but today you know my guilty sin. Contributing to the delinquency of a senior huh? I go to a weight loss meeting each week and love the program but when I leave there I go straight to Panda and buy an ala carte box (size medium or large) and dig in before I get home. Then I am on program the rest of the week. Lord, my precious Lord….forgive my Panda Orange Chicken desires????. Thanks Karen….I am looking forward to trying this. Keep up the good work for us all.
LOL..I love Panda too!! Thanks for stopping by!
hey girl- this looks so good! I love Panda Express to! Have a great weekend!
Thanks!! You have a great weekend, too!!
Sounds delicious… but is oyster sauce replaceable with something else? I’m not a fan… 🙁
I honestly don’t know. Google is my best friend 🙂 I’m not a fan either, but you can’t taste it in the recipe. I’m not sure how’d it taste if you just left it out. If you give it a try, let me know what you think or if you leave it out or find a substitute for it. Thank you so much! It really is a yummy recipe!
I’d like to make these and always read reviews before I make recipes. This review says something about oyster sauce, but I don’t see it in the recipe. Just checking! Thanks!
I don’t have it in my recipe 🙂 It’s really good though!!
I love new healthy meals especially ones that involve chicken which is what we eat 6 nights a week. Thanks so much!!
Us too – we love chicken!
I love quick chicken dinners and this one looks fantastic. Very flavorful.
We love quick chicken dinners too – thanks for stopping by!
This looks so much better than the Panda version. My family would love this healthier recipe.
Thanks! It really is DELICIOUS!!
My guilty pleasure is Panda Express orange chicken! I am totally going to have to try this!
You’ll love it – it’s delicious! ;D
My 10 year old LOVES orange chicken, I can’t wait to make this for him. He will go crazy for it!
I spent most of my college years at panda express, and I’m thinking your version sounds soooo much better! Looks amazing!
Not only does it look good, but it is super easy to make! My daughter would be thrilled to have this meal packed in her lunch 🙂
I love healthy takes on classic take-out menu foods… this version looks super delicious!!