Our Walmart Neighborhood Market has a Panda Express sitting right next door. Whenever we go to get groceries we always smell the mix of asian inspired food filling the air and inevitably one of our kids will say, “Can we go to Panda Express?” It’s always so tempting to say yes, but most often we stay on track! ;) One of my favorites is the Orange Chicken there so I created my own to make at home!
Orange Chicken {copycat Panda Express}
To come up with this recipe we bought an order of Orange Chicken by itself (which sort of threw the lady in the drive through off a little) and we all tried the chicken right away. I took note of the flavors… There was a hint of orange/ citrus, a sweet vinegary taste, salty soy sauce, a hint of garlic and it had a kick to it at the end. I saved some of the chicken so that we could have a taste test at the end too… this whole experiment was so fun! If you have been following me on facebook the chicken on the left was the homemade and the right was the Panda Express!
Ingredients
- For Chicken:
- 1 pound chicken breasts cut into irregular 1 inch cubes
- 1-2 cups self- rising flour
- 2 eggs
- Oil for frying
- For the sauce:
- Juice of 1 large orange
- 1/4 tsp. orange zest
- 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
- 3 Tbsp. Sugar
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar (found near the soy sauce in most grocery stores- use a brand like Nakano)
- 1/2 tsp. Siracha sauce (asian chili sauce... can substitute with another hot sauce if you can't find any) can use more if you like it spicy
- 1 clove of garlic minced
- 2 tsp. corn starch
Instructions
- Heat your oil in a frying vessel to about 375 degrees... this will be a deep fry so make sure there is enough oil to cover the chicken. Take the eggs and whisk in a bowl until they are mixed thoroughly. In another bowl put 1 cup of the flour (you can add more later if you need it). Take about 1/4 of the chicken (depending on your frying vessel the chicken will need to be done in batches... chicken should not be touching in the fryer). Dip the chicken first in the egg then coat it with the flour. Repeat until you have the desired amount to fry. Fry all the chicken and place into a 200 degree oven to keep warm.
- Meanwhile make the sauce: Combine all the sauce ingredients in a small pot (making sure that the cornstarch is dissolved before cooking. Heat on medium heat until the sauce thickens.
- Last step:
- Place fried chicken in a large sized bowl and pour the sauce on top... mix until chicken is coated. Serve immediately.
- Alternate version:
- You can also make this recipe without frying the chicken... just stir fry the chicken in a small amount of oil until the outside is golden brown and insides are cooked through.
© 2012 – 2013, Rachel Rockwell. All rights reserved.
Google+
That looks so good! You know, I am yet to try orange chicken. I have to add to my menu next week
:)
(Stumbling
Yes please! I love the crispy chicken you get from takeout but am more than a bit scared by what goes in them.
You must have super-powers in the “guess what’s in this” challenge! I can’t wait to try because we love Panda Express too. Could you do General Tso next? Hehe. I’d totally just stir fry my chicken or bake it on high for crispy outside. I’m not into frying on the stovetop and I also hate whipping out the deep fryer we have. Uses soo much oil in that thing. What a waste to only use it once.
Yum!!! We love Panda Express at our house and that looks delicious!! I will have to try this sometime! Thanks for sharing
That looks delicious! I am going to have to try it!
Going to make this tomorrow with steamed white rice & maybe eggrolls? Looks delicious!
ATTENTION POTENTIAL ORANGE CHICKEN-MAKERS: Just made this (sauce only) and had to go comment IMMEDIATELY after dinner. Let me just say–this is THE Panda Express Orange Chicken Sauce! I’ve made a few that have tried to do it… but this one gets it JUST right! Seriously. JUST right. We poured it over fried tofu for an “adult” version. Amazing. Thank you!
Thank you for the glowing review! So glad you enjoyed it!!
Found this recipe via Pinterest and oh my god, it is so good. I’m a vegitatian so I used drained and pressed tofu fried in cornstarch and served the tofu and sauce over brown rice and sauteed mixed veggies.. The sauce is even better then I remember Panda Express’s being. Next time (and there will be many) I will make a double batch of sauce and coat the tofu and veggies in it.
Also, in the couple days since I repinned the recipe it has been repinned 206 times. By far the most popular thing on any of my boards.
Thanks, Michelle! I am so glad that you liked it! I may have to try it with tofu too and mix in some veggies.
Thanks for pinning!
I found the most amazing recipe for orange chicken once on allrecipes.com. I tried it and it worked perfectly. But a few months later when I looked for it again it was gone. I remember the ingredients but not the quantities. It was so good. I shall give yours a try though x
Tried your recipe x 2 as I wanted extra. Used Florida Natural orange juice, zest and substituted 1/2 tsp stevia + 2 tsp demerara sugar (a raw molasses intact sugar). It was excellent. My boy is always wanting orange chicken from Panda, but the first ingredient on their bottled sauce is sugar. This was delicious and guilt free!
Sounds wonderful, Chandra! Glad you could make it so much healthier!
How long does this take to cook ?
Including prep time, and cook time
Including prep time about 20-30 minutes. Frying usually takes about 5 minutes per batch and it will depend on the frying vessel on how much you can fry at one time. Hope that helps. I can only give estimates based on my own experience.
We don’t have Panda Express here in the UK, but this receipe has brought their Orange Chicken across the Atlantic for us. Very authentic. Thanks
Thanks, Dave! Glad you enjoyed it!
your recipe calls for juice of one large orange .. did you fresh squeezed a orange or used off the shelve juice? how many oz of juice was used? Thanks!
I’m not sure how many ounces exactly, but the juice of one large orange is usually around 3-4 ounces.
Just made this last night and it was amazing. I wanted the sauce to stand out a little more so i doubled the amount of orange zest and added some green onions. It was soo tasty. My husband was thrilled. I will be searching through all your recipes now!