If you’re a fan of Orange Chicken, you won’t believe how easy it is to make from scratch! Let’s go!
This recipe is an oldie but a goodie! Originally posted on January 3, 2014, I decided it was time for a makeover! I’ve updated the photos and recipe to breathe new life into this awesome dish! #ThrowbackThursday
Like many of you, I’ve been scouring Pinterest looking for lighter fare recipes since the middle of December. When I discovered this recipe for healthy Orange Chicken, I knew I’d be adding it to my repertoire!
We love our Chinese food, but rarely do we make it from scratch, so I was excited to take on the challenge.
Guess what? It wasn’t a challenge at all.
Can I tell you how simple this was? We’re talking 25 minutes – start to finish.
If we had to come up with a word that truly captures the essence of this meal it would have to be………………….wait for it…………………
Chineasy!
Get it? Chinese + Easy = Chineasy. We had a good laugh over that one! (Thanks, Luc!) See, I’m not the only goofy one in the family! 😉
This is a perfect weeknight meal. The thing we really love is that it’s richer in flavor than you might expect something so healthy to be. It is restaurant quality without all the fat and calories we might normally find.
The biggest difference is that this chicken is sautéed rather than breaded and deep-fried and we ate it over brown rice vs. sticky white rice. It’s versatile too. I can imagine adding additional ingredients like broccoli or snow peas, which would be delicious, and you could just as easily substitute quinoa for the brown rice.
Here’s the deal though, the orange sauce is the real star of this show. It’s as good as I’ve ever had – and I’ve had some great Chinese food. It’s a perfect balance between sweet and savory.
This Orange Chicken, topped with toasted sesame seeds, chopped scallions, and red pepper flakes makes staying in for Chinese a delicious idea!
Buon Appetito!
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Orange Chicken
- Category: Dinner
Description
If you’re a fan of Orange Chicken, you won’t believe how easy it is to make from scratch! Let’s go!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 Tbsp. cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp. ground ginger (or allspice)
- 1/2 tsp. white pepper
- zest of one orange
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
- Salt and pepper
- Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- Thinly sliced scallions
- Toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the orange juice, honey, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, cornstarch, ginger, white pepper, and orange zest. Set aside.
- In a large sauté pan, heat 2 Tbsp. olive oil over medium-high heat.
- Add chicken and salt and pepper to taste, and sauté for about 5 – 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is browned and nearly cooked through.
- Pour the sauce over the chicken and stir to combine.
- Let sauce come to a boil and continue boiling and stirring for another minute or two until thickened.
- Remove from heat and serve immediately over rice or quinoa. I used brown long grain rice.
- Garnish with red pepper flakes, scallions, and sesame seeds.
(Inspired by Skinny Orange Chicken.)
I love Chineseasy!! This orange and honey sauce sounds lipsmacking!! And it all comes together so soon! I know you make the best italian, and now I think you are conquering Chinese too 🙂
Hahaha! You are too kind, my friend! This is a fun one! 🙂
I’ve never made Orange Chicken at home, but that needs to change immediately! This looks mouthwateringly good, Annie!
Truly hard to believe how easy and delicious it is! Thanks, my friend! xx
We are total fans of orange chicken Annie, and somehow I missed this the first time around! So glad you shared again. Can’t wait to try it!
So glad you like it!! Enjoy! xo
I actually just made orange chicken the other night, but mine wasn’t nearly as pretty as yours, Annie! I can almost taste this deliciousness through my screen! I absolutely MUST make your version immediately because it looks just incredible, my dear! Pinning! Cheers! xoxo
I’m sure that’s not true! Everything you make could be on the cover of a magazine! This is truly one of my favorites! Thanks, friend! xoxo
Such a fave dish! Yours looks extremely appetizing, Annie! I’ll make it for my little one this week – he just passed his second youth Mandarin exam and loves orange chicken. Have a great weekend!
Well somebody has earned himself some orange chicken! Woohooo! Good for him! Enjoy!
I am so glad you brought this one back to the front! Love orange chicken and this looks perfect. Friday night dinner now sorted 🙂
Music to my ears! Enjoy!! Thanks, Jennifer! 🙂
Of course I love orange chicken!! Love how you lightened things up a bit here and all those toppings (especially green onion and sesame seeds) are a definite must for me. Whenever I get takeaway I’m never has excited about it as I thought I would be. I would much rather make this at home. It looks SO good Annie and I’m sure a million times better than anything you could buy. Pinned! Cheers to the BEST kind of weekend, my friend! XOXO
I am so with you! I always feel a little underwhelmed after take-out! So happy you like it! Thanks, dear! Have a great weekend! XOXO
Just made this last night. It is delicious!!!! Taste just like restaurant Orange chicken! I used rice vinegar instead of the rice wine because the store didn’t have it. I was also skeptical about using the rind of the orange, afraid it would be too bitter. I used dried orange peel instead as it has a sweet taste to it. Used low sodium soy sauce and raw, unfiltered honey. Thanks for the recipe! I will be making it again!
I am so happy you liked it! Your modifications sound ideal! Happy eating!
Is the white pepper essential I only have black pepper
Black pepper is fine. 🙂
This turned out great and not spicy one bit especially since I’m not much of a spicy eater…what is the nutrition count on this, like calories and fat?
Hi Asha, I’m so glad you liked it! I’m sorry, I don’t have that information for you. Thanks for stopping by!
Tried this recipe today. It was good but my kids don’t appreciate spicy things – so they didn’t like it.
Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for your feedback. You can eliminate the red pepper flakes from the recipe the next time you make it for your kids and it will take care of that little bit of spice. I remember when my kids didn’t like spice back in the day…
Annie
Hi Annie 🙂
I came across this recipe on pinterest and thought it looked really yummy! So I made this a couple of days ago and guess what… it WAS really yummy! *thumbs up*
My Mom and Dad liked it too and I’ll definitely make this again soon!
A couple of things I made differently though:
1) I didn’t use that much honey and it was still sweet enough.
2) I used white wine vinegar, since I didn’t find rice wine vinegar.
3) My Mom doesn’t like the zest of an orange cause she thinks it is too bitter, so we used the instant one you usually use for baking.
4) I didn’t have ginger and sesame seeds, so I just left that out. And for some reason we don’t seem to have red pepper flakes at my place. I asked my Mom and she looked at me like “What?? Never heard of that.” So we went through every shelf in the grocery store but nope… So, these three things I left out and it was still amazing!! 🙂
Thank you for this great recipe!
Greetings from Germany! 🙂
Jasmin
Hi Jasmin!
Wow! I love that! So happy to know you enjoyed it! I love all the adaptations and that it was still a success! Thanks for sharing your experience with this dish(!) all the way from Germany!
My best,
Annie
Looks and sounds great.. I will give it a try.. Nice to happen upon a fellow Italiana who likes to cook.. I am also an empty nester .. I really like Pinterest to find new ideas and recipes.. Thanks for posting.. 🙂
Hi Sharon,
Well – I am so glad you stumbled upon this recipe! You know, I didn’t start pinning until relatively recently, and I enjoy all that it offers, as well!
Here’s to all the empty nesters finding creative ideas on Pinterest to fill some of our quiet spaces!
Thanks for writing!
Annie
I went to get the ingredients for this today and was unable to find the rice wine vinegar. I found rice vinegar and wine vinegar but not rice wine vinegar. Can just rice vinegar be used? Thanks Annie
Hi Joni,
Absolutely! Rice vinegar will work just as well. It has a sweet flavor.
Thanks for your question!
Annie
Hi Annie, I’m making this right now to portion out for lunches this week, how many servings does this make? It smells so good I can’t wait to taste it! Super easy too, thanks for posting.
Hi Jeanna,
Awesome! I would say 4 – 6 servings…
Thanks for your question!
Annie
It is awesome, I posted a picture on Instagram with a credit to you. I wish you posted there more often, but I’m sure you’re busy enough already!
I ended up with 7 servings because I wanted to have room for lots of broccoli in my lunch containers.
Thanks again
Thank you so much Jeanna! I’m so happy you like it! And, of course, thank you for sharing on Instagram! You just reminded me that I need to do better with that! I’m going to try!! 🙂
Happy dining this week!
Do you think that you could do this in the crock pot instead??
Hi Heather,
I bet you could. I haven’t tried it (yet!). The only thing I would recommend is that you brown your chicken in a little bit of olive oil in a skillet before putting it in the crockpot – get a nice sear on all sides. Cook it on LOW for 6 hours or on HIGH for 3 – 4.
If you try it, I’d love to know how you liked it!
Thanks for your question,
Annie
I got all the ingredients to make this for dinner tonight except for the rice wine vinegar. not sure if I should use red wine vinegar or rice vinegar. did you find this at a specialty store?
Hi Cheryl,
I did find the rice vinegar at our local grocer, however, I’m sure you could substitute red wine vinegar without noticing much of a difference.
Have fun!
Annie
Is it citrus-y?? If not, how do I bring out intense orange flavor?
Hi Jade,
It is citrus-y, however, it’s very easy to adjust the level by simply adding more orange zest just before serving.
Thanks for your question.
Annie
Thank you for your response. I can not wait to try it!
Next silly question. The sauce will work well with beef too?
You are very welcome! You know what, I haven’t tried it with beef but I’m sure that would be delicious too! You’re on to something! Happy Cooking!
everyone seems to think low-fat is the way to go with “healthy” but its the opposite, its not gonna do anything for you in the long run. what you have to do is low carb. get rid of starches, sugars, wheat flours to truly be eating healthy. just a suggestion if you are looking to actually lose weight and keep it off. often times, low-fat products have more salt and sugar to make up for flavor. dont fear fat, its essential in our diet to transport nutrients to cells. unhealthy (non-fiber) carbs, on the other hand, just get converted to sugar and get stored as fat in our bodies.
Hi Andrew,
Thank you for this information. Your insight will serve as a helpful lesson in my quest toward healthier eating.
Happy New Year!
Annie
While everything that Andrew said about fat vs. carbs is true, that is not to say that this recipe isn’t still a fantastic option for healthier eating. As someone who has actually eaten the dish, I can tell you that it is a very fresh, delicious and healthful choice when craving that Chinese food fix.
Thanks, Lauren! I agree – it’s one of my new favorites! It will certainly keep us from ordering out, which is always a healthier option! 🙂
Hmmmm, I could taste it just reading the directions! Looks like I’ll be trying this one soon!
Hi Karen! You guys will love it!
🙂