The Panda Express Chinese take-out classic, made in your own kitchen. This delicious and Easy Orange Chicken recipe is our family’s favorite homemade Chinese take out recipe. It’s made with crispy homemade boneless chicken bites that are covered with an authentic homemade orange chicken sauce you will love! This dish comes together in just 30 minutes!

If you enjoy the Chinese Orange Chicken from places like Panda Express or P.F. Chang’s, then you will not only love this recipe but prefer it. It has the same authentic flavor of the classic takeout orange chicken but costs less. It’s definitely a win-win in our home.

If you love making Asian inspired recipes, check out some of my other takeout recipes you can make at home. My favorites are Easy Beef Lo Mein Noodles, Healthy Orange Chicken, Teriyaki Salmon Stir Fry and General Tso’s Chicken.

Why you’ll love this recipe

Made with delicious Homemade Orange sauce. This sweet and savory sauce is made at home with fresh orange juice and ingredients you actually know.

An easy stir fry. Easy to prep and made mostly with kitchen staple ingredients, this easy Orange Chicken goes from pantry to table in 30 mins.

Better than takeout. You will not miss takeout with this richly flavored orange chicken on the menu. Half the price and none of the guilt with extra added ingredients!

How to make Orange Chicken Sauce

This is the most important part of the whole dish. Getting the right orange chicken sauce flavor completes this dish!

Orange Sauce Ingredients

Here is what orange chicken sauce is made of:

• Orange juice: I like using fresh squeezed orange juice for this recipe but you are welcome to use store bought squeezed orange juice.
• Soy Sauce: Grab the low-sodium. Can replace with amino liquids.
• Vinegar: You can use rice vinegar or regular white vinegar.
• Spices: Black pepper, fresh ground preferably.
• Thickening Agent: Corn Starch is used to thicken the sauce.
• Sweetener: Brown sugar is added to sweeten up the sauce but you can use honey if you like.
• Herbs: Fresh garlic and grated ginger. Adding those 2 ingredient as fresh, makes a whole difference.
• Spicy: If you would like to make the recipe spicy, you can always add cayenne pepper or chili flakes to the sauce. (optional)
• Oil: Vegetable or can use sesame oil. I am not a huge fan of sesame oil’s taste so I opt out and use vegetable oil. You can also use tasteless coconut oil.

Cooking the simple orange sauce

To prepare the orange chicken sauce, bring all the sauce ingredient together in bowl or cup and whisk to well.

Heat up a skillet or frying pan and simmer the sauce on medium-low heat until it thickens up.

How to make Easy Orange Chicken Recipe

• To prepare the chicken, cut the boneless chicken thighs or tenders into small pieces, about 1/2 inch long. You do not want the pieces to be too big
• Toss the chicken pieces in a bowl and coat with the flour, corn starch, black pepper, onion powder, salt and ginger powder. I also add a little bit of paprika to make the color of the chicken come out a little more orange after frying.

• In a deep fraying pan, fry the pieces of chicken leaving some space between them to avoid over crowding. They will only need to be fried for about 2-3 minutes at the most until golden brown, because the pieces are small. Over cooking the chicken makes them chewy so be careful there.
• Note: If you cut the chicken pieces bigger than 1/2 inch cubes, add more cooking time. I do not recommend using bigger pieces. They are supposed to be bite sizes.

Once the chicken is done cooking, drain well using a spider strainer spoon and transfer over to the cooked sauce. Toss well with the sauce and allow the chicken and the sauce to cook together for another 1-2 minutes.

Serve this simple Orange Chicken Recipe with some homemade Lo Mein Noodles or over white rice. Garnish with sesame seeds and chopped green onions to add color (optional).